Twitter has always suffered an image problem and is not usually taken very seriously by the general public. Its name doesn’t help with some people even saying that ‘Twitter is for twits’. Despite this glamor and brand problem this has not held back its growth after its humble origins and launch in 2006.

Since then Twitter has gained popularity worldwide and is estimated to have 225 million users, generating 65 million tweets a day and handling over 800,000 search queries per day. It is sometimes described as the “SMS of the Internet” and its 140 character limit keeps the messages short and simple.

Its attraction as a social web media platform is maybe in its simplicity and real time messaging that enables breaking news and information to hit the web instantly without filters and censorship.

30 Terrific Twitter Facts and Figures

1. Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched in July of that year.
2. Twitter’s origins lie in a “day long brainstorming session” that was held by board members of the podcasting company Odeo. While sitting in a park on a children’s slide and eating Mexican food, Dorsey introduced the idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate with a small group.
3. The first Twitter prototype was used as an internal service for Odeo employees and the full version was introduced publicly on July 15, 2006
4. The original project code name for the service was ‘twttr‘, an idea that Williams later ascribed to Noah Glass, inspired by the name of the social media image website ‘Flickr’ and the five-character length of American SMS short codes.
5. The team finally settled on the name ‘twitter‘, which means ‘chirps from birds’ in essence ‘a short burst of inconsequential information’
6. The tipping point for Twitter’s popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. During the event, Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.
7. It had 400,000 tweets posted per quarter in 2007
8. In 2008 there were only 3 million registered users
9. In 2008 there were only 1.25 million tweets per day
10. Jan 2008  there were only 8 employees
11. In 2009 or 2 years ago Twitter had 8 million registered users
12. In 2011 there are now over 400 employees
13. 75% of Twitter traffic comes from third-party applications
14. 60% of all tweets come from third-party apps
15. There are over 100,000 Twitter applications
16. A Forrester report revealed  that “Twitterers are the connected of the connected, overindexing at all Social Media habits.  For example, Twitterers are three times more likely to be Creators (people who create and share content via blog posts and YouTube) as the general US population” (source Forrester report “Who Flocks to Twitter”)
17. 3 years, 2 months and 1 day…the time it took from the first tweet to the billionth tweet.
18. It now takes one week for users to send a billion Tweets.
19. In March 2010 the average number of tweets people sent per week was the the 350 million.
20. 140 million is the average number of tweets people sent per day in February 2011
21. 177 million tweets sent on March 11, 2011.
22. When Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 there were 456 tweets per second (TPS)…a record at that time.
23. The current TPS record is 6,939 tweets per second set 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on New Year’s Day
24. 572,000 is the number of new accounts created in one day (March 12, 2011)
25. 460,000 is the average number of new accounts per day created in February, 2011
26. 182% is the increase in number of mobile users over the past year.
27. In March 2011 there are an estimated 225 million users
28. 25 billion tweets sent on Twitter in 2010
29. 100 million new accounts added on Twitter in 2010
30. The first unassisted off-Earth Twitter message was posted from the International Space Station by NASA astronaut T. J. Creamer on January 22, 2010

What other interesting Twitter facts and figures have you heard about?

Last year I noticed articles and videos appearing online and on Social Media such as YouTube about the Ford Fiesta. So I decided to dig a little deeper to find out about what Ford were doing in Social Media to market their products.

Scott Monty is the Head of Social Media at Ford and has only been there since 2008 and put in place a Social Media strategy including multiple Social Media channels.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Flickr

Scott said that his “Jewel in the Crown” is the Ford Fiesta Movement that involved selecting 100 socially vibrant individuals who were provided with the European version of the Ford Fiesta 18 months prior to it being manufactured and released in the USA. These socially media aware fanatics were encouraged to share their experience with the Ford Fiesta over the 6 months on their Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube channels.

What were the strategies that Ford implemented to create viral awareness without one dollar of traditional marketing spend?

The 7 secrets to Fords Social Media Marketing Success

1. People trust corporations less so with the rise of social media you need to allow other people through word of mouth create trust for you through Social Media (it amplifies your message)
2. Reached out to those who are listening and let them do the talking for you and to connect with people like themselves
3. Let them know that you are real people just like them and are passionate about what they do and the Ford Brand
4. Run a competition involving Social Media eg.. To be selected to drive a Ford Fiesta for six months – select 100 of those who are “socially vibrant” such as Michelle McCormack ..view her application on YouTube.
5. Aggregated the content on Fords Fiesta movement website (crowd sourcing content) without editing it!
6. Implemented multiple Social Media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to create digital buzz
7. “Get On Board” the executive team and the board of directors

The Results

• 11 million Social Networking impressions
• 5 million engagements on social networks (people sharing and receiving)
• 11,000 videos posted
• 15,000 tweets.. not including retweets
• 13,000 photos
• 50,000 hand raisers who have seen the product in person or on a video who said that they want to know more about it when it comes out and 97% of those don’t currently drive a Ford vehicle
• 38% awareness by Gen Y about the product, without spending a dollar on traditional advertising ( Fords model “Fusion” doesn’t have that awareness after 2 years of being out in production and yet it has received hundreds of millions of dollars in traditional marketing spend).

Following the Ford Fiesta movement the launch of the Fiesta Ford did run a traditional marketing campaign including  TV, Print and and Outdoor advertising.

According to J.D. Power, about 9% of spending this year by automakers will be digital (Ford’s share spend is 25%.. and they were the only company not bailed out by the Federal Government), but that will rise to about 12% by 2012 as more companies embrace social networking, online gaming and rich media ads in place of traditional TV and print.

Scott Monty’s advice on whether Social Media Marketing is right for your company,

“If your customers are there you need to be there too” he also went on to say “You need to listen.. see how they behave and act similiarly”

So how can you apply these strategies to your company’s marketing mix?

If I had a penny for every time I had been asked by somebody to create them a viral video or how to get millions of views on Youtube I would be a very rich man indeed. People think they produce a video (usually of a corporate office setting with a new product announcement), put it on Youtube and all they have to do then is sit back and watch the video views roll in. As anybody who knows anything about online video will tell you the chances are your video will get a couple of hundred views at best. So how do you get the word out about your video online and increase the amount of people who see it on Youtube? Here are some of the little tips and tricks that will help you…

Make Friends And Network On Youtube

People think of Youtube as a place to watch videos but just like any of the other social networking sites there are plenty of ways to interact with other users and engage with the community. You’ll need to start befriending people within your niche, sending them private messages and complimenting them on their own videos and leaving comments wherever relevant. This is a slow process and is very similar to leaving comments on other blogs to grow blog traffic and although it takes lots of time it is highly effective.

Add Annotations To Your Videos

So annotations are getting easier to add on Youtube and although the biggest fault the system has it that it doesn’t let you link out to 3rd party sites (huge spam issues would arise) annotations do help you to grow subscribers. Have a look at the last 10 seconds of our video below and you’ll see a couple of links to our own channel and to our “about us” video. Used correctly (and there are tons of creative ways in which you can do this) annotations are an easy way for you to quickly drive some new subscribers to your channel or views to other videos that might not have been getting so much traffic.

Curiosity is a human trait that makes us want to discover what lies beyond the horizon, over the ocean or what can be seen and experienced from the top of a beckoning mountain.

It makes humans take risks that are both life threatening and potentially rewarding and life changing.

George Mallory, the English mountaineer and explorer who died in 1924 when attempting to be the first man to make the first ascent of Everest was famously quoted as replying to the question

“Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” with the retort “Because it’s there”

There is a sense of adventure and discovery that lies deep within all humanity, it is a burning passion that motivates and inspires us to strive and to leave our mark upon the world.

Some people say that others have all the talent and pioneering spirit.

Is  making a difference only for the select few?

The reality is that there is a genius within all of us just waiting to be unleashed.

Social Media the Global Tribal Facilitator

Social media is spreading knowledge globally at the speed of a “Tweet” and provides us all with tools that can enable us to follow our dreams, if only we can capture and heighten that curiosity for knowledge that drives humans to succeed.

Stephen Fry the English actor and  screenwriter and  Twitter personality said that

“The only reason people do not know much is because they do not care to know. They are “incurious”

If you are curious then social media and the web allows you to tap into global communities of interest and adventure points that can facilitate and ehance your skills, interests and passions.

Facebook and Twitter allow you to connect with your tribe, whether that is in New York, London or Lombok, that can provide stimulation and synergy that will surprise you with its breadth and reach and provide neuron muscle and connect you with your passionate energy that you may not have known you had.

The Social Media Universe

Perspective is hard to find unless you take the time to sit back, reflect and take the time to view a “Landscape” or “Universe” from a distance.

