Top Blog Posts from The Social Media Hat for 2014

When I was little, my parents bought me one of those three-wheel plastic tricycles called a "Big Wheel." As I get bigger and mastered wheeling around my neighborhood, my parents upgraded me to a bicycle with training wheels. Boy, that was hard.

First, can we all agree that not everyone uses Social Media the same way? Some of us are on Facebook and Twitter and Google+ just to have fun, while others are there for specific purposes, like establishing a brand.

These days, it's all about the Big Images. Following in the footsteps of Google+ and the other networks, Twitter has overhauled your profile page to use a much larger header image (cover photo), as well as a larger profile image. These changes reflect the current trends in social media with users wanting to express themselves with larger and larger images.

Because LinkedIn began as a platform for connecting employers with employees, essentially an online resume service, our LinkedIn profiles are far more complicated and advanced than the other social networks. This is no 140 character Bio like on Twitter. You've got sections for a Summary and Experience and Education and more.

One of the most common questions from both businesses and social media marketers is "how many?" How many users. How many people. How many opportunities - for each of the social networks. Of course each social network is different. Some have extremely high usage every month by hundreds of millions of users, while others the only numbers reported are registered members.

One of the interesting developments that we've seen on social media in recent years is the addition of a "cover photo" to an individual or business's profile page. Facebook personal profiles and business Pages both sport large graphics at the top of the page.

If you think 2013 was the year of content marketing, get ready for a wild New Year. In 2014, content marketing can be expected to run with the crown and be officially appointed the king of the web.

Have you ever noticed that certain brands and publishers seem to have their own branded short link? When they share shortened links, instead of goo.gl or bit.ly, it's dustn.ws or thesmh.co. By using their own custom branded short link, they reinforce their brand awareness, as well as ensure that they're taking full advantage of all the benefits shortened links offer.

How many times have you seen a post from someone on Google+ that looked particularly interesting, but that you didn't have time to read just then? Or perhaps the post provided the kind of information you just knew you were going to want to refer back to later.

Facebook has 1.23 billion monthly active users and Twitter has 241 million of them. These figures are reason enough for every brand to make a beeline for the various social media platforms to market their products and services. But in their rush to leverage social media, many brands are not thinking their strategies through and end up making critical tactical errors.