Social Media Resources for Business: Pinterest, Education, Facebook Timeline

by Don Power - Mar. 4, 2012 at 8:00 am

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 media 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.

3 Ways to Use Pinterest to Find a Job or Change Careers

You might be wondering what Pinterest, with its visually-based pins and pinboards, could possibly have to do with finding a job or changing careers. Well, consider that in some cases, Pinterest is actually referring more website traffic than Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Yahoo.

In other words, Pinterest is a social media platform that simply can’t be overlooked in any comprehensive social media marketing strategy — including your job search.

Here are three ways that you can use Pinterest’s unique qualities to help you find a job or change careers. A good Pinterest strategy will help employers get a more complete picture of the type of person you are and what type of employee you’re likely to be. [ Read More... ]

3 Creative Ways Educators Use Facebook

If you’re a movie buff you might have heard of a little movie called The Social Network. You might also recall from that movie that Facebook originated on a university campus (although its uses were less than academic at that time).

Less than 10 years later, Facebook is now the largest social network on the planet. Because of its massive scale, connecting over 800 million people on a single platform, many educators have found creative ways to leverage Facebook’s social aspects and global reach to create a very powerful teaching tool.

Whether it’s helping kids to explore people and cultures from all over the world, or teaching English to a global audience, Facebook is changing the face of modern education. Take a look at these examples from around the world and see if there are lessons you can apply in your own classroom. [ Read More... ]

Make Sure Your Social Sharing Buttons Point to Your Twitter Account

This week we remind you to check your Twitter social sharing buttons on your website or blog to make sure they point to your Twitter handle and not someone else’s.

If you have a website or a blog, chances are you have social sharing icons installed on your site. These icons or buttons usually appear near your headline or at the bottom of your articles and allow readers to easily share your content right from your website. Here’s what you need to look for to make sure these buttons are configured properly. [ Read More... ]

6 Killer iPhone Apps for Enterprise Business

Despite being initially dismissed for its lack of a physical keyboard, the iPhone has taken the enterprise market by storm.

In fact, in October of last year Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that “93 percent of Fortune 500 companies are deploying or testing iPhone” and earlier this month it was revealed that energy conglomerate Halliburton is among those making the jump.

The rapid rise in the popularity of the iPhone is due, in no small part, to Apple’s App Store. The odds are good that if there’s something you’d like your smartphone to do, someone out there has written an app to do it. This is especially true when it comes to business apps. From scanning documents to video chatting, the iPhone can do it all. Here are six killer apps that will help you get the most out of your iPhone in an enterprise environment. [ Read More... ]

25 Foursquare Terms and Definitions You Need to Know

Foursquare is one of the most popular mobile marketing tools for local businesses today, but it’s also a tool with its own unique language. You can’t effectively market your business with Foursquare until you know what all of those terms mean.

For example, terms like “check-in” and “friends” might seem self-explanatory, but do you know what a “mayor” is? Do you know what “swarm specials” or “flash specials” are?

Once you claim your venue on Foursquare, you can start getting creative and developing specials that can drive new and repeat business. First, review the 25 Foursquare terms and definitions below, so you can fully leverage everything this platform has to offer. [ Read More... ]

How to Prepare Your Facebook Page for Timeline

This week Facebook introduced Timeline for Pages — a highly anticipated feature announcement. The new layout helps you interact more easily with fans through enhanced visuals, featured posts, and private messages.

Many people are already familiar with Timeline through their personal Facebook accounts. Although this layout is consistent with the previous design rolled out last year, there are a few differences that Page admins should be aware of.

Here we’ll highlight some of those differences and will help you to prepare your new Timeline before the site-wide rollout on March 30th. [ Read More... ]

3 Creative Ways Educators Use YouTube

Remember movie day back in grade school? Your teacher would wheel out the old projector but you probably didn’t care what the movie was about — you were more concerned with getting away with some hijinks with your classmates under the cover of darkness.

The use of video in education has come a long way since those days. Today, students view videos on school supplied iPads or smartphones and in some cases, they’re creating videos themselves for class credit. Here are three examples of educators using YouTube in creative ways, including a free and powerful educational resource from YouTube itself. [ Read More... ]

How to Deal With Negative Feedback on Social Media

Business owners dream of the day when everything about their products or servicse are perfect, their customers are super happy, and that their balance sheets are constantly on the up.

In reality, it can be nearly impossible to keep everyone happy, and the social media platforms are now a first point of complaint for many disgruntled customers — or indeed prospective customers. So what do you do when faced with a negative comment? These five tips that will help you smooth the way.
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