By 2015, it is expected that over $30 billion worth of sales will be attributed to social media network referrals. Social media platforms continue to grow and evolve. Facebook and Twitter are pushing to grow their adword sales and deliver relevant posts to their users. Facebook's IPO resulted in smaller organic visibility for everyone. This hasn't diminished the interest in using social networks to reach customers.

Chirpify allows brands to sell right on Twitter. With over 230 million users, it was a natural shift for Twitter to embrace eCommerce. Brands that can develop strong followings and push custom Tweets can include #BuyNow to conduct an instant transaction.

Big companies see the power of social marketing and social content. H&M used Twitter to reveal items from their collaboration with Isabel Marant. Nicki Minaj debuted a few of her creations on Instagram. Adding the "celebrity" facet to the social message heightens social exposure. But you don't need to have the big name to benefit. Small brands and companies can use social networks to do A B testing of their messages and delivery to find the style that gets them the best ROI.

A MarketForce survey over 80% of consumers cited the social media activity influenced their purchase decisions. Shopper stated they check social networks before to making a final purchase. For small brands fighting to gain their share, the shopper insight indicates a big opportunity to convert and close. For global brands the number may seem small.

Smart brands are leveraging social marketing to influence their consumers. The tone of social communication has a unique impact that adword campaigns can’t deliver. eCommerce brands connect with users through social networks. Social content can serve as an alternative to cookie driven advertising.

Forrester and Business Marketing Asociation research shows that B2B marketers are still not seeing satisfactory returns on their content marketing efforts. 51% claim their content marketing is "somewhat effective" and 27% were neutral.

Even with lackluster results 75% of B2B marketers plan to increase 2014 content marketing budgets. This would indicate that they see value in content marketing, but haven't devoted time and budget to master it. We will have to assume that they were testing the waters with minimal budget and the results met the criteria they set to increase efforts and budget.

Are you looking to increase your online presence (Google rank)? If you are like most small businesses I deal with, you want more customers, more leads. You want more customers calling and ordering. There’s various ways to do that, including PPC, Social Media, Direct Mail, Cold Calling, Networking, SEO, Blogging, and hiring a lead development company. How much is your business success worth?

You know your business inside and out, but are you expert at SEO, social marketing, and today’s advertising techniques? Keeping up with the best marketing methods takes experience and time. So, it is in the best interest of your company to hire an expert marketing firm to provide guidance and execute some or all of your advertising. That is a smart thing to do. If you are considering hiring a consultant for SEO be sure they are not out for a quick buck.

When people search for products, let’s say, coffee makers, or a brand like Keurig, are they ready to buy? Some people are moving through the shopping process funnel and will buy. Some are just looking for information. Choosing the best keywords for your adword campaign is the first task. Read more about keywords in this article: SEO & Keyword Research - Your Quest For Good Keyword

Smart phones continue to change the way people shop and communicate. They are the epitome of convenience. It's amazing how technology has changed our lives. The changes are happening at breakneck speed and have impacted every person and every industry. It has created new industries, destroyed some and radically changed others. Advertising is still evolving and new specialties are being created because of technology developments.

Figure out what makes sense

I believe mobile strategy has a place in every business. Minimally, every business needs a mobile website. Beware of mobile friendly claims. Some products will recognize the devise accessing the site and size it accordingly. Some products will try but not always work with every devise. We won a new client just for that reason. The company she had been working with didn't explain their product couldn't make her site that they designed fit on the most common smart phones. Her site resizes to fit on an iPhone but not her Droid. It treats the Droid as though it is a laptop or tablet.

Packaging plays an important role in business success. As I wrote in other blogs, retail package design must attract the target audience. Personal preferences need to be put aside. The goal is to create a branded product package design that communicates what is inside and connects emotionally with the buyer.