Establishing a social media presence is important for almost any brand nowadays. A recent infographic by MBA Online encourages CEOs to use social media because of some compelling statistics. For instance, data shows that 8 in 10 social media users in the U.S. would rather connect with companies on social media sites rather than on their company websites. The infographic also shows that social media campaigns are more effective in generating quality leads.

Knowing how important social media is would naturally motivate you to keep your audience engaged. However, there are some mistakes you can commit that can make you lose followers on social media. If you want to keep your social media followers, steer clear of these practices:

A few weeks ago, I decided that it would be really nice to make the 10 hour drive back home to Ohio and surprise my mom for her birthday. She adores her granddaughter and I knew they both would be thrilled to see each other. Not long after I informed my wife and we scheduled the trip, we were invited to a baby shower in Chicago on the same weekend. While we wouldn't be able to attend the actual shower, we love visiting Chicago and decided to stop there on the way back to St. Louis and spend an additional night. As a result, I knew that I would be traveling and busy with family for four full days. 

When you have a daily blog posting schedule like I do, that's a problem!

I knew that I would have my MacBook Pro and iPad, and of course my iPhone, but I didn't know when or where I would have time to do much, so I decided to have posts ready and scheduled to publish ahead of time. 

My business partner and I launched our website TreatmentSaver 5 years ago with no real understanding of how to make money online. I am an Optometrist and my partner is a medical doctor so as you can imagine our prior training didn't exactly help us prepare for what we would encounter running a web business! Our medical backgrounds were however the inspiration behind the idea for our site, as we realized that there were very few comparison websites for clinics. TreatmentSaver.com is effectively a website that allows people to book appointments online and save money in the process. We initially launched with laser eye surgery clinics as this was my area of expertise. We realized the importance of getting as many laser eye surgery reviews as possible and this was where our initial focus lay.

Facebook marketing is a huge business and recently there have been massive changes taking place in the way pages for businesses are handled. You can promote your page using Facebook ads and sponsored stories. Apart from these paid campaigns, you can also enhance your Facebook business page by adding a few good apps. Previously on Facebook Pages, you could make a tab as the landing page to promote your business. After the timeline changes which present Facebook data to its users in a new format, you cannot set a tab as a landing page. But with a little customization, you can go even further than that.

Before talking about some useful apps for Facebook Business Pages, let me briefly explain how business owners can enhance their Facebook Pages with new timeline features.

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E-mail is now indispensable to both private individuals and companies, but there are still far too many failing to implement the right security measures. For businesses, the results of intercepted e-mails can be colossal. If sensitive data falls into the wrong hands, all hell can break loose, and the outcome can be catastrophic. Fortunately there are measures there for the taking that can greatly reduce the chances of security being breached.

Many bloggers stop the promotion of their content on social media sites at Facebook and Twitter. While Facebook and Twitter are great ways to spread the word about new and existing content, it is by no means the only relevant social media platform available to bloggers. Google+, however, has broadcasting components that can make the promotion of content easier and can create more interactive reader experience.

One of the easy pitfalls when you're first starting your business (or really at any time) is to say Yes to a client and take on a job that you really didn't want and should not have taken on in the first place. There are all kinds of reasons why we do this; we need the money is typically the culprit. But it's also easy to give in to situations where you think you're helping the client, or perhaps you think it might lead to future opportunities, or other mistaken and misguided reasons.

The problem is that once we get into a situation that isn't a good fit, for whatever reason, it's far more likely that the job will run into insurmountable challenges. Just as we want our customers to be successful in their businesses, we also must ensure that we put ourselves in a position to be successful. Sometimes that means saying No to a potential client.

Social Media has been an evolving and overwhelming force over the past 6-7 years, taking over personal lives and forever changing the way people communicate. Social Media has connected people like nothing we have seen before! It has also become a major part of online marketing and business networking forcing itself on the business world. This has resulted in an overlap in individuals' social worlds, blurring the line between personal and business communication.

For some people this blurring of the line is not only OK, but welcomed. While others struggle to find a way to keep a balance and to keep each world separate. How do you accomplish this task without making one of the two different social worlds suffer? The first step is figuring out your individual line.

Back when social media was not yet “invented,” connecting with customers old and new required a bit more effort than it does today. These days, a single hashtag (#) on Twitter and a simple “Like” on Facebook means catching the attention of more than a few people and turning more than a few “virtual heads.” And big brands like Starbucks are really making it work for them.

The internet has many facets, but one of its most popular ones is without a doubt blogging. People blog for many reasons, but no matter the motivation, one should be passionately interested in what he or she is creating. There is an over-saturation of information on the worldwide web, and there is simply not enough time for readers to process everything. In other words, content that is probably high-quality and informative might never make it out of the pit of anonymity, for the simple fact that it doesn't engage with readers. When interesting and informative are no longer assets, bloggers have to come up with something else: emotional triggers.