Hey, Social-Media Marketers, Shut Up Already

This past Halloween, I hosted a costume party at my home for 120 of my closest friends. We all had a blast -- we laughed, we drank a lot, some got sick, etc. You know how the story goes.

But in the middle of my party, a friend of mine came over and started telling me about his new startup business. Was it a good business idea? I don’t know, I wasn’t listening. Would I buy whatever it was he was selling? Again, I wasn’t listening and don’t care.

So why do I sound like such a jerk? Because I was at a party, that’s why. Let me drink, crack a few jokes and be obnoxious without you bothering me about your new business. Is that OK, buddy?

Which brings me to the point of this column.

When social-media marketing became a “thing” a few years back, companies got all excited. I know because I was one of them. It was a new way of reaching out to the customer. No longer did I have to wait to send my monthly email to my customers. No longer would I fear that reaching my customers would be costly and time consuming.

I was now able to reach my audience daily -- daily! -- for free. That’s right, I did not have to pay a nickel to post a new Facebook status about our recent GQ placement, tweet out a new sale or post a picture of our new products on Instagram. I could now do it every single day and it was free. Marketing had never been easier or less expensive.

Fast forward to 2015.

Because it’s (mostly) free, social-media marketing is now everywhere. It’s in your Facebook feed. It’s on the side of your Facebook feed. It’s in your Twitter feed. It’s promoted in your Twitter feed. It's in your Instagram feed and now promoted Instagram photos.

Sheesh, I’m exhausted just listing them all. Now, imagine how the customers feel.

Here we are, at least five years into social-media marketing, and the results are still inconclusive as to whether companies make any money off this stuff. With advertisers so heavily invested in social-media marketing now -- through hiring, promoted posts, endless time -- they continue to try to break the code on maximizing their return on investment for their social-media efforts. To date, these efforts still aren’t working.

Why? Let’s go back to my Halloween party.

I’m hanging out with my friends. A little buzzed. Having fun. And then someone came over to me and wanted to talk business with me. He didn’t give me a hard sell. It wasn’t even a lengthy conversation. But still, I wasn’t in the mood to be sold to. I was talking to friends.

And that’s how I feel when I am on Facebook or Instagram, and to a lesser extent, Twitter.

I am hanging out online. Talking. Socializing. Not looking to be interrupted. Not looking to be sold to. And yet, that’s all these brands want to do. Interrupt my time with my friends. I’m tired of it.

Most brands, because of its low (or no) cost, market on social media daily. Which means we are not only bothered when we want to be left alone, but we are bothered multiple times a day.

That’s why I conclude that we are about to face a social-media burnout unless some industry-wide change is made.

Social media, at its best, is a brand enhancer. It is a new “two-way” communication tool between brand and customer. “Two-way” meaning the customer can initiate dialogue with the company (traditional customer service/engagement) or the company can initiate dialogue with the customer.

But that’s all it is. Social media is not a new sales channel, and it is time for companies to stop treating it like one.

I may not be a millennial, but I sense a change in the air. The constant noise of advertising (yes, social-media marketing is advertising despite its "marketing" name) is causing people to tune out the marketing messages. Some do it is consciously (unfollowing a company) and some do it subconsciously (scrolling quickly past the message). Social-media marketing, in my uncalculated/speculative opinion, is becoming like print advertising in newspapers -- we all just look right past it.

No, I am not calling for the death of social-media marketing. It will be around for the near future, for sure. But I do think we are nearing an era of customer apathy and it’s time for some kind of a reinvention by the industry.

Article curated from Entrepreneur

5 Tips to Get Active on Twitter and Reach Your Brand's Audience

As social media continues to evolve in marketing, brands are constantly feeling the pressure to be more social on all platforms. But which platform is right for you?

Someone once told me this, and now I pass it along to my clients: Think about online audience in three ways. Facebook is for the people you know, LinkedIn is for the people you need to know, and Twitter is for the people you want to know. With about 232 million "monthly active users," Twitter is an insanely popular micro-blogging platform with an incredible reach of people you may want to know.

Here are a few tips on how to increase your Twitter followers and keep your platform alive!

1. Work on your social media voice.

Your brand should have a personality and voice on social media. There is a good chance that your brand is being discussed, hopefully in a good way, online. Every platform has a different audience, so identify that audience and cater your voice and message to them. Try and be a part of real-time conversation.

