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Lately, it seems like every brand is running a social media campaign. They've become more and more recognizable across all industries. 78% of businesses now have dedicated teams for their social media; this is up from 67% in 2012. This goes to show that organizations are realizing the power of social media and what it can do as far as attracting customers. There is a flip side, however.  Webbiquity reports that 83% of customers have reported bad experiences with social media marketing. As a business owner, it's clear that using social media marketing to your advantage is crucial. It's all about knowing how to maximize the impact of your social media marketing campaigns. Below are a few tips that can help you along the process. 1. Set your campaign goals. The most important thing is realizing what you want accomplished with this campaign. Does your brand want to increase social media followers? Generate more buzz online? Accumulate more and more brand mentions?

Social media channels have become increasingly important when it comes to business and marketing. With the birth of social platforms, custom targeting of prospective customers has become easier than ever. But which platforms are the best for businesses to use? In order to create a successful strategy as far as marketing for your business, you need to know how each platform works. Here's a list of five social media channels that can your business can really benefit from. 1. Facebook With more than 1.87 billion users , Facebook continues to dominate among social media platforms. This is one that can fit just about any kind of business and is largely beneficial for them. From an advertising perspective, it seems to be the easiest to manage and allows for the best possible targeting. 2. Twitter The biggest (and best) thing about Twitter is the way things go viral. Using this platform will bring the ability for more people to see, share, and "retweet" your content

After losing by a buzzer-beater to Villanova last year, the University of North Carolina finally redeemed themselves by winning it all this year against Gonzaga. Though the game was sloppy and at times slow, it was enjoyable seeing the Tar Heels redeem themselves and win what they deserve after a heartbreaking loss last year. Mark Humphrey/Associated Press UNC's Joel Berry II led all scorers of the game with 22 points and 6 assists. He was crowned MVP of the game and had help from Justin Jackson (16 points) and Isaiah Hicks (13), while Nigel Williams-Goss paced the Bulldogs with 15 points as one of only two players in double digits for Gonzaga. Gonzaga hung around and even took a lead into halftime, yet the Tar Heels came out of the tunnel and stormed to an 8-0 run. Whatever adjustments head coach Roy Williams made came up big, as did the simple fact the Bulldogs weren't accustomed to banging down low with a team athletic and big enough to match. "I wanted to se

After a month filled with madness and broken brackets, the game we've all been waiting for is finally here: the National Championship. Monday night is looking to be a historic one yet again, as the repeat champs of the University of North Carolina look to defeat the top-seeded Gonzaga. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:20 p.m. ET in suburban Phoenix. Getty Images Gonzaga ended South Carolina’s Cinderella run in the 2017 NCAA Tournament with a 77-73 victory Saturday in the Final Four and North Carolina followed with a 77-76 win against Oregon. This is Gonzaga's first appearance in the NCAA National Championship in school history. North Carolina has won five NCAA championships, including two with Roy Williams as head coach (2005 and 2009). Though the Tar Heels seem to be the popular favorite right now, don't count out Gonzaga just yet: they did have an undefeated record of 29-0 through the first half of the season and were ranked No. 1 in the nation's polls and pla

Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat are just a few of the ever-growing social media outlets that focus on visual content, for the most part. There's a reason for that. Visual content is becoming more and more common and a primary focus. So how can marketers adapt to an increasingly visual social atmosphere? By implementing a strong visual branding strategy on social media. Your profile picture, your cover photos, your social posts - all social media content that is essential to visual social branding. There are a few key factors that can help your brand grow, such as consistent colors, fonts, imagery, and layouts. Great visuals on social media are insanely important because our brain is wired to read and understand images better and faster than words. Visual content also increases social engagement as well. According to a study by Socialbakers, images on Facebook constitute 93% of the most engaging posts compared with status updates, links, and even video. Social medi

As a true San Francisco 49ers fan myself, I have personally watched the rise and fall of Colin Kaepernick's career. There was no greater time than when we were in the Super Bowl, battling it out and coming so close to winning it all after a historic halftime-blackout. This past season was not an easy one to watch unfold. The 49ers finished 2-14; yet Kaepernick started 11 games last season, completing 196 of his 331 passes for 2,241 yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions, and he added 69 runs for 468 yards and two touchdowns. He also did this with a team whose leading receiver (Jeremy Kerley) caught 64 passes for 667 yards and three touchdowns. However, Kaepernick has become famous for something much deeper than football: human rights. Kaepernick has recently been released from the 49ers, and has yet to hear from any other teams as far as being signed. Why? Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press Some say it has to do strictly with his talent in football. Is Colin Kaepe

