Lorelei Gibb highlights the key ways of maintaining a top-notch social media presence…

Theoretically anyone can manage their own social media. But remember, what you post online broadcasts to the world what type of business you really are.

With this in mind, here are the top five social media mistakes made by businesses:

1. No consistent branding: All social networks give you ample opportunity to personalise your profiles.

You can customise the background and the text colour on Twitter; you can add your logo and a banner on Facebook; and even Linkedin business pages have room for branding – so make sure that ALL of your accounts match your company branding.

2. Look at me!: Too many companies use social media to broadcast to the world all about themselves.

This is harking back to ‘old school’ marketing methods – if you are not giving value online people won’t listen.

3. I must post five times a day!: You may have been told that you MUST update your social media ‘x’ times a day/week, or else… or else what?

Whilst I concur that you need to maintain a regular online presence, it is better to skip a few updates than to post rubbish, so if you don’t have anything worthwhile to say, then don’t, take a break.

4. No cultural sensitivity: Don’t post the exact same message on all of your social media channels at the same time. I know it makes life easier for you, but it puts your followers off. The people who use Facebook want something different to the people who use Linkedin – make the messages be for them rather than about you.

5. I can’t hear you!: If there’s one take away from all of this, it has to be respond! If someone takes the time to ‘like’ or comment on your Facebook, or RT you on Twitter, reply to them!

Lorelei Gibb is Marketing Director at www.dolphinupgrades.com

Upon releasing its quarterly financials, the PC maker reported its net profit to have fallen to $130m, whilst the firm’s revenue also declined by two per cent to $14bn.

The declines are a further sign of change within the PC market, as consumers increasingly opt for smartphones and tablet devices over the traditional desktop system.

The slip in profits couldn’t come at a worse time for Dell shareholders, as the firm remains locked in a dispute between founder Michael Dell and the firm’s shareholders.

Whilst Mr Dell hopes to take the firm private, a number of the firm’s largest shareholders are looking to block the move.

An initial deal of $24.4bn to buy back the company was proposed by Mr Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake, but shareholders have labelled the bid as ‘cheap’, insisting that the company is ‘severely undervalued’ and would be a ‘giveaway’.

A decline in profits would seemingly make the deal proposed by founder Dell a more attractive one.

Mr Dell maintains that if successful with the private buy out, the firm would shift its focus away from PCs in order to focus on tablets, smartphones and other new technologies.

Redmond confirmed that Brits will be able to get their hands on the 64GB Surface Pro for £719, whilst those eyeing the 128GB model should expect to hand over £799.

The Surface Pro will enter a competitive UK tablet market, which continues to be dominated by Apple’s iPad devices.

In comparison, Apple’s top-end iPad is priced at £639 and sports its trademark Retina Display, along with 128GB of storage.

Despite outpacing the top iPad by 25 per cent, Microsoft maintains that the Surface Pro is a more complete solution than Apple’s slate – a statement reiterated by Canalys analyst Tim Coulling.

“It runs on a Windows 8 operating system so there is access to legacy applications and that is why it’s priced higher than the iPad. