As small businesses are relying more and more on social media forums as a major Internet marketing tool, social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest continue to introduce new features. This is part of an overall trend where social media leaders strive to attract business marketers to their sites.

Facebook, for instance, is currently in the process of adding the popular hash tag symbol (#) to their site as part of their strategy of making their site friendlier for business. Essentially, the hash tag gives users the ability to search for topics of interest. Twitter has been using the hash tag search tool on its feeds for years, and it’s showing up on other sites as well such as Google+ and LinkedIn. It’s not surprising that hash tags have become so popular of late, as they help to keep users tuned in to a given website for a longer duration of time. This is important, as more time on the site translates to more time viewing advertisements—an important focus for shareholders.

Twitter is also striving to make its site more business friendly. To increase their functionality, Twitter has released more new features to their site, as well as adding sales staff to their ranks. Business customers they are targeting with these initiatives include those advertisers who purchase advertising directly through their site as well as through third party vendors.

Pinterest (the fastest growing social media site to date) is striving to hold its own among social media forums, recently launching a free analytics tool that gives business marketers a comprehensive view of both content and traffic performances. Metrics provided include top performing content (in terms of repins and clicks) and exposure (reach and impressions), enabling businesses to see which pins are popular on a given day and then use that information to propel their content strategy forward. In addition, all the information is exportable, so that business owners are able to pull the data into their own performance management systems.

References

Post, Amy. “The Social Media Battle Heats Up with New Features from All the Players.” Small Biz Technology. 4/4/13.

Ravina, Vincenzo. “Pinterest Adds Analytics Verifying Its Contents Impact Is Worth Measuring.” Small Biz Technology. 4/3/13.