Despite Mother’s Day being a few months away (May 14 th ), Pinterest is  getting a head start  by reminding marketers to plan their promotions ahead of time. According to Pinterest, 70% of US moms are active on the platform itself, spending an average of 124 minutes per month browsing the various Pins. This could come to your advantage when it comes to shopping for Mom. First off, Pinterest says that activity related to Mother’s Day starts early and is already rising as we speak. Pinterest says that, overall, more than 33 million Pinners have saved 252 million Mother’s Day related Pins – getting started early could help you get in on that jump in activity. They also say that brands should consider how their campaign is able to help in creating these “unique gifting experiences”. And as the actual day gets closer (as you could imagine) people tend to start looking for more last-minute gifts and purchases. They go on to say: "At that point, your strategy should highlight

There is almost always something new, something updated when it comes to social media. They constantly have updates for us, whether we like it or not. This time it's Facebook and Twitter. First, on Twitter's iOS app they're bringing out a change to the way timelines look on profiles. As you can see, they've added a new option for listing with 'Tweets and Replies' while changing the look along with it. This change is subtle, but it is different and brings more profile options for the app. What's interesting about this new addition, however, is that it gives Twitter a way to provide more tweet presentation options. For example, Twitter could add new tabs for live video only tweets or even a Moments only listing. Twitter’s also trying out a new format in the desktop notifications tab, shifting from the mobile style to a new format which includes a more prominent link to the original tweet. Most likely the reasoning behind this update is due to

It's the most wonderful time of the year – it's March Madness. With 64 teams lined up and ready to go, everyone is setting their brackets and picking their favorites to upset and favorites to win it all. Here's the match-ups for the first round: EAST Villanova (1) vs. Mount St. Mary’s (16) Wisconsin (8) vs. Virginia Tech (9) Virginia (5) vs. UNC Wilmington (12) Florida (4) vs. East Tennessee State (13) SMU (6) vs. USC (11) Baylor (3) vs. New Mexico State (14) South Carolina (7) vs. Marquette (10) Duke (2) vs. Troy (15) Youtube MIDWEST Kansas (1) vs. UC Davis (16) Miami (8) vs. Michigan State (9) Iowa State (5) vs. Nevada (12) Purdue (4) vs. Vermont (13) Creighton (6) vs. Rhode Island (11) Oregon (3) vs. Iona (14) Michigan (7) vs. Oklahoma State (10) Louisville (2) vs. Jacksonville State (15) SOUTH North Carolina (1) vs. Texas Southern (16) Arkansas (8) vs. Seton Hall (9) Minnesota (5) vs. Middle Tennessee (12) Butler (4) vs. Winthrop (13)

Snapchat started the trend of story-telling, creating 24-hour snaps that you share to the world. Instagram now has this feature as well. Well, Instagram has changed the game again. This time, you can post multiple photos within a single feed post. As in, you swipe right and see multiple pictures all under one post. Sure, Twitter and Facebook have similar features where you can post multiple pictures at once, but not quite like this. Instagram, unlike Facebook, Twitter, and so on, is a photo-based social media platform. Before, only advertisers could do such a thing on Instagram, leaving the rest of us to pick only the best picture (or two at the most) to represent our big event, birthday or holiday to keep from spamming (and annoying) our follower’s feeds. To use the feature, you need to tap the ‘Select Multiple’ option first on the bottom of the photo or video you want to upload. From there, you can select the content you want to include; they’ll be numbered in the order th

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images Sunday night was a night full of dunks and lacking in defense, but entertainment nonetheless. The Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 192-182 in the 2017 NBA All-Star Game at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.  Hometown hero Anthony Davis poured in an All-Star Game record 52 points to go with 10 rebounds, along with receiving the MVP honors for the night. This is for NOLA pic.twitter.com/e291PU5axI — Anthony Davis (@AntDavis23) February 20, 2017 Russell Westbrook put on a show as well, following behind Davis with 41 points, seven assists and five boards. All eyes were on him and Kevin Durant, understandably so, watching their every move and interaction throughout the game. We even saw a KD to Westbrook alley-oop, giving us flashbacks to when they played together in OKC, also known as the good ol' days. The Western Conference bench had some fun with the two after the link-up: We are all the western conference bench #