Why Everyone Is All About Instagram

Recently purchased by Facebook for $1 billion, Instagram has blown the fuck up. And it's only going to get bigger.

Popular for its easy-to-use filters that make any amateur photographer's shot look hip/nostalgic/whatever, Instagram capitalizes on a simpler and more mobile model of Pinterest. Incredibly app friendly, it might just provide the boost in mobile-legitimacy Facebook is so desperately lacking.

Replacing their heavily criticized Facebook Camera, Instagram not only brings a better set of photo filters but a huge following of trend setters that have been swapping shots of their cappuccinos across the world for over a year.

Now paired with the company's $100 billion and rising net worth, there's no doubt we can expect a bigger following, more photoshopping tools and more Instagram use in social media marketing.

A great example of how businesses can use Instagram in social media strategy is Spyhouse Coffee in Minneapolis. Staging a competition through Instagram, they've set up a panel of judges (assumably baristas) to choose a winner each week from submitted shots of their stores. Each week there's a different theme; submitters simply follow these three guidelines.

1) Submitters must follow @Spyhousecoffee.
2) Each submitter can only submit one image each week per theme.
3) Entries must be public and submitters must be local.

Simple content paired with open-submission design. It's brilliant. And it's practically free. Welcome Instagrammers, to the future (now available in more than just sepia tone).

The Rise of Mobile

According to Forrester Research, between 2008 and 2011 the number of adults that accessed the Internet from PCs daily rose from 54 percent to 62 percent. During that same amount of time the percentage of daily mobile Internet users rose from 4 to 26 percent. There is no denying mobile is the way of the future.

But what does it mean? And how does that affect marketing?

Right now, formatting websites and apps to fit mobile devices has become the lucrative business for all tech savvy personnel. With writing code becoming more and more obsolete with the rise of easy-to-build websites with software and websites like WordPress, Weebly or whatever, smart designers and back-end developers are led to enter a more fertile frontier.

On top of that, social media sites are going to change. Many pundits are declaring the move to mobile as the death of Facebook. Why? Facebook cannot offer the same advertising, branding or games that it can on its PC version. They are struggling to evolve where new social media can innovate anew.

And social media isn't even the big picture. ALL ad driven websites face future limitations on mobile. If current predictions are true, and the general public begins to use mobile as their main source of Internet access (the same way people replaced their home phones with cellphones in the '00s), restrictive data plans will begin to displace online advertising. And with restrictions on the majority of online users, where will advertisers turn? Television? Podcast? A new, better ad friendly form of social media? Only time will tell.

But not to worry, not all is daunting. With the rise of mobile comes a complete rise of client information. If mobile networks fully capitalize on information gathering and sell it to businesses/marketers, they could make the once unprecedented niche marketing of Facebook look like a block phone at a Steve Job's iPhone Fair. The potential for geomarketing would be enormous and through studying potential customer's behavior patterns, mobile could turn out to be best thing to ever happen to marketing.

Why Ad People Are Not Normal [INFOGRAPHIC]

Hilarious infographic from Co.Create on the different social media perspectives between an ad person and a "normal" person.

Three Social Costs Worth Your Money

While social media may be free, there are a few expenses worth splurging on to improve the exposure or image of your business.

1. Purchase a worthwhile tool. Yes, there are many free tools such as Hoot Suite and Timely that can schedule your posts and add multiple accounts, but that isn't what you're paying for. If you're looking to understand where your followers are coming from and what their typical user behavior is, you need analytics--a feature many free tools do not include. Also there are powerful search options in tools such as Tweet Adder in which a business can locate users by location, profile description or keywords. This tool can also compile and export lists of potential followers, stagger your following of them and unfollow those your don't follow you back.

2. Advertise on social media sites. Target marketing has never been so easy. With social media profiles containing such in-depth information about their users and their user base reaching into the billions, advertising on social media sites should be a no brainer.

3. Hire a specialist. If you want to get serious about your business's social media marketing, committing to a specialist is the next step. Just because social media is free, do not be mistaken that anyone can do it or that is isn't important. It's a rapidly growing market and your commitment to that growth may determine the growth of your company. Hiring a specialist not only guarantees present social media will remain updated and customers outside of your doors will remain engaged, but also future unforeseen trends will be followed and your company's image will correspond with those changes.

Geo-Targeting, It's More than Foursquare

Geo-targeting isn't just about Foursquare. It isn't just about kitschy bargains, loyalty rewards or even becoming mayor of your local coffee shop. The big picture lies within tailoring marketing strategies on a national and international scale.

Just by knowing where someone lives, marketers can predict weather, culture, holidays, nationality, and ultimately, behavior effecting those consumers. Imagine going to Macy's website and before you can even shop, a pop-up says "It's supposed to snow tomorrow. Our store location three blocks from you has these three coats for sale." Or imagine you're a retailer located in different states and have different prices for each state. Now, those prices can change depending on the IP location. Seems simple right? Not exactly.

While it may be easy to obtain IP addresses and develop needs for this asset, to actually make it feasible is another matter. Right now, geo-targeting only identifies a site visitor's true location no more than 85% of the time (according to Geoffrey Hueter, chief technology officer at Certona Corp.). Also, geo-targeting is not the answer to everything. It should still be combined with other information companies have on their consumers to produce the most tailored results.

All-in-all, while geo-marketing isn't perfected, it is undeniably a tool for the future and retailers and marketers alike would be wise to watch its development.

How to Use Pinterest to Drive Web Traffic [INFOGRAPHIC]

Pinterest is quickly coming into its own as a social media tool to stay. Here is a really basic infographic from The Social Marketer on how to use its potential for hits (just forgive them on their misspelling of consistency).

IP Reputation and Spam Words: Why They Do or Don't Matter

For a long time, spam words have been included as a major factor in email marketing. Words such as "increase" or "free" along with all caps have been avoided at all costs. Now it turns out they may be passé as IPSs are using IP addresses are indicators of spam predictors.

Why IPs? Unlike most methods of avoiding spam filters, IP addresses cannot be forged or manipulated as easily as changing out a word on a subject line. An IP address works as a fingerprint, only it contains all your history, not just offenses. A good IP not only guarantees a better chance at delivery, but also increases speed of distribution.

How can I control it? IP addresses are measured by how many of your emails are rejected, how quickly you resend, how many people respond or report you as spam, etc. This is all measured over differing time periods as indicators of predicted performance.

The takeaway? All this translates to maintaining your database. Clean out bad emails and don't abuse your email lists. A few bad attempts won't ruin your IP, but a finger should be kept on the pulse of your reputation and the content your distributing.