If you want to hire someone to converse on your behalf, make sure they are familiar with your brand's message. Hiring an intern to save money is probably not a good idea. It could backfire. While the tone may change depending on the platform, your brand's message and authenticity should be intact.

2. Make it easy for your audience to find you.

There is no question that people are moving quickly -- reading articles and watching videos on their mobile devices while on the run. With this in mind, make it easy for them to share your information. Place share buttons on your company website pages, your blog posts, on your other social platforms and in your email signature. Put the buttons in a place where they are easily accessible.

3. Be proactive.

A good way to increase your followers is to follow people you know by importing your email contacts to Twitter. Make sure that this list is updated with all your recent email contacts and your LinkedIn connections, as well. Once you are following them, you will be surprised at the number of followers you will get!

4. Tweet often and increase numbers.

According to a study by Mashable.com, it takes about 10,000 tweets, on average, to break into the 1,000 followers mark. Without compromising the quality of content, make sure you remain a consistent and prolific presence. Even better, join real-time conversations by setting your Twitter time to the peak time your audience is online.

Tap into the moments that matter and that people can relate to and can create a conversation. Your brand may benefit from shared discussions about cultural events, sports, pop culture, news events, etc. Stay grounded in popular demand and trending topics. This can only contribute positively to your social presence.

Be careful and conscious of participating in controversial topics that may put your brand in a spotlight you might not be interested in.

5. Use compatible hashtags.

Your industry has hashtags that are already being used. Join the conversation with relevant content and use them, as well. #ThrowbackThursday, #ShopSmall, #Entrepreneurs are a few good ones. Also, expand your reach by following prominent names in your field, sharing posts or articles, and including them on the tweet along with the hashtag.

Remember, tweets are not just bits of conversation. In mass, they have the power to affect your business. The sooner you join that online conversation, the better!

Article curated from Entrepreneur

5 Tips for Designing Your Website to Serve Every Customer Individually

Current research shows that 40 percent of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize their shopping experience across channels. Additionally, nearly three in four, or 74 percent, of online consumers get frustrated with websites when the content that’s displayed has nothing to do with their interests. It is clear that a personalized website is an advantage to every marketer or entrepreneur leading a successful business today.

Website personalization takes into account that users have different motivations, devices, locations and time constraints. With current technology, marketers can now gather specific information about what a website visitor is searching for and translate their visit into a higher conversion.

“Organizations spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sometimes even millions of dollars, to create robust dynamic web experiences,” explained Itai Sadan, CEO and co-founder of mobile website creation platform DudaMobile. The company recently rolled out inSite that adds dynamic web content based on customer behavior to create personalized viewing experiences.

“Expensive tools and this type of personalization traditionally requires substantial web development and design, which is why we’re excited about bringing affordability to this exploding industry,” Sadan said.

Website personalization on a mass scale is indeed possible with the increasing number of low-cost options available to business owners today. Here are five ways business owners can begin to increase conversion through basic website personalization:

1. Visitor frequency should determine different user experiences. A visitor to a website for the first time will almost always be looking for different information than someone visiting the site repeatedly.

David Reischer, marketing officer at LegalAdvice.com, suggests tracking each user differently to give different user experiences. “We utilize a cookie to track a returning visitor so that we can direct them to the most appropriate and relevant page. This makes site navigation easier for repeat users.”

To increase conversion of first-time visitors include a phone number or business address, a contact form to capture leads, or a video tutorial to explain a product or service to a first time visitor.

“For frequent visitors, add a spot to sign up for a mailing list or add information about new products or services,” suggests Sadan.

2. Geo-location helps bring together online and offline marketing. The ability to know where someone is at the time they visit a website is game-changing for marketers.

“Online we can follow our customer’s individual buying journey, optimizing it every step of the way,” explains Bart Heilbron, CEO and co-founder of BlueConic, the real-time system of online customer engagement. “However, we were never able to use these insights in our offline interaction. With geo-location, we are now able to.”

If someone is only blocks away from a business and searching on a mobile phone, chances are they can be easily converted as a customer if they see an address and even a coupon that says, “Come in today and get 20% off.” For restaurants, an OpenTable button to reserve a table, or a Google Map app that provides step-by-step directions to the store location are critical for conversion.

