Though social media marketing is now used in about 90% of companies, techniques, platforms and best practices continue to evolve.  What will likely be the hot trends in social media over the next couple of years? Marketers have questions, this post has answers: 87 vital social media and online marketing statistics covering everything from how executives and large companies are using social media for marketing, customer service and recruiting to fresh stats on the leading social media platforms to search, email, content and mobile marketing trends. MediaPost ). MORE >>

Then, find opportunities in your own relevant content to link to these articles and consider sharing them in social media (if they are still relevant, of course). Follow top blogger actions, not advice Top bloggers don’t always practice what they preach. Get in tune with the right social media channel Take an honest look at the volume and quality of traffic from popular social media. Are you spending time building a presence in the right social media channels? T op 10 lists are like new year’s resolutions. They’re too aspirational. MORE >>

Media relations and PR professionals need the right keywords to know how to build more relevant press releases and build better anchor text in them. And bloggers , of course, need to know what words their audiences use to describe their pain points. IBM also produces every kind of marketing and communications asset you can think of related to the event across the major channels: Paid: TV ads,  print ads, banner ads, iPad mobile ads, paid search. Paid created the buzz, while owned and earned kept the audience engaged. Photo credit: Wikipedia. IBM sponsors the event. MORE >>

As the final wrap-up in our ongoing series of Social Media Management Systems (SMMS) reviews for B2B companies, we’re providing a list of the most popular desktop and web-based systems on the market. We encourage anyone in the market for a social media management system to understand the features and functionality you need first, then find a system that matches your requirements and budget. Also let other readers know if you would recommend the tool in a similar social media environment. Price : Free (2 users/2 channels) or $4.95/month per user/channel. MORE >>

Given the widespread adoption of social media marketing practices, the “if” and “when” questions seemed to have now been resolved by most midsized and larger companies (and a lot of small companies as well). However, as the posts and articles highlighted below show, plenty of questions remain, such as how much should we budget for social media? What’s the best process for developing a social media marketing plan? Social Media Marketing Tips, Tactics & Techniques. Dr. Seuss’ 7 social media lessons by Ragan’s PR Daily. MORE >>