Mediaboss Marketing

Nearly three quarters of online adults in the U.S. use social media, and 53 percent of active social networkers follow a brand. So with social media becoming an ever-more-standard online marketing tool, its becoming harder for brands to stand out among their competitors. Good design, especially for smaller brands, is absolutely necessary.

Here are a few guidelines on making the most of the limited customizable options provided by social networking platforms. While this post focuses on Facebook and Twitter, which are the most widely used by brands and have some of the most customizable features, the same principles apply across platforms.

A good profile is simple and direct about what the company sells and its personality. Choose only images that identify the brand or tell its story.

Related:ASocial MediaMakeover in Just 7 Days

Pay attention to about me fields. Be succinct but descriptive, and always include contact information to help potential customers find out how to learn more.

When creating cover and profile images for your social media platforms, be sure to keep them as visual as possible. Lots of wording can not only take away from the visual impact of the profile, it can also interfere with the content on the page.

For example Marvel, whose poorly executed text-heavy banner picture creates little impact.

Turning a recognizable logo into a profile picture may seem like a natural strategy, but many brands with text-heavy logos opt for something else.

Related:How manysocial network profilesshould I have?

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How to Create a Standout Social-Media Profile

Get 1989 to 1.3 Million!
Find me on these Social Networking Sites! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OfficialLexSwift Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LexSwift Instagram http://www.instagram.com/LexSwift (@LexSwift)...

By: Lex Swift

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Get 1989 to 1.3 Million! - Video

At the start of this exercise social networking for example and social media were not necessarily used as a means of exploitation, now this is something that is much more common and that was evident in Rotherham as well and it will be elsewhere.

"Grooming online can shift to exploitation offline very fast, it can happen within an hour or so that that occurs and regrettably a number of young victim do not even know on occasion that they are actually being exploited or abused in the way that for example indecent pictures are posted on social media.

The professor added that if similar investigations to the in-depth Rotherham probe were carried out in other council areas undetected sexual abuse would be found to be much more widespread activity across England and indeed other parts of the UK than people believe.

Rotherham, she added, is most certainly not unique and that she was sure that such abuse would occur elsewhere.

Last week it emerged that more than 6,000 children across England have been reported as at risk from sexual exploitation since the beginning of 2013.

Figures collected from councils by Channel 4 News show that thousands of other children are considered at risk in other parts of the country adding weight to the argument that Rotherham was not an isolated case.

A total of 3,009 children were referred to social services, or known to them already, as at risk of exploitation in the first six months of 2014. During 2013, social services were aware of 3,202 children at risk, according to the information gathered from Freedom of Information requests.

Northern towns and cities reported the most children at risk. In Manchester, 452 children were known to be at risk in the past 18 months, 407 in Derbyshire, 363 in Sheffield, and 311 in Blackburn and Darwen.

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Children are being abused an hour after being groomed online, Rotherham sex abuse scandal expert warns

CHICAGO McDonald's Corp., which hasn't always gotten a warm reception on social media, is taking to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube with a Q&A-style ad campaign, aiming to dispel the notion that its food is unhealthy.

The world's largest restaurant chain began taking questions from Americans Monday via social-networking sites, promising to deliver "real answers." As part of the campaign, former "MythBusters" host Grant Imahara will visit McDonald's suppliers and restaurants nationwide and appear in a series of online videos.

McDonald's is using more of an unvarnished approach to marketing as it tries to recover from four straight months of declining U.S. same-store sales. Venturing into social media can be risky for well-known brands. Earlier this year, McDonald's drew ridicule on Twitter and Facebook for a toothy Happy Meal mascot that some people described as frightening. The company also has been targeted by viral videos, such as one showing a McNugget under a microscope.

McDonald's already has a frequently-asked-questions page on its website with some unflattering information about its food. The company does use food coloring in its milkshakes, for instance, and its McRib sandwich is made from pork shoulder along with salt, water, dextrose and some preservatives. On the other hand, most restaurants use freshly cracked eggs for breakfast sandwiches, and its apple pies have real apples, McDonald's said.

In a new YouTube video, the company filmed Americans asking questions, including some tough ones like "Does McDonald's even sell real food?" and "That pink slime...what's up with that?" One person in the clip says she has read that McDonald's food contains horse meat.

McDonald's, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, has been rolling out new menu items and price promotions as it tries to revive U.S. growth. That includes $2 jalapeno burgers and a 20-pack of Chicken McNuggets for $5. McDonald's has about 14,200 domestic locations.

The fast-food chain has introduced similar ad campaigns in Canada and Australia. Its Canadian website, for example, explains food origins for items such as the cheese and gravy used in poutine.

The more open dialogue follows questions about McDonald's food safety, especially overseas.

Earlier this year, one of the company's suppliers in China, OSI Group, was investigated for changing the expiration dates on food. The probe led to shortages of certain menu items and sales declines. In Russia, consumer-safety regulators have shut down some of the chain's locations, citing violations of sanitary rules.

"People are looking for faster, more straightforward responses to their questions about our food," Ben Stringfellow, a spokesman for McDonald's USA, said in a statement. "We're looking forward to engaging in two-way conversations with as many people as possible."

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McDonald's braves social-media waters with new Q&A campaign

Zula: Manage Your Messages and Stay on Top of Your Social Networking Game
Between texting, facebook, twitter, and god knows what else, how do you stay on top of the messages that matter? A startup called Zula aims at taming your information overload while keeping...

By: AlleyWire

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Zula: Manage Your Messages and Stay on Top of Your Social Networking Game - Video