3. Adjust content based on certain times. Changing the content on a website based on the time of day, week or even season can increase conversions as well. Consider replacing a phone number available to website visitors during business hours with a contact form when the business is closed. This will avoid missing out on potential customers who want to get in contact outside of business hours.

“The ability to offer different products over the course of a day based on targeted trends, habits or culture will increase conversions,” said CEO of internet marketing company WebiMax, Ken Wisnefski. “For example, a restaurant offers a different menu throughout the day as they switch from lunch to dinner.”

4. Recognize holidays and other special events. This is a great way to personalize a website and better connect with a customer’s sentiment. Change the theme to hearts during Valentine’s Day or add an image of fireworks during the 4th of July.

“This could have a positive effect on customer engagement, and in turn conversion,” said Sadan.

5. Capture the visitor source to adapt content. Knowing the original destination source that a visitor has entered a website from should greatly impact the content on the landing page that they see first. This can provide a seamless and consistent experience to the visitor.

According to Sadan, “Visitors that come to your site from an email marketing campaign or as a referral from another site should receive dedicated messaging that is aligned with the messaging they saw in the email or the referring site. Offering a coupon at this point could also be a good idea.”

Article curated from Entrepreneur Magazine

Don't Make These Customer Review Monitoring Mistakes

It seems these days like everyone has an opinion. And thanks to digital tools, they have countless ways of sharing them. For business owners, this means that word of mouth, both positive and negative, can spread across social media and the Internet, coloring a particular brand or business in an instant. It’s something every business owner should watch carefully and these tricks, tips and tactics will make managing the positive, negative and useless reviews that much easier.

1. Make it a priority. While larger businesses can afford to hire a team to watch online reviews and reactions 24/7, new business owners need take matters into the their own hands. Create a schedule that’s consistent, but manageable, say our experts. This might be daily or weekly depending on the volume of reviews and mentions you receive.

Just make sure you have some plan in place. Says Jayson DeMers, founder and CEO of AudienceBloom, "The biggest mistake is simply failing to monitor reviews in the first place," he says.

2. Know your tools. Marketing consultant Brian Honigman highly recommends digital tool Mention which alerts you to all of your recent mentions across platforms like Twitter and Facebook as well as the web. "It allows you to react quickly and take feedback into consideration and point your team on the right course of action and continue to analyze this data and react from there," Honigman says.

Tools such as Google Alerts and Talkwalker can also help you track web mentions, notifying you whenever select keywords related to your organization are used online. Honigman likes to use Talkwalker to keep on eye on the competition. "If you want to do research on one of your competitors, you can enter keywords relevant to them and see where they're popping up on the web," he says.

For more specific needs, Siu recommends Hootsuite to monitor Twitter and Newsle to keep an eye on major news publications. Since you're most likely a team of one, automate your processes as much as possible. For this, Siu suggests Zapier, a service which ties various disparate tools together, helping to eliminate extra steps and platforms to check.

3. Engage carefully. Should a negative comment emerge, find a way to turn it into a positive. "It's really important to respond to the negative stuff as a sympathetic, real human," Honigman says. "Say, 'I'm sorry you're upset, how can we fix this’?"

DeMers concurs, saying that a particularly negative review can do massive damage to your brand if left unchecked. "Negative reviews can spread like wild fire on the internet," he says. He suggests you reach out with the aim to win that customer back. "[A big mistake] is to ignore negative reviews or respond defensively or insultingly to them," he adds.

Although negative feedback should require the bulk of your attention, don't be afraid to respond to positive word of mouth. "It's fine to ignore positive reviews, but it's even better to replay them with a sincere thank you," DeMers says. Honigman suggests personally reaching out to blogs or sites who write personal reviews and form a relationship. Networking like this opens you up to not only potential business opportunities, but better SEO practices as you share each other's work.

"Let it be known that you're grateful for the time that person or organization took for bringing your business a little visibility," Honigman says.

But most importantly, make sure you know how to separate actual negative criticism from online noise. Use common sense to discern if you're just being "trolled" or are simply dealing with an irrational person. "If it is unconstructive, rude, abusive or just someone talking for the sake of talking, use your better judgment," Honigman says. In this case, attempting to please someone who won't be pleased can make you look desperate and damage a young brand. It's better to move forward.

4. Keep your focus. Although it's vital to monitor reviews and respond as professionally as possible, Siu says that business owners in their early stages shouldn't let online reviews distract them from the real work of running their business. Says Siu, "You have much bigger fish to fry, like bringing in new revenue. You need to be focused on growth." And by concentrating on quality customer service, you’ll prevent many negative reviews before they occur. 

