1.  Facebook is a great way to list your business by creating a Fan Page.  When businesses create their fan page, they begin connecting with their customers.  A great place to find other connections for businesses is facebook.com/smbusinessroom. 

2.  Twitter is a quick newsfeed that connects 140 characters or less of information about your company or yourself.  #HASHTAGs are important and many companies use them to tag their topic of interest.  I just recently created a new tag for the our affiliated magazine #heartbeatmag.  There are some really great hashtags out there and you can search for them at the top of twitter to find relevant customers.  One example is a company called #foodiechats and they use their hashtag every Monday for live tweet meetups. 

3.  Pinterest is becoming a very important tool to business owners using social media.  It's a place you can pin the pictures of interest to your virtual board.  We have a board for Businesses we Love and companies websites get pinned to that board.

4.  LinkedIn is a favorite for business owners that want to provide a professional appearance.  It also provides a perfect resource for connecting with other business owners.

5.  Instagram is a useful tool for those who want to join a world of photographers, some are professional but most are amateur.  Instagram is a way for businesses to share visually what their company is all about.  You can use #hashtags to categorize your picture, like #pottery, #art, #heartbeatmag, #media, etc.

6.  Youtube sets the bar for sharing a message virtually.  Once your company is live on camera, it allows your customer to begin to trust in you.  Quick videos can be made with animoto or other apps on iPhones and edited during the upload process to Youtube.

7.  Google+ is a resource for newsfeeds and connecting all areas of Google together with their circle of friends.  They offer Google hangouts where you can have an online video chat session with clients or business owners on a topic of interest.

8.  Etsy, I believe is a great resource for business owners that have handmade items.  You can create circles of people that you want to follow and add favorites to connect further with new clients.  

All in all, Social Media is here to stay and a big part of the life of your business.  

by Nicole Flothe
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Picture
If you have an iPhone than this is a unique way to make friends and share what you have been up to lately through a world of pictures.  I recently downloaded the free app and have been taking random pictures ever since.  I love the editing software that comes with the program and how easy it is to post and heart other pictures.  The popular page is one of those things that someday I hope to make but for now I enjoy learning from other photographers out there that take beautiful, amazing photos.  

They also have many competitions and challenges that you can join.  It makes it fun and interactive.  What I like most about Instagram is that people share what apps they have used to make certain pictures pop with color or unique designs.  This week I've downloaded many free apps and some I paid for to use and make my pictures more creative.  

My top picks for apps this week I've been enjoying #instagram and using lots of hashtags. My favorite apps that are helpful are squaready, camera+, PicFrame, Watermyphoto, PhotoStudio, and Shapecollage.

For those of you that like to create connections with new people and perhaps share what you do, I think Instagram is a perfect fit for these type of friendships.

Enjoy!
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