This article was very insightful on identifying the new trends in social media marketing. For instance, it is interesting how companies are starting to use "memes" to connect with their customers. It is a cheap and effective way to connect with customers as long as its done right. On the other hand, seeing as tho the "meme" is something that grew organically online, some people feel the ones generated by big corporations are unauthentic, and don't really connect with the consumer no matter how funny they may seem. Business blogging is also something I noticed more on the internet. Micro-blogging seems to be the most effective way for companies to keep customers up to date. Twitter is a big one.

Social Media Marketing World 2014 in San Diego, California, attracted major excitement for the marketers in attendance of the conference. This article discusses the opening keynote speech, presented by the conference organizer Michael Stelzner. Michael discussed what he felt will be the 4 most important trends that will make the biggest impacts on social media in 2014. This conference offers opportunities for businesses to acquire new skills and knowledge about social media for which they can implement in their own business for social marketing success. The first of the 4 trends is “Visual Content will be a HUGE focus in Social in 2014”. This trend is important because Stelzner believes that visual content is going to have a huge impact on consumers. Stelzner makes the point that visual content is often considered too expensive to be done right, but he makes the point that visual content is cheap and gives any size company an ability to make an impression on the consumer. According to research in this article, “70% of marketers plan to increase their use of visual assets in 2014; will you be one of them?” The second trend from Stelzner is “Blogging will continue to Rule”.  Stelzner makes the point that a businesses blog should “serve as the hub of your social presence,” because a successful business blog is a platform that gives complete control to the business. A blog gives the brand a “unique voice”. The third trend is “Google Plus will graduate from a Ghost Town to Metropolis.” Stelzner makes the point that Google Plus was off to a rocky start, but in fact, Google Plus is on top of the list of social networks that marketers want to learn more about. Google Plus offers an ad free environment and unlike Facebook, every Google plus update makes it into the followers feed.  The fourth trend is “Podcasting will Dramatically Increase in Popularity and Reach.” Podcasts are an important trend because Stelzner makes the point that they are often used in the most intimate setting of a consumer’s life, their car. The belief is that podcast accessibility will continue to grow and will find a home in cars. With the average podcast lasting 45 minutes, this opportunity to have the attention of a customer for that period of time is a huge advantage.

This article is an infographic which means it has detailed information in graphic form. The articles purpose is to show why social media marketing will be good for B2B. The infographic has a list of stats and details about the benefits. 

  The first sentence say that a good social media site promotes "credibility and professionalism" which I also think is the most important part of social media marketing. The facts and figures first show that social media marketing will continue to grow and that more B2B businesses are adopting these tactics. The article then gets into the importance of marketing. I think that all businesses should use social media even B2B because today most people try and do as much research as possible and that includes looking at social media to make sure the business is credible. If I were interested in doing business with someone and saw that one of their social media pages was sloppy and not well kept I would probably assume the company was the same way and take my business elsewhere.  

Infographic: 21 short tips about how to handle successfully your Social Media strategy.

This article effectively highlights the top eight social media websites and what makes them unique.  There is also a lot of additional information. which provides account setup instructions for those just getting started.  Overall, this is a great write up for businesses and startups that want to use social media to expand business. 

21 Rules For Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies [Infographic] - Social Metrics Pro | #TheMarketingA...

Great advice for the beginner or even not so beginner!!

Without doubt social media is an important part of the B2B marketing mix, it just depends on how important to your channels and markets