Think about it. More than 80% of adults use the Internet or e-mail at least occasionally. According to the latest Pew research, 71% of Internet users are on Facebook, and 70% of those engage with the site daily. Any way you slice it, that’s a whole lotta communication going on! Add to that the massive growth that sites such as Instagram (now bigger than Twitter), Snapchat and others continue to show, and it’s a safe bet that they will continue to be favorite ways for users to stay in touch with their ever-growing world.

So what does this have to do with your brand? While a bit dated (2012), the latest stat we could find on the subject says that 71% of social-media users said they are more likely to make a purchase based on...

The Latest Tools for Getting the Most From Your Web and Social-Media Marketing

Businesses looking to evaluate the return on their efforts in web and social-media marketing can take heart: There are scores of analytical tools available that can precisely show them how well their campaigns are doing.

In social media, those just getting started in analytics would do well to check out Hootsuite. A powerful social-media dashboard that allows users to manage all of their postings and other activities on all the major social-media networks, Hootsuite is also packed with a wide variety of analytical tools that show how well you’re doing on social media.

For Many, a Bitter Pill

Businesses smarting over Facebook’s decision to severely limit their ability to communicate with people who like their business pages on the social network recently got an explanation from the web titan about the policy change. But many aren’t buying it.

“Facebook wants us to pay for real estate that we used to get for free,” said Leslie Nuccio, creative strategist for Meltwater, a social media monitoring and press relations firm.

While negative online reviews can be completely unsubstantiated, businesses must face a hard truth: The Internet never forgets. Without a detailed strategy in place for dealing with negative reviews, a thumbs-down from a customer—or a series of customers—can stay on the web forever and consequently erode profits forever.

Indeed, according to a Harvard study released in 2011, a simple one-star ratings increase of Seattle restaurants on Yelp spiked a...

A Whole New Way for Companies to Promote With Hashtags

Companies looking to join highly specific conversations happening on Facebook now have an easy way to get there: Facebook hashtags. Essentially, Facebook allows users to categorize a conversation they’re having on the social network by using a simple hashtag (#) and keyword in their post. For example, log onto Facebook and type #InternetMarketing in Facebook’s search box, and you’ll be presented with all the posts on Facebook coded with that hashtag/keyword.

Marketers flocking to Facebook and Twitter without even a hint of a social media policy are discovering a disturbing truth: It takes only a few ill-placed tweets and posts to get your feathers plucked.