The larger the view the further back you have to stand to see the depth and breadth of the scenery and ecosystem.

The social media ecosystem is now so extensive and encompassing that I thought that it would be best to stand back and reflect on some significant events and evolutionary changes that are impacting how we communicate and connect.

1. Google+

Google decided in 2009 that it could no longer ignore the social web as it watched Facebook warp the web into a global community of 800 million plus. On June 28, 2011  Google Plus launched and became the fastest growing social network in history reaching 25 million users in less than 30 days. It continues to grow at over 600,000 users a day and is projected to reach 400 million users by the end of 2012 according to estimates by Paul Allen.

It is now both a personal and business social network after launching Google+ brand “pages” on November 7, 2011. Google plus enhanced the visual aspect of social networks by making its images significantly larger than the photos on Facebook. Facebook has since responded with a revamp of its design that allows for much larger images in its new “Timeline” for personal profiles.

Source: Flowtown

2. Pinterest

This social network is a place to organise and share online images that you find interesting or inspiring and continues to reinforce the trending growth of an increasingly visual social web.

Pinterest has grown 4,000% in the last 6 months and is now threatening to break into the top 10 social networks with more than 4 million unique users.

Its users are extremely engaged, it keeps its users logged on for long periods of time and ranks as number three at 88.3 minutes per user per month behind Facebook and Tumblr respectively.

3. Tumblr

Tumblr is a multimedia rich microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their short form blog. It is about ease of use.

The numbers for this platform are too significant to ignore.

• 900% growth in the last 12 months
• 90 million users compared to only 10 million a year ago
• Addictive and highly engaged audience with 2% of its audience making up 43% of total visits

The engagement on Tumblr is only second to Facebook at an average of over 141 minutes per month per user.

Ease of use and making it simple to post images plays into a web that embraces high definition and addictive images.

Source: Mashable

4. Slideshare

Slideshare is the “YouTube of  Presentations” and allows you to upload PowerPoint into globally accessed slideshow and again is a highly visual social  media platform.

It flies below the radar because it is more about business content and is the world’s largest professional content sharing community. Here are some numbers

• It is one of the top 150 websites in the world
• 60 million visitors a month
• Has 500% more traffic from business owners than any other professional website
• 3 billion slide views per month

The highly visual nature of the site places it well in a social web that can’t get enough of images and visualization.

Source: Column Five

5. Facebook

Facebook is a “must have” to keep tabs on, as its 800 million plus users means it is the defacto social network platform of choice for nearly one in two of the world’s web users.

What are four trends to watch and potential impacts to consider with Facebook in 2012?

1. Its ecosystem with easy to install “apps” and burgeoning commerce and marketing power continue to attract business and marketers. Essentially you market on facebook first and then consider other platforms.
2. The new emerging eCommerce paradigm of taking your shop “to the network” rather than driving visitors to your portal will reshape global business. “Omni Commerce” has truly arrived.
3. Its new “Timeline” feature redesign with larger images and banner space offers a compelling visual anchor that raises its addiction powers to new levels.
4. Facebook evolving into a more mature extension of your website design, function and content

The evolution of Facebook continues to be met by grass roots protest that rails against any change that rumbles people’s comfort zones. Despite this Facebook has no choice but to add and modify its features and functions to keep pace with Google+ and savvy upstarts which are a new generation social networks with no legacy baggage.

It is not time for Facebook to rest on its very large laurels or take its users for granted.

Source: SingleGrain

6. Twitter

The seemingly slow evolution of Twitter frustrates some but its simplicity and immediacy as an open texting service on steroids continue to keep it  top of mind in popular digital culture.

Its embedding in the new Apple iOS5 mobile operating system  has stimulated growth and increased sign-ups by 300%.

The real point of interest to watch with Twitter in 2012 will be to see if it rolls out a self serving ad platform that monetizes its network or whether it will work out another way make its 200 million plus users a revenue machine rather than a money pit!

Facebook marketing campaigns seem to be going all warm, caring and fluffy recently as brands realize that solving problems and helping those in need can be a very effective marketing tactic.

Three of the Facebook campaigns in this list have an altruistic reason behind their campaigns, from donating $500,000 each to 20 schools to raising funds for the “Make A Wish Foundation”.

