Social Media Guide for Web Designing Geniuses
Socialization has become somewhat of a necessity nowadays. With the advancement in technology and everyone always on-the-go, we need activities to kill time and keep us connected at all times!
If you enjoy facing challenges, then I just might have a little something for you; try keeping up with the rapid updates of the social media today and see how that works out for you.
It must not be of surprise to know that approximately one quarter of the world’s population is engaged in social media, and as developers and designers it is of our best interest to make platforms that reel in more of the population with the latest trends at the palm of their hands.
Just like every other year that comes with a bang and brings many new updates our way to enjoy, lets’ take a look at what the year 2015 has as the latest trends in store for us!
Mobile Phones are so the New BFF’s
When you go out and see someone using their phone, what is the first thing you expect them to be doing? Well, the answer is simple; social networking of course!
The most common purpose of the cellphone now is the easy access to any possible social networking app suitable to fulfill their requirements as easy as 1-2-3. As a matter of fact, 65% of social network activity is done via mobile devices. Ultimately that means mobiles are becoming the first choice for social media users. And with each passing day more users are purchasing smart devices for their own comfort; meaning more users consuming content available online. Hence, in order to push forward the best experience possible, with the increasing rate of the usage of mobile devices, social networks are promoting the idea in their platforms of “mobile first”.
As a conclusion to this, websites must not only have to be fully responsive but also have to be developed in a way that keeps a mobile user as its grounds and builds its way to the top from there.
Personal Privacy
I think we all know, no matter how much you add the whole “100% fully secured” or whatever to gain your viewers’ trust; nothing has never truly been private. True privacy is either impossible or extremely difficult to achieve.
For example, one of the most top social networking apps, Facebook, has without a doubt promoted the use of anonymous access with the help of a service called Tor; allowing users to access web pages without the tension of being tracked down.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day people prefer private social media networks that can become a lot more difficult for your brand to interact with. And can also be posed as a major challenge to advertise or bring them out to the market.
Single-Use or Unbundling Platform
So we were offered Instagram to be used as a platform that helps in sharing images/videos with friends. Whereas, when we were offered Snapchat, it became the social network that provides you with a choice for selectively sharing images with friends. Notice the distinction between the two? One offers a more secure environment, while the other being secure does not allow the selective sharing facility.
Similarly, apps like Line, WeChat or WhatsApp are slowly picking up their pace in many countries by offering a one-to-one social communication similar to that of text messaging but without it costing you for each text you send.
Even the apps that are considered as the ultimate app of the apps might come off as the much more difficult task to undertake, trust in me, single-use apps have a fair share of their own difficulties.
People expect the single-task app or site to perform with perfection as it only has one goal. Although you have to admit, you would be extremely disappointed if your kitchen knife did not turn to be half has fantastic as your pocket knife, right?
Bottom-line, what is essential in this game is to simplify your design and make its basic functionality bulletproof to achieve success in such a venture.
The Four-One-Oh of Social Media
Many people prefer working in their own small work space surrounded by their friends and business partners, but regardless of that social media benefits can be highly invaluable in many ways.
- Content: Your main asset is and always will be your content. The richer it is with material the more powerful influential it is. But this is best only if you can maintain the quality of your content with integrity. This way Google will run to assist you with all the organic traffic you could possibly wish for, and so will the people who have relied on what you have to say for so long.
- Relationships: It takes time and effort to get where you stand strong enough to know you have people to take a stand for you. There is this feeling you get from the people you know, or when you know you can trust someone; you know you can count on them to help support you, encourage you if you are down, and even feel at ease to promote you and buy from you just because they know you best. These relationships are what you need to take yourself higher than you have ever been.
- Sales: The best you could possibly bring out of sales is when you know everything will be in place even if you are not around. Whether you are dead asleep or out clubbing late night, you are sure enough that nothing will crash and burn in your absence. The sense of being this sure is what comes in hand at times like this. Since just because you are awake does not mean the rest of the population that follows your minute-to-minute updates is as well.
- Resourcefulness: This is the time to put every skill in you down to business. It is quite a talent to be able to provide people with the latest scoop and update them with all the happenings in order to gain a long list of followers/readers who you know will believe every word you say. That is when you are sure you have finally gained their trust and are most probably considered as their most reliable source, until that time comes when they keep coming back for more!
Hmm. Sounds Interesting Enough. Is there Any Network I can join?
If the audience is all over the social media, they all will have that specific group of people with whom they would want to share everything all the time. If you want to help things be much easier for them, you might want to look into this option more carefully than you think. For all of this you need to get down to the bottom of things to be able to build a strong structure with more business and clients that include minimal effort and maximum return!
Yes, I actually did just say Facebook. If it is on the list of top most accessible sites for every consumer and their business page, there must be something that keeps so many people from drifting away to find something better, since they are kept in this delusion that there is no better than what Facebook provides for connecting an engaging.
Be it a young ambitious teenager, small business, or an independent creative company; all are socializing on Facebook in search for someone loyal and trustworthy enough to be hired. It is like a plan that can never fail! With billions of users crawling all over the site, you are bound to find someone who is to fall head over heels for what you are offering.
Discovering something new with each new day to come your way is a blessing in disguise. If you have stumbled upon a few interesting images every now and then while searching something you must already be aware of the power of Pinterest.
Nearly 70% of the users on this social networking site are females. This does not mean that it is a gender restricted site. The main service it provides is the ability to discover new products, recipes and/or anything you could possibly find as your interest. It is to inspire you to do more than you possibly knew you could!
The best thing is having every powerful source at the palm of your hands only to avoid any future embarrassment of going through the hassle just to get something as per the request of your customer only because you did not have something when they needed it. Twitter, is that powerful resource you might want to check into every now and then as it has this unique user interface that allows you to check the trending now, and imagine your content posted all over. Twitter is the easiest way to keep you fully updated 24/7.
Show me the Money
As told by literally everyone; ‘time is money’. Indeed it is, although if you are looking for a response from your fans, then do not let them break a sweat in the waiting line for something so common other people might even offer for free. Save theirs’ and your time however possible.
Make them an Offer that cannot be refused
Always remember, if you cannot work hard enough on your product, do not expect people to be waiting on you for what they need. What makes you so special that you think people would want to hire you? If you want them to want you, you need to show them something no one else is offering. Cut them a deal maybe? Do whatever it takes to keep your place ahead in the game.
Do Not Forget to Have Fun!
Do you like seeing someone in even the slightest amount of displeasure? If you do not enjoy the view, keep in mind that it might be the same for your viewers as well. You should avoid the display of being displeased by something within your field of work. Everyone has their own sets of likes and dislikes. Just keep your chin up and smile! Add in a few jokes every now and then. Lighten up the mood instead of making it heavy.
How Do I Enhance My Social Media Management?
If you are looking for ways to save yourself some time with automated tasks, surely your prayers have been answered with this blessing sent from heaven above known as; HootSuite.
Basically, HootSuite is a social media management system; more like an all-in-one app that has the ability to enable organizations in the execution of campaigning across all social networks from one teeny tiny little app’s web-based dashboard. Be it a deep analysis of your social media account or providing the necessary tools in order to switch back and forth through multiple accounts simultaneously; you name it!
Designed initially with a unique columned user interface came TweetDeck for Adobe Air, as a desktop application; now branched for desktop, web and mobile devices. The basic goal was to just allow users to monitor information in a single concise view as a simple real-time application.
If put to good use, this app could do wonders for you! It offers you with the smoothest tools; tweet scheduling and even the option to monitor custom search results for new tweets!
If you run a business or a blog that actively receives comments and social shares, this app was so made for you!
what about LinkedIn?