Article curated from Entrepreneur Magazine

5 Predictions About the Growing Power of Online Customer Reviews

We all do it – routinely sort through search results by customer star ratings and scroll through buyer feedback before making a final shopping decision.

It’s no secret the way consumers make decisions has dramatically changed from over the last decade. We stand in stores, use our smartphones to compare prices and product reviews. Family and friends instantly weigh in via social media. When we are ready to buy, an ever-growing list of online retailers deliver products directly to our homes, sometimes even on the same day.

With the advent of social media and constant updates, image sharing and online peer recommendations, it’s unsurprising that 61 percent of customers read online reviews before making a purchase decision, according to recent surveys. After all, reviews provide a first stop for any potential customer to understand a product from a consumer point of view, delivering honest and impartial insight from peers.

With reviews already such an important part of the buying process, it’s easy to see how reliance on them will only increase in the future. According to Nielsen’s latest Global Trust in Advertising report, online consumer reviews are already the second most trusted source of brand information and messaging, with 70 percent of global consumers indicating they trust online reviews, an increase of 15 percent in four years.

Some industry observers predict that retail will change more in the next five years than it has over the past century, and that the extinction of brick-and-mortar stores isn’t far off. While the shift may be a bit less dramatic than predictions claim, big changes are definitely inevitable. Retailers must act now to win in the long term.

For example, over the next few years, we can expect to see the anonymity of reviews fade away and instead become linked to shoppers’ real identities on Facebook, Twitter or other social integration. This will be beneficial for both retailers and consumers. It add a layer of credibility, rather than allowing chronic complainers to hide behind anonymous usernames,and provide an interactive connection through which merchants can engage with valuable customers.

So, how can merchants evolve moving forward to support the ever-growing demand for reviews and efficiently manage the process? The following are several predictions we think retailers will need to fully understand in order to be prepared for evolving consumer buying.

1) All reviews will eventually be linked to social networks. The era of anonymous reviews is quickly coming to a close. In the future, anonymous reviews will be obsolete. While it's pretty uncommon now, in the future consumers will only value reviews they can tell are from real, trustworthy shoppers. They'll be able to check on their validity by clicking through to the reviewer's social profiles.

2) Shoppers will turn to their friends’ reviews first. Because reviews will be easily visible on social networks, shoppers will first turn to their friends to read their reviews before checking reviews from complete strangers. Think about it: You know your friend, Sarah, is an avid photographer who knows a lot about cameras. You will check out her reviews before you visit the product page.

3) Reviews will be aggregated by reviewer. In other words, you'll be able to click on your friend Sarah’s profile and see that she's a 32-year-old mom, lives in Chicago and considers herself an amateur photographer. Then, you'll be able to see all of the reviews Sarah has written online, no matter the store, site or service.

4) Reviews will be personalized. Because both the reviewer and the review-reader's information will be available online, reviews of the future will be personally tailored to each reader. The same way Google Ads and Facebook ads are already delivered to us based on what Google and Facebook know about our preferences, reviews in the future will pop up based on a similar approach. Reviews from people with similar interests will show up.

5) All formats will become compatible. Currently, depending on where you are writing reviews, there are numerous formats and kinds of information required. For example, some websites allow for video reviews, while some only look for a star rating. In the future, websites will continue to ‘get smarter’ about extracting the most important information from any type of customer review, so shoppers can get a true "snapshot." This will become especially important as websites accumulate more and more reviews. Shoppers don’t want to sit and read through 2,000 reviews.

As the value of reviews becomes more prevalent, merchants must take a more active role in the review process. Right now, only about 13 percent of small-business owners actively invest in online reviews. That must change quickly to keep pace with consumer demand. Not only will merchants need to make a more concerted effort to solicit reviews, but also respond to both negative and positive reviews, perhaps even offering rewards to reviewers who offer valuable insight into their buying or product use experience.

As marketers and business owners, it is sometimes difficult to step out of the role as budget manager and chief efficiency officer. As a result, anything that looks like added time investment may automatically be deemed impossible, especially when so many managers are already overworked and overextended. However, moving forward, it’s critical for retailers to look at customer reviews from the perspective of the consumer. Keeping pace with expectations in providing customer reviews is going to be absolutely essential to survival in the modern e-commerce era.