The marketing goals for the Facebook pages vary but quite often the simple goal of just increasing their fan count to their Facebook page seems to be top of the list as brands have worked out very quickly that being able to communicate to 1,000′s or even millions of fans via a simple status update is very efficient highly leveraged marketing. Companies have also realized that  people’s main reason for becoming a fan for the most part is not so charitable, but is about having access to the latest special offers and freebies.

10 Best Facebook Campaigns

1. Kohl

The Department store Kohl’s gave away $10 million to various schools decided by the votes of their fans on Facebook. It was an excellent promotional campaign as the 20 schools with the most votes were each given $500 thousand. Kohl’s Facebook page sky rocketed to well over a million fans, and the winning schools each tallied well over 100,000 votes. Kohl’s hit it out of the park so to speak with this campaign centered around the social network, and they did an excellent job utilizing social media tactics to help in its social responsibility efforts.

2. Target

n February of this year, popular department store Target left the choice of where to donate $1 million into the hands of their fans on the social network. The company used an application titled “Super Love Sender” and kept fans updated in real time which charity was in the lead. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital ended up being the winning charity. Overall though, the excellent campaign was a complete success as it created quite a boom on the store’s Facebook page.

3. Ford Explorer

2010 saw a shift in Ford’s promotion techniques as they began gearing their campaigns towards social media outlets, and they really pushed the boundaries with innovative ideas. This past summer they released tidbits of info leading up to a Facebook event unveiling the 2011 Ford Explorer. The campaign was the first time a car company has ever used a website to reveal their new model as opposed to an auto show. Ford also went as far to randomly select one of their fans to giveaway a free Explorer upon their fan total surpassing a certain number.

Read more about this at 10 Key Elements Of One Of The Top #Facebook Marketing Campaigns Of The Year.

4. Jack In The Box

Popular fast food chain Jack In The Box, and their slightly creepy mascot Jack, added a nickel in an imaginary jar for every new fan they accrued on Facebook in their October Rich Fan Sweepstakes. They started at just over $2,000, and when they gave away the money about a month later to a randomly selected fan, the jar was up to over $11,500. Needless to say, giving away free money is one of the best and easiest ways to acquire new fans on the social network. It was certainly a creative campaign though that helped the fast food chain see an explosive increase in fan numbers.

5. Bing and Farmville

A little before the beginning of Spring, Microsoft’s Facebook page for Bing launched a campaign that helped them accrue almost a half million new fans on the social network. The search engine did this by giving away FarmVille currency to all new fans that hit the “Like” button. Bing drew in great traffic and their page grew rapidly, but engagement of the content on the page was drawn into question. The Microsoft page responded by making itself a hotspot with the latest news about the popular Zynga developed game to keep their new fans around.

6. Papa Johns Pizza

The first pizza chain’s Facebook campaign to appear on our Year End list is Papa Johns. They promoted their Papa’s Speciality Pizza Contest using Facebook, and it created quite a buzz and a growth in fans as a result. The contest put the fans taste buds and creativity to the test as it was up to them to come up with a new pizza for the company. The winner also saw a piece of the profits, so it was not too much of a surprise that this creative campaign helped the popular chain’s fan-base on Facebook continue to expand.

7. Southwest Airlines

To go a whole list without mentioning at least one company that has utilized Facebook’s new popular feature, Places, just would not be acceptable. Southwest partnered up with the Make A Wish Foundation for an excellent charitable promotion that had the airline donating a dollar to the organization every time a passenger checks into a Southwest served airport. The promotion has had great success, as it is for a great cause, and it has it helped Southwest gain over 1 million fans on the social network. Be sure to check in on your next flight and join an excellent campaign.

8. Kellogs

Popular cereal company Kellogg’s teamed up with Feeding America, and the Facebook page Kellogg Cares comes as a result. The page has been a quick increase in fans, and the content posted makes it such an interactive success on the social network. The page’s aim is to educate younger generations on proper nutrition through posts and video updates. Kellogg’s used Facebook in an extremely humane fashion to raise awareness for a particular issue.

9. Domino’s Pizza

Domino’s Pizza has completely revamped its brand image this year through advertising campaigns, and a heavy focus on interactive social networks. As they were coming to the realization that their pizza previously tasted similar to cardboard, they started a tab on their Facebook page where fans could voice all of their complaints with the popular chain. Regardless of any opinion on whether their new pizza has actually improved, their use of Facebook to listen fans opinions was a great way to begin to improve a deteriorating image that was initially attached to their brand. Domino’s continues to be extremely interactive on the page offering responses and updates for fans.

