The way we take pictures and who we share them with is changing. 

Instead of taking photographs of important life events and sharing them with a few people we are now sharing them with everyone on our friends list. All social sites are being engaged with from Tumblr and Instagram to those old faithfuls, Facebook and Twitter. We now share photos with the companies we are with and the places we go. 

'If its not on Facebook then it didn't happen' has become our chosen mantra. 
And these days, images aren’t just something you look at — they’re the centre of most of our online engagements, as people share, comment and engage with image creators.

• On Facebook, up to 250 million pictures are uploaded every day. 
• A post that includes an album or picture receives 120 - 180% more engagement from fans and friends than a text based post. 

The key to business marketing with images is to keep it in the moment. The other thing is to post graphical quirky things alongside the more serious stuff. Ones that are funny always catch the eye of consumers, they are visual stimuli and so, will increase engagement.

Remember too, the public are interested in the 'behind the scenes' parts of the business. They want to get snippets of what they wouldn't normally see. Pictures which depict a process are always high on the engagement scale as well.

Our 5 Top Tips to Image Success

1.  People love to have their thoughts and ideas recognised. One great way to do this is by posting a picture and asking people to caption it. 
2. When you leverage a themed hashtag that appeals to a wider demographic, you align your Google+ activity with the broader community. There are lots of themed conversations that people regularly participate with on Google+. One examples is #motivationmonday, 
   
3. Ask questions. People tend to need encouragement to engage so this should top of your list when you go to write any post. 
4. Think about your customers. What would they want to see? What would they find inpiring and interesting? 
5. Images don’t have to be professionally shot, but use images that are colorful, well-balanced and interesting.
   

Social media can be such a mind blowing task as it is, without being restricted by timing. Well, research has been done and it can be seen, from the picture, that these are the best times to maximise impact and reach the most amount of customers. These times have been based on the research of when consumers are most likely to log on. 


The question is, will you bow down and follow the lead? 


                                                                    (thanks to: www.placester.com) 

All of our Minglers are going CRAZY for Google+. It has come onto the scene promising to be bigger, better - and well, bolder than all other forms of social media. And it is delivering.

But it is currently invite only and it's still a bit of a work in progress, so you can be forgiven if you're still a bit hazy on the concept. It also means that you've still got time to learn about it and be ahead of the curve. So, if you're keen to keep up, then keep on reading.

Google+ is pretty much a combination of all other forms of social media and aims to make them perform at their very best. To do so, it scraps the concept of all 5,000 of your Facebook friends indiscriminately being actual friends. Instead, the people you connect with can be categorised into different circles (i.e. groups) and the beauty of circles is that they can overlap. For businesses, this allows better management of their broadcasting and advertising. For example, a beauty salon may divide its clients into male/female and under-21s/over-21s, and then link them; so, it could specifically target over-21 males when advertising a new hair re-growth package. The point is that advertising will be better targeted and so, far more effective.

There are plenty of other features available too:

SPARKS
For each of your interests, an automatic 'spark' page will contain an RSS feed, allowing you to access the latest articles, photos, etc on that topic. For a business, this is handy for keeping you up-to-date with developments in your sector and linked areas of customer interest. So, the beauty salon may have a spark page on facial creams. This means that any related media will be gathered on the page - a new product launched; a celebrity gushing about a particular brand, or a surge in people buying anti-wrinkle cream, will all appear. The salon can then tailor their response accordingly.

HANGOUTS
This is a video chat that can be held between groups. It might seem redundant on a business-level but get inventive! Some companies have used it to connect with competition winners or hold free virtual workshops.

INSTANT UPLOAD
Easy transition of media from your Android phone to Google+.

COMMUNITIES
You can join different 'communities' in order to join in with or simply observe the trending topics in that community's stream.


There's a bit to learn but a lot of advantages. 
Of course, we are happy to do the hard work for you and all our Bundles include Google+.