Chances are that you rely heavily on reviews in making your own purchase decisions. Why wouldn’t you expect your customers to do the same?

Article curated from Entrepreneur

Grow Your Online Business Without Depending Exclusively on Google

 

We hear a lot of scary stories about businesses going (almost) bankrupt after losing Google traffic. Some publishers are also voicing concerns over their dependence on Google. But how easy is it to not depend on it?

When Google traffic starts coming, it often monopolizes your traffic sources. Search traffic converts better than any other type of traffic, thanks to intent. People search for exactly what they want to read or buy. It usually flows in on a continuous basis without you having to necessarily do anything to drive people in on a daily basis.


I've seen businesses that were forced to expand once Google traffic started coming. That put them into Google dependency mode. However, even if we put Google penalty arguments aside (you are not supposed to be hit unless you've done something wrong, right?), depending on one source of traffic is neither reliable nor wise overall.
Is there a way not to rely on Google traffic while still growing your business online? The answer is mostly "it depends" but one thing is clear. It's time that we all started to diversify our online efforts:

1. Discover more traffic sources. Google traffic used to be quite easy and fast to earn: It spoiled us. Achieving top positions in Google has been a major digital marketing objective for too long. Now it's time to get back to basics: You should never put all eggs into one basket.

These alternative traffic sources can vary depending on the niche. Yes, you need to get creative but opportunities are endless. Here are quite a few ways to build traffic (some of them can be applied to almost any industry such as becoming a case study or getting interviewed). There are lots of other ways.

Pinterest has proved to be one of the best-converting traffic sources especially in food, travel, home improvement, DIY and related industries. SlideShare is an efficient traffic source in the marketing and technology niches. Investing in Facebook advertising is really effective in most niches.

Here's one quick recipe from someone who has decided not to depend on Google traffic from day one. BizEpic.com is just 10 weeks old and it's now averaging around 400 visits/day. The average is rising steadily on month-to-month comparison basis. Google traffic only accounts for about six percent. The majority of traffic is coming from social media. Their tactics include:

• Focus on the "interestingness" of the topic and the headlines.
• They post often, about four to five posts a day and spread around the clock.
• They are growing followers on their Facebook fan page.
• Large, interesting images.
• A focus on social media promotion in Google Plus, LinkedIn groups, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, StumpleUpon, etc

Again, there's no recipe for every website looking to diversify traffic sources but the above experiment is a good example of a possible strategy that has been proven to work.


2. One word: Balance! Telling anyone to simply break up with Google would be poor advice. You can't just absolutely ignore it but you can balance and diversify. When it comes to SEO, I think this is how it has evolved:

Before: Trying to get referral traffic from Google within three months of a site’s launch. Now: Discover different channels and possibilities, build trust and brand while doing your fundamental SEO homework and waiting for search engine traffic to start coming naturally.

Investing in your in-house assets can help you grow diverse traffic sources:

• Develop high-quality content assets to attract backlinks, social media shares and traffic. Many types of traffic (word-of-mouth traffic, for example) are almost impossible unless you have great content to attract shares and re-shares.
• Invest in social media advertising. In some industries social media ads out-perform Google ads. Besides, social media advertising grows your following which means it helps in the long run as well. Experimenting with newer social media solutions such as Klout Perks is a smart idea. Invest in content promotion advertising, such as StumbleUpon promoted stories and Reddit ads, if you have good content to get picked up there. Social media dashboards such as Cyfe and Sendible make monitoring results much easier.
• Grow your own email list. Sending regular email newsletters can become your own independent source of traffic and conversions. Besides, it can also be used to boost your social media advertising efforts.

3. Value what you have. There's one advantage in Google traffic becoming harder to get and to keep. We are forced to value what we have. Ultimately, traffic is not such a huge issue. The important thing is how well it converts or, to put it more pro-actively, how much effort you put into converting it.

