Keep Up On LinkedIn

Despite your best intentions, it’s possible you haven’t been keeping up with your company’s LinkedIn profile. This year, dedicate yourself to regular maintenance – following others, posting status updates, interacting with other users and more.

Try Something New

Get off on the right foot by trying a brand new network! If you’re already on Facebook and Twitter, check out newcomers Yo or the ad-free Ello or launch an account on a popular photo sharing site such as Instagram, SnapChat or Pinterest. Stay tuned for more in-depth posts on these new networks.

Change Your Passwords

Keep your accounts secure by changing your passwords frequently (if you don’t already, commit to changing them at least a couple of times a year – more is even better!). Opt for a combination of letters, numbers and symbols and record it somewhere safe just in case you forget. Having a different, secure password for each network is often recommended.

Engage More

Engaging and interacting with others puts the social in social media. Get on there and get active ASAP – you’ll be surprised by what you learn about yourself, your business and your potential and current customers.

Use Twitter’s Mute Function

Twitter added the ability to mute users in 2014. This means that you can follow as many users as you like, including courtesy followbacks, without having to scroll through their tweets in your feed. Win-win.

If you make one of these 5 social media New Year’s resolutions, you’re guaranteed to boost your business’s online presence in 2015. From keeping your accounts secure to trying out new functions and networks, engaging with users and keeping up on LinkedIn, you’ll want to follow through.

Image Credit: Resolving to Write More – A Worthy Thought by Carol VanHook, via Flickr, CC License, no changes made

As anyone who’s spent time on YouTube knows, most videos are preceded by short video advertisements that typically make you watch for 5 seconds, then give you the option to skip the rest. Though potentially annoying to some, this type of in-your-face functionality allows the service to stay free, and eventually becomes the inoffensive “norm” to most users. SnapChat would have to do things a bit differently, though: since their videos are personalized between friends and can be no longer than ten seconds, it’d make sense that the preceding ads would have to be even shorter than five seconds. This could prove creatively difficult, but if the SnapChat developers have proven anything about their platform so far, it’s that they’re up to the challenge.

Self-Destructing Promotional Codes

One cool thing about SnapChat is that unless you specify otherwise, all photos and videos sent to your friends will disappear forever after a maximum of ten seconds. This dynamic raises some interesting possibilities in terms of exclusive promotions. It could be something simple as a business sending a photo from their official account to their followers along the lines of “Quickly! Write down this code and enter it on our website for a discount.”, so that the users have to really be paying attention in order to catch it in time. This type of client interaction would be unprecedented of sheer speed, and wouldn’t be difficult or expensive for businesses, even small ones, to adopt.

Photo/Video Contests

Businesses, particularly ones that sell physical/tangible products or services, would be wise to encourage their users to advertise their wares for them by offering some form of incentive. For example, if, say, a fashion label is releasing a new seasonal line, they could offer their customers the opportunity to model their clothing in a public SnapChat forum in exchange for some form of discount or stipend if the photo happens to be selected. This would create an atmosphere of competition and visual flare that would benefit both the business and the end user.

What Is It?

SnapChat is a mobile application and social networking platform that’s growing rapidly in popularity. It allows users to send photos and videos to one another that automatically delete after a pre-determined time frame. A novel notion, this impermanence caters to consumers’ growing need for privacy, allowing for greater creativity and less restriction. The application itself is available for smartphones, iPads, computers and other devices.

How Do I Set It Up?

With over 400 million “snaps” shared every day, SnapChat is pretty easy to figure out. Users must first install the application, which can be found at the App Store or Google Play. Click Sign Up (your email address, password and birth date are required) and select a unique username, which makes it easy for friends to find you. Choose wisely – it can’t be changed if you regret calling yourself “DigiNerd2014.” Once you’ve added your friends, either manually or via your phone’s contact list, set-up is complete and you’re ready to go.

How Do I Send “Snaps?”

Capturing images with SnapChat is incredibly simple – if you know how to use a smartphone camera, you’re pretty much there. From the main screen, users can tap to focus on an area and tap, or hold, the circular button to take a photo or video. You then tap the “stopwatch” icon in the lower left to set the time limit for the image or video which, ranging from 1 to 10 seconds, dictates when it will self destruct. Follow the prompts to add a witty caption or tap the “pen” icon in the upper right to draw directly onto the photo. Satisfied with your masterpiece? Tap the arrow icon in the bottom right to choose a recipient; tap it once more to send.

What About Businesses?

Businesses are beginning to jump on the SnapChat bandwagon. An innovative way to communicate with customers, companies are capitalizing on the benefits that short-term visual messaging offers. For example, as discussed by Mashable, a New York City yogurt shop called 16 Handles was the first to execute a SnapChat promotion. 16 Handles asked users to send snaps of themselves enjoying their product, and those who participated received a snap of a coupon for up to 100% off. The coupon could only be opened at the register, or it would delete. While a standard promotional ad may have been equally effective, SnapChat is a novel medium that also allows businesses to target the platform’s main demographic, teens and young adults.

With how simple it is to use, the high degree of privacy it offers and how many businesses are realizing its potential, it’s easy to see why SnapChat might be here to stay. We’re more than eager to see where 2014 takes this social network, and social media as a whole.

Image Credit: Phandroid