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.

iOS 6 Hits iPhones This Fall: Here’s How Your Business Will Use It

Two months ago, Apple‘s top executives took the stage at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference to announce and demo some of the exciting new features coming with iOS 6 later this year. The sixth major release to what Apple describes as the “world’s most advanced operating system” promises to bring hundreds of new features, changes and improvements.

In the weeks since the announcement, developers have had the chance to work with early beta releases and put some of the new features through their paces. With a focus on bridging the gap between desktops and mobile devices, along with deeply integrating sharing tools, iOS 6 will be extremely valuable to the business world. Here are just a few of the enterprise-quality features you can expect when iOS 6 is released this fall. [ Read More... ]

Why Social Media Managers Should Be Integrated With Sales and Support

The people monitoring your social media presence are increasingly becoming an integral part of your company. A social media manager is the main person your customers and clients interact with online, and while he or she may not fit squarely into either your sales or support teams, the job can encompass elements of both topics. Keeping your social media personnel involved with people in your company’s sales and support teams can make them more effective at the job.

There’s still a huge stumbling block to widespread adoption of social media for enterprise companies, however. Executives are still unsure about its return on investment. The key to providing a positive ROI is integrating social media with the sales engine of your business — coupled with a comprehensive social media management tool to streamline the entire process. Here are some general reasons why that integration can help your business, as well as examples of how Sprout Social, in particular, can help your business to apply those ideas. [ Read More... ]

Get Ahead of Twitter Trends to Get a Jump on Your Competition

This week we recommend that you get ahead of Twitter Trends in order to make a bigger impact when the Trends actually unfold.

In a previous article on Sprout Insights, we told you why it’s important to pay attention to Twitter Trending Topics — now simply referred to as “Trends.” Of course, by the time a topic becomes a Trend on Twitter, millions of tweets will have already been published on the topic in question. While this is generally a good thing, sometimes your posts on that Trend can get lost in the sea of related tweets.

Why not get ahead of the Trends that you can predict in advance? Here’s how you can generate buzz, carve out your niche as a subject matter expert, and get a jump on your competition before trending topics go mainstream on Twitter.
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What Klout’s Latest Upgrade Means For Business

Since 2008, Klout has been using its algorithm to help individuals and businesses measure their influence on the web and through their social media channels. How exactly is your Klout score determined? In its own words, Klout says that your score “is a number from 1-100 that represents the aggregation of multiple pieces of data about your social network activity.”

While Klout makes the task of measuring engagement and influence a little easier, it’s no stranger to problems and skepticism from those in the social media community. When Justin Bieber was able to attain a higher score than President Obama, many began to challenge the legitimacy of their rankings. This prompted a host of tweaks and changes from Klout to try to address these concerns.

This week, Klout announced the largest upgrade to its service since it began, promising that more accurate scoring has finally arrived. Let’s take a closer look at what Klout’s latest upgrade may mean for your business. [ Read More... ]

Does Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Offer Anything New to Your Business?

Business is becoming more mobile, and a company’s choice of operating system can make a big difference in how your team interacts with each other and with clients. Google’s Android operating system has grown from a shot-in-the-dark upstart to surpass the dominance of Apple’s iOS. Google released Android 4.1, better known as Jelly Bean, to the first wave of devices in July.

The amount of improvement Jelly Bean can offer you depends on what version of Android you’re currently running. If you have Ice Cream Sandwich, which is Android 4.0, then most of the changes will be in performance. But if you’re one of the Android users who is running an even earlier version of the OS, then the updates will seem much more drastic.

Here’s a list of some of the upgrades you’ll see between Android 4.0 and version 4.1 — plus some analysis as to whether this upgrade is worth the hassle for business owners and other professionals. [ Read More... ]

6 Tips For Doing Customer Service Over Twitter

Twitter‘s very nature allows your customers to express themselves publicly anywhere at any time. As a result, your business can use this platform to connect with your customers in ways that were impossible just a few short years ago.

This is especially true in the realm of customer service, as Sprout Social’s in-depth white paper has shown.

Twitter provides a unique opportunity to help customers solve their problems in real-time, before they give up on your business or go elsewhere looking for help. Here are six great tips to help you put your best foot forward with customer service on Twitter. [ Read More... ]

Spotlight on Startups: AnyPerk provides free perks to your employees

At Sprout Insights, we comb the web to bring you the most up-to-date and actionable resources on how to use social media to grow your business.

To that end, we’re pleased to present the Sprout Insights series Spotlight on Startups. We’ll find the most innovative, useful startup companies out there, get the inside track on what they’re doing, and tell you how you can leverage their products and services for your own business.

This week we’re pleased to cast the spotlight on AnyPerk — a San Francisco based startup that provides employee perks and benefits to other startups and small companies across the U.S. [ Read More... ]

5 Tips for Doing Customer Service Over Facebook

As people begin to rely on social media for more than just catching up with friends, businesses need to prepare for a growing number of interactions with their customers on those channels. Customer service is one of the most important departments for a company to develop into a social media presence. However, many businesses have a long way to go in getting their customer service tasks up to speed with the social media world.

With a little bit of planning, incorporating your company’s social media strategy with its customer service team doesn’t have to be hard. Keep in mind that you may have to adopt a slightly different approach for each network, because each has different strengths and capabilities. Here are a few tips that can help you maximize the service and support potential of your brand’s Facebook Page.
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[Image credits: thetaxhaven, AnyPerk]