10.  Corona

Corona Light cross-media campaign this past year included a goal to become “The Most Liked Light Beer In America.” A most notable part of this was to use Facebook, and by fanning the page you could see your picture up in the bright lights of New York City’s Time Square. The campaign was a great social media success in the sense that it had fans interacting on the pages as well as spreading the story of the billboard by word of mouth. The billboard ran for a month until the beginning of December, and many fans were able to snag pictures and be a part of this Facebook-based advertisement.

So what is a Facebook marketing campaign that you have noticed recently that impressed you? Look forward to reading it in the comments.

This list was sourced from Allfacebook.com which is a great resource for finding the latest information on all things Facebook.

The rise and rise of Facebook is producing a scramble by marketers and companies to leverage its huge global database and traffic.

Google is looking over its shoulder as Facebook grows at over 10 million users a month and sits currently at number two on web traffic rankings according to Alexa.com.

Last year Facebook surpassed Google for the top ranking for total time spent online.

Google is even being forced to continually adjust its search engine algorithms to cater for the a social web that provides more prominence for social channels in its search results. Facebook has also become the 3rd largest video website with 46.6 million viewers sitting behind number one ranked video content property provider Google with its YouTube site and Yahoo at second ranking.

50 Facebook Facts and Figures

1. 1 in every 13 people on Earth is on Facebook
2. 35+ demographic represents more than 30% of the entire user base
3. 71.2 % of all USA internet users are on Facebook
4. In 20 minutes 1,000,000 links are shared on Facebook
5. In 20 minutes 1,484,000 event invites are posted
6. In 20 minutes 1,323,000 photos are tagged
7. In 20 minutes 1,851,000 status updates are entered
8. In 20 minutes 1.972 million friend requests are accepted
9. In 20 minutes 2,716,000 photos are uploaded
10. In 20 minutes 2,716,000 messages are sent
11. In 20 minutes 10.2 million comments are posted
12. In 20 minutes 1,587,000 wall posts are written
13. 750 million photos were uploaded to Facebook over New Year’s weekend
14. 48% of young Americans said they found out about news through Facebook
15. 48% of 18 to 34 year olds check Facebook right when they wake up
16. 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
17. Average user has 130 friends
18. People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
19. There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
20. Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
21. Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month
22. More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.
23. More than 70 translations available on the site
24. About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
25. Over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application
26. Entrepreneurs and developers from more than 190 countries build with Facebook Platform
27. People on Facebook install 20 million applications every day
28. Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external websites
29. Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day
30. More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, including over 80 of comScore’s U.S. Top 100 websites and over half of comScore’s Global Top 100 websites
31. There are more than 250 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices
32. People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
33. There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products
34. Al Pacino’s face was on the original Facebook homepage
35. One early Facebook function was a file sharing service
36. The first “Work Networks” as well as the original educational networks  included Apple and Microsoft
37. The meaning of the term poke has never been defined
38. There is an ‘App’ to see what’s on the Facebook cafe menu
39. Mark Zuckerburg (CEO of Facebook) calls himself a “Harvard Graduate” when in fact he didn’t graduate (apparently his reply is that “there isn’t a setting for dropout”)
40. Australian’s spend more time per month on Facebook than any other country at over 7 hours on average
41. A Facebook employee hoodie sold for $4,000 on eBay
42. Facebook was initially bank-rolled by Peter Thiel the co-founder of PayPal for $500,000
43. It is the second biggest website by traffic behind Google (at the moment)
44. Facebook is now valued at approximately $80 billion
45. Facebook makes money through advertising  and virtual products
46. Facebook was almost shut down by a lawsuit by ConnectU who claimed that Zuckerburg stole the idea and Technology for Facebook (the issue was settled out of court)
47. The USA has the largest Facebook user base with 155 million people which represents 23.6% of Facebook’s total users
48. There is over 16,000,000 Facebook fan pages
49. Texas Hold’em Poker is the most popular Facebook page with over 41 million fans
50. More than 650 million active users

Growing your Facebook “likes” are social media’s version of building the traditional email subscribers list.

Facebook specialist Allfacebook.com states that for them Facebook fans are twice as effective as an email list. Their reasoning?…that email is now full of “spam” and 50% of all Facebook users log in every day.