In this respect, I like this case study describing a penalized website and how the owner, thanks to the Google penalty, had to re-think its whole digital strategy to survive. This unfortunate setback taught me a valuable lesson. Relying so much on organic Google rankings was putting us entirely at the whims of a company that is beyond our control. Our only option was to focus on other areas, specifically, achieving higher conversion rates.
Additionally, we amped up loyalty marketing by implementing personalized follow-up calls and e-mails for all of our clients based on the ideal time for each one  to reorder. To sum up this last point, here are some things you may want to start doing:

• Build your micro-community and turn your customers into brand advocates. Developing relationships with customers is an art but one that has proved to be very rewarding!
• Invest in usability assessments and stop losing visitors! A long time ago I had a very good experience with usertesting.com
• Don't get fixated on only one type of conversions. Your paying customers are not the only people who matter! Collect leads and develop your relationships with anyone who has expressed interest in your site. If anyone ever shares your message or defends your reputation online, that is a priceless outcome!

Article curated from Entrepreneur

Foursquare kills check-in feature in app overhaul

Foursquare, the app known for letting users check into places, no longer lets users check into places -- yes, you read that right.

The New York City startup released a major revision to its app Wednesday that does not include the check-in feature. Instead, the revamped app is designed to help users discover new places to visit according to their individual tastes.

The new Foursquare gives users "personalized local search" results by learning their preferences. When searching for nearby places, results will be based on their tastes and the tastes of friends.

"If you love vintage clothing, it should tell you that there is a hidden gem nearby. If you’re in a new city, it should tell you that your friend Katy highly recommends this hole-in-the-wall restaurant downtown," Foursquare said in a blog.

Fittingly, Foursquare's logo is no longer a checkmark. Instead, the 5-year-old company now boasts a pink and white uppercase "F" stylized to look like both a map pin and a superhero emblem.

"We’ve always thought of Foursquare as giving you superpowers to explore your city, and our new logo reflects that vision," Foursquare said.

After launching in 2009, Foursquare was one of the most popular social networks, but after others added similar check-in features (notably Facebook in 2010), the startup struggled to remain relevant and lost many users.
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The company is hoping 2014 is its comeback year. Since December, it has raised $50 million, which has been used for the development of the revamped Foursquare app and Swarm, a new app launched in May. Swarm is a geo-location-based social network and has inherited many of the social aspects that have been stripped from the Foursquare app, including check-ins, mayorships and the feed showing what one's friends are up to.

So far, Swarm has experienced high user growth, Foursquare says. "It’s been pretty intense keeping up with the growth (Foursquare didn’t have that many users for a few years), and you guys have sent a ton of feedback," the company said, in a blog detailing some upcoming features for Swarm. 

Article curated from LA Times

Google to give more weight to encrypted websites in search results

Following reports of a Russian ring of hackers who stole more than a billion online logins and passwords from vulnerable websites, Google has announced that its search service will give higher priority to websites that use encrypted connections to keep their online visitors secure. 

Other factors, such as the quality of content on a website, still hold far more weight when it comes to search results, but going forward, Google said websites with Hyptertext Transfer Protocol Secure connections, or HTTPS, will get slight boosts in their rankings. 

HTTPS encrypts the link between a user's computer and a website's servers, making it harder for hackers to break into the connection and steal valuable information, such as a person's credit card information while they are on a shopping website.

Many major websites already use HTTPS connections, including Twitter, Facebook and almost every bank, but most other websites continue to use HTTP.

Google's announcement may prod more websites to adopt HTTPS connections, said Tom DeSot, chief information officer of Digital Defense, a cybersecurity company.

"Google pushing it is good because of the clout they have in the industry,” DeSot said. “The people that are in charge of search engine optimization, they will pay a lot of attention to this.”

The adoption of HTTPS is a win for Web surfers, but it could prove to be costly for website owners. DeSot said larger companies may have to significantly invest in new technologies so they can enable HTTPS on their websites and all websites will have to purchase annual certificates to enable this security layer.

“There is going to be a business cost to it,” he said. 

Article curated from LA Times

On Social Networks, Engagement Is Becoming The Metric That Matters

 

While previously the race among social networks was for users, now engagement is becoming an increasingly important metric.
Social media takes up a huge amount of time-spend, particularly on mobile, and major properties increasingly want to carve out a bigger slice of that total.

How much time users spend on each social network and how engaged and interactive they are with content there are increasingly important ways of evaluating the sites, both for the social networks themselves and for businesses and advertisers looking at where to devote time and resources.

In a recent report, BI Intelligence calculates an Engagement Index for top major social networks and compares their performance in terms of time-spend per-user on desktop and mobile. We also look at how the different top activities on social media — photo-sharing, status updates, etc. — are indexing in terms of activity, and which sites drive the highest volume in each category.

Article curated from Business Insider