This week on Sprout Social Insights we tackled guides for Facebook, Twitter, and small business to help you better reach your customers with the social tools that make a difference.

Check out our articles below to find out more about each one and how they can help you with your social media goals.

And check in every day to Sprout Social Insights for more how to guides and breaking social media news.

Mac vs. PC: Which Is Best for Your Business?

As a business owner, you have many things to consider when you set up your business. One of the most important technical considerations is choosing a computer system that meets the needs of your business. These days, that decision will most likely boil down to choosing between the Mac and PC platforms.

To make a fully informed decision, consider factors like your budget, the type of software you use for your business, the data storage you need, and so on. If you’re just getting your business set up, or if you’re considering changing systems, here are a few specific things to consider when you’re making a choice between Mac vs. PC. [ Read More... ]

Businesses and Brands Are Now Welcome on Google+

Today Google announced the launch of brand pages for Google+. After months of waiting, businesses and brands are now welcome to join the social network.

Google+ now has 40 million users and more than 100 new features have been launched. Upon launch, you were asked not to create profiles for your brands or businesses with a promise that you’d be able to soon.

Google+ Pages will allow brands, products, companies, businesses, places, and groups to establish a presence on the social network. While similar in design to Facebook Pages, Google is sure to integrate elements of Google+ pages deep into search. [ Read More... ]

Just Tweet It!

This week we’ll show you that perhaps the best Twitter advice is simply to get started, damn the torpedoes, and just tweet it!

This Twitter Tip is for those of you who still have not started, or embraced, Twitter. To paraphrase that famous quote from Nike, don’t wait any longer, “Just Tweet It!” The sooner you get started on Twitter, the sooner you can begin to build relationships, find followers, and reap the marketing rewards that Twitter has to offer. [ Read More... ]

How Brands Advertise on Twitter

Twitter is a powerful social media tool that allows businesses to market themselves in a way they couldn’t just a few years ago. At the same time, it’s hard for companies to move completely away from traditional marketing tactics, so it’s not surprising that Twitter advertising is a hot topic these days.

There are three primary ways that brands can advertise on Twitter: direct advertising, third-party network advertising, and publisher direct advertising. You can learn more about each of these methods below. [ Read More... ]

Introducing Sprout Social S2: Improved Social Media Management

We’re very pleased to announce the launch of Sprout Social S2, the new and improved version of our powerful social media management tool for businesses, brands, and everyone else who can find value in managing social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, Google Analytics, and Foursquare, and tracking their metrics.

Sprout Social S2 adds a ton of new features you won’t get anywhere else, but more than that, it improves the foundation the tool is built on at almost every level. That means we can provide updates that are better and more frequent in the future, ensuring that Sprout Social is the most cutting edge tool available. [ Read More... ]

5 Social Media ROI Myths Busted Wide Open

1920s businessman Jon Wannamaker once famously quipped: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Fast forward almost a hundred years and many businesses are still saying basically the same thing: “I’m investing in social media, but is it paying off?”

There’s a lot of conflicting information about the value of social media and whether it can provide a positive return on investment (ROI), but social media has become so entrenched in the way that your customers interact with each other and your brand that you have no choice but to embrace the phenomenon.

Will you get more out of social media than you put into it? Will you ever see a return on your social media investment? If you want to stay in business, you’ll have to recognize that the answer is yes. But if you still have doubts, consider the following five myths concerning the ROI of social media. [ Read More... ]

How to Build Relationships With Other Facebook Pages

This week, we’ll share some strategies for building beneficial relationships and cross-promotions between your Facebook Page and others.

The first step is simple: You can “Like” another business or brand’s Facebook Page while logged in as your Page. This will make the Page you Liked appear on your own; if you can arrange for the other business or brand to Like your Page in return, visitors to each Page will have an easy path to check out the other. [ Read More... ]

[Image credits: Ed Yourdon, Marco Verch, David Melchor Diaz]