Steve Gaither from the agency JB Chicago reports that the conversion rates for Facebook and Twitter are consistent across a number of their social media marketing campigns.

Conversion Rates for Facebook and Twitter

These are what JB Chicago have found to be the conversion rates on their campaigns.

• Paid Twitter: one to three percent
• Organic Twitter: eight to nine percent
• Facebook organic: 20 to 30 percent
• Facebook ads: 18 to 20 percent

According to Venturebeat in an interview with Carolyn Penner ( a Twitter spokesperson)  “We’re seeing incredible engagement numbers — between 3 percent and 5 percent on average for Promoted Tweets… We’ve seen some as high as 52 percent,”

(Twitter defines engagement as a clickthrough, but it also counts retweets, replies and favorites in its engagement numbers — meaning that part of the ROI includes one-on-one conversations with fans of the brand)

So despite some differences in conversion rates reported, it goes without saying that capturing those important Facebook likes is vital to your social media marketing campaigns.

So how can you grow your Facebook likes and increase engagement?

20 Ways to Increase  Your Facebook Likes and Engagement

1. Advertise on Facebook to get more “likes”. This is the quickest way to grow your fan base. The Supre fashion brand did this to obtain 40,000 fans quickly.
2. Rotate your ads “DAILY”  people get tired of hearing the same thing in conversation so change your ad! Conversion (CTR) rates can drop by 50% after the first 24 hours. Do not “set and forget”
3. Add Facebook Social Plugin Box to your Blog and Website (60% of my “likes” are achieved this way)
4. Free exclusive video that can only be viewed if you like the page.
5. Run a competition. Everyone likes a competition
6. Make it obvious on a custom landing page by providing a big bold “Like our Page”
7. Initially ask friends and family to like your page. A bit overdone but essential at the beginning
8. Offer a free ebook to obtain a “like” (just like you should be doing for email subscriber acquisition)
9. Post content from your blog to Facebook whenever you write a new post. Facebook users love receiving new content on Facebook without having to go looking for your blog. Treat Facebook as an extension of your blog.
10. Provide enticing high resolution photos. Compelling photos that are appropriate for your target audience will keep them coming back and make them share and so drive more likes from their friends
11. Ask questions regularly using Facebook’s native question app.
12. Include a link to your Facebook page in your email signature
13. Provide a compelling welcome video on your Facebook landing page
14. Simple but often missed: Add a “follow us” on Facebook button near the top of your website and blog pages
15. Create an incentivised “Like” page that gives people a reason to like your page.
16. Include the Facebook like button on your email HTML template so that people can like your facebook page from the regular email newsletter
17. Add a large custom banner to your blog and website asking to “Like
18. Add a link to your Facebook page as one of your three LinkedIn website links that are part of your LinkedIn settings in your profile
19. Add a newsworthy update that is relevant for your industry or market niche to your Facebook page every day
20. Offer “Special” including discounts to Facebook fans. The majority of Facebook users “like” a page to obtain a discount

Even though growing your Facebook likes is important don’t forget to continue to grow both your email subscriber list and Twitter followers. Different users have different social network channels of choice and you need to be everywhere. “Synergize” multiple channels don’t “Monopolise”

How have you increased your Facebook page “likes”?

For many companies a Facebook fan page is an integral part of their social media campaign. But, what elements help fan pages build up large followings and what can brands do to emulate the success of others? I’ve put together a list of specific elements that I believe have helped create fan pages with large, engaged, followings.

This post is part of Mashable’s Facebook Week. To discuss everything Facebook, join our authors and community at Mashable’s Facebook Page.

1. Networking with other platforms

Building a large following requires a network of other platforms, working in conjunction to drive visitors to your fan page. One brand that does that well is Victoria’s Secret with their PINK line.

As you can see, on their PINK landing page they have a link to their Facebook fan page and their MySpace profile. Victoria’s Secret leverages the traffic their home page gets and pushes them to their Facebook fan page.

When is the last time you went looking for a brand’s Facebook fan page? More often than not, a consumer will stumble upon the page, either through a friend or from a hub, similar to Victoria’s Secret’s PINK page.

Understandably, the fact that the demographic targeted by Victoria’s Secret PINK, aligns exactly with the demographic that is most active on Facebook, has helped grow the group as well.

Key Takeaway: Connecting multiple social platforms and a hub from the brand website, can help funnel consumers throughout the network.

