Social networking has changed the way we search for and receive information forever. Using free and powerful tools like Google Trends Hot Topics to beef up your social media optimization and get ahead of your competition in real time is the name of the game! As fast as the news can be shared, it becomes fodder for branding everything from basketball shoes to cell phones to celebrities.  Social media is here to stay!

But…social media online branding is a daunting task, no? Actually, it’s not as difficult as you might think if you can a.) stay abreast of the latest hot topics and b.) be creative enough to use that information to get ahead of your competition! For blogs and real-time news, Google Trends Hot Topics is a blue-chip tool for research, revealing the latest trends in everything from shoes to car parts! Hot Topics is a particularly effective tool for seeing who is talking about what – right now – and providing you the opportunity to get in on the conversation while it’s happening!    (more…)

Have you ever heard of Google Places? Some of you may have, some of you may not have. But most of you have probably hear of Google Local Business Center and Google Maps. Well, that’s what Google Places is – it’s the new Google Local Business Center that has all your business’ great information that feeds your listing on Google Maps.

But it’s not yesterday’s Google Local Business Center that you may be used to – Google has re-branded this service and included a heaping helping of great new features to go along with the beneficial ones they already had: (more…)

We had a question come in recently from one of our Williamsburg Facebook page fans, wondering why they couldn’t share some of our posts. Here’s what they wrote:

“I got a question. Why most of posts with questions or requests have no “Share” button? It would be easier to direct people to your requests if we could share them on our walls. As I said in my other post, I can’t help anyone myself because I live in Lithuania but I have friends in Williamsburg and nearby cities that have own friends in the area. If i could forward your requests to them, people who are asking for some info or help would have more chances to get it. And I dare to assume I am not the only one who might have thought to share these posts.”

When I took a look at the post in question, I immediately recognized “the problem” at hand. Well, it’s not actually a problem, but it is a restriction on Facebook. So here’s the deal…

When we post something on our Facebook page wall and it contains a link, it will give our fans the option to “share.” Let’s say you are one of our fans, and you find our post interesting, you would click the “share” link below our post to spread the word to your own Facebook audience.

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