The 2102  Social Media Report from Nielsen  is out and one thing is clear – social media usage shows no signs of declining thanks to smartphones and mobile apps. In fact, in July of 2012, users averaged 88.48 minutes, a number that jumped 58% to 121.18 minutes in July of 2012. Most importantly, however, the report justifies investments in social marketing, advertising and engagement. Of those polled, 17% of consumers feel more connected to brands seen on social networking websites. Plus one fourth of social users polled have liked a social ad and 15% have shared a social ad. MORE >>

Brands love social media  for marketing and business development because it allows them to expose themselves to global audiences and hopefully, have a promotion go viral. Most of the below brands are rock stars when it comes to social media marketing, but we all make mistakes here and there! Here are the top 5 social media fails of 2012. American Apparel Hurricane Sandy Promotion. American Apparel decided to jump on the back of Hurricane Sandy to offer a special promotion of 20% off for shoppers that lived in affected states. London Olympics 2012 Banned Brands. McDonald’s #McDStories. MORE >>

Every week, I share my favorite social media articles from around the blogosphere on Creative Ramblings. Here is my list for December 10-16, 2012: Everyone Knows SEO Status Quo by Tom Shivers (Exploit Online Demand) Top 10 Tools To Monitor Social Media Brand Mentions On A Budget by Anna Francis (Blueclaw) Why Content Marketing is the [.] 5 great articles you may have missed (December 10-16, 2012) was written by Cendrine Marrouat for her social media blog, Creative Ramblings. Great Resources Social Media best articles of the week MORE >>

New infographic from ExactTarget focusing on the combination of Twitter, email, and Klout for a successul digital marketing strategy. This infographic is brought to you by ExactTarget, a leader in social media marketing MORE >>

Social ad spending in the Asia-Pacific region will grow faster than social ad spending in North America or Western Europe, according to a new report from eMarketer. The area will see a 48% increase in social network ad spending in 2013 (passing the $2 billion mark), growth partially fueled by its huge social network user base and variety of social networks for marketers to choose from. By 2013, Asia-Pacific will account for a greater percentage (22.9%) of global social network ad spending than Western Europe (with 22.3%). This gap will widen to nearly three percentage points by 2014. MORE >>