2. Creating a resource

Some pages are used as connection hubs, but others offer information pertinent to their consumers. They use the information as added value to have consumers create a connection with the brand.

Dell has done a great job with their social media resource for small businesses. Understanding that small business owners buy computers, by offering them this resource, small business owners interested in social media keep Dell top of mind.

Although, Dell can’t explicitly gauge the success of this program in ROI, it is a branding exercise. Also, since they offer deals and updates on new products on the page – the page does have a chance to convert small business owners into Dell consumers.

Key Takeaway: Offering a resource page allows a brand to target a new demographic, outside of those that already know and love the business.

3. Creating contests that include participation

For brands that want fan pages to have added value (a reason for users to join the page, aside from brand loyalty), but don’t want to become a resource portal; offering contests and coupons specifically to Facebook users can entice consumers to join.

Sears offered fans a $10 coupon to use in stores, giving consumers a reason to join. Clicking on the coupon takes you to a page where Sears collects your information and sends you information about the coupon, deals, and offers. There’s no way to make sure the coupon is given to only Facebook fans, however like Sears, brands can require an email before receiving the coupon.

Key Takeaway: Offering something to consumers to join can help build a large community. Some examples of things to offer: Coupons, free shipping, weekly deals.

4. Empowering pre-existing pages

One of my favorite stories about social media involves the Coca Cola Facebook page. The fan page was created by two users who liked Coke. What started as a fan page for fun, turned out to be the largest product fan page on Facebook.

Coca Cola, instead of taking over the page and making it their own, rewarded the fans by bringing them to Atlanta and giving them a tour of the Coke facility. The fan page remains theirs, but now they have the blessing and help of Coca Cola.

By empowering the fans to keep their fan page, Coke ensures a passionate page owner.

The Coca Cola marketing team was also smart enough to realize that letting others know what happened here would work in their favor. The fan page creators were told to make a video of the history behind the fan page, and how Coke had reached out to them and rewarded them for this.

The video shows future ‘brand enthusiasts’ that creating successful groups around Coca Cola can result in rewards and recognition.

Key Takeaway: Taking over unsanctioned Facebook fan pages isn’t always the best idea. Instead, rewarding dedication can inspire others to do the same.

5. Targeting the proper demographic

Sometimes no matter what you do, your Facebook page won’t grow. This can simply be a side effect of Facebook’s demographic. There are just some brands that will not have a strong presence on Facebook.

Understanding the demographic present can help you decide if Facebook is worth it for your business.

From Quantcast estimates, we can tell that Facebook skews towards female youths. Interestingly, 53% of users have kids and a majority make over $60k a year salary. Obviously, over 50% are college kids. The demographics that make up Facebook are changing quickly, as more moms have begun to join and the college market has become saturated — so be sure to keep checking up on demographic changes over time. As Facebook changes, your campaigns may need to change with it for maximum effect.

For companies whose brand does not target the optimal demographic, finding a specific line that does, works.

Consider the brand mentioned earlier in this article, Victoria’s Secret. Instead of putting the entire brand on Facebook, they targeted the PINK line, a line for college students.

Key Takeaway: Some brands cannot expect huge followings on Facebook. Brands or product lines targeting the demographic most prominent on Facebook tend to see the quickest growth.

Creating a Facebook fan page is simple, but getting it to work well takes time, dedication, and some planning. Don’t expect to create a page and then have a huge following instantaneously. Build good content, make it easy to share, and let people know about it, and over-time the community will grow.

Do you have a successful fan page? What did you do to get the word out? What elements did you add to make it easier to pass along? How do you engage your consumers?

Social Media optimization is a technique which is used to populate brands,selling products, creating discussion about some issue to make them popular.I know you may confuse that this is entirely different answer for the above question, but it is absolutely true. This is how Social Media is working in nowadays. Social media are becoming a big asset for most of the brands.Starting small companies to big companies everybody trying to get best out of the social media.Social media is really expanding its routes very fast, Facebook is a big example for that, Facebook got 100 million user in 9 months, which is an all time record.

See this below video how the Social media is growing in the industry…

Now we need to know what are the sources for the Social media optimization.See this below video which explains about the best sources of your social media optimization.

So i hope now you got a clear picture on the Social media optimization,In the up coming posts I will write a more descriptive topic on this…Subscribe to my Future Newsletters.