Three Free Social Monitoring Tools Worth Exploration

social media toolsWe live in a world where the entire globe can have access to your name, IP address, photo and all of your public information with a simple search.

Now social media takes it one step further. I not only can find your past exploits online, but I can hear the conversations that the entire globe is having about you, right now, with a simple click (and maybe some typing too).

Twazzup, Addict-o-matic and SocialMention are three free platforms that allow you to measure your social media mettle—or more simply put, see all of the buzz or conversations surrounding your brand online, at any time.  Never heard of these platforms?  No worries, I’ve got your back!

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How to Discover What’s Trending on Facebook

social media toolsSince Facebook announced the Open Graph API, the response has ranged from “Facebook is the future of the web” to “Facebook is ending privacy as we know it.”

Matt Schlict definitely believes the former.

Matt saw Open Graph API as an opportunity to connect people across the web—not just through personal connections, but also by their connection to the most popular content.  Instead of waiting for users to browse one of the 100,000 sites using a form of the Open Graph, he decided to post all of the most popular content in one place, on ItsTrending.com.

What Is ItsTrending.com?

Itstrending.com is a site that collects all of the content shared via Open Graph, and ranks it by the number of times it has been shared.  This guarantees that everything on the site is the most popular content of its kind.

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19 Tips for Driving Traffic to Your Blog

social media how toIt’s the the perennial quest. How can you get more traffic to your site?

After all, without a steady stream of traffic to your blog, there’s little opportunity to engage your audience and convert readers to raving fans.

Methods change and evolve over time. When I wrote my first “how to drive traffic” post about five years ago, the list looked a lot different. There was no Twitter, no Facebook, no social sharing buttons, and no retweet button.

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12 Social Media Secrets From World’s Top Superstars

social media reviewsIt’s no secret that social media marketing is the most powerful business-building tool on the planet.  Now any business can directly reach customers, anytime and anyplace.

To take your social media marketing to the max, here are hot social media tips direct from 12 of the top industry masters. You’re going to want to model their priceless advice:

#1: Engage Your Facebook Fans With Questions

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13 Ideas to Inspire Your Blog Content

As a blogger have you ever thought, “I don’t know what to write about!” or “How am I going to come up with fresh content for my blog three times a week?”

This article will provide you unique ideas that will help you keep pumping out great content.

The following 13 content ideas are designed to help save you time and stimulate some new ideas.

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The Secret to Growing Your Blog Following and the Pitfall You Must Avoid

Looking to grow your blog following? You might be surprised that the best way to gain a following is to focus on other people’s blogs.

Outreach is key to having a blog that actually works for your business, yet it’s the one element many professionals ignore. And it’s contrary to most competitive thinking because it involves spending time away from your blog.

Done correctly, however, reaching out to other bloggers in your field will actually create more business opportunities, increase traffic to your own blog, and enhance your business brand more than any other tactic you could employ.

Here’s how:

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Top 10 Easy Steps to Starting a Business Blog

Though they had been around for many years, blogs burst on the scene as a hot marketing tool around 2003 when marketers discovered easy-to-use blogging platforms like Blogger, Typepad, and WordPress.

However, just because anyone can set up a blog, doesn’t mean everyone should, and many professionals and businesses start blogging without giving any thought to why, how and who will be doing the blogging.

Over 50 percent of blogs are abandoned within the first 90 days. While this isn’t really important if you’re writing a personal diary, political or celebrity blog, it is very important if you start a blog for your business and don’t keep posting on it consistently and with purpose.

When a prospect lands on a blog that hasn’t been updated in months, it’s akin to walking into a vacant store with busted windows and dust blowing in. It’s just not pretty; and it doesn’t look good for you, your business reputation and your branding.

Don’t let that happen to you. Start right, start smart and follow a few suggested guidelines. First, let’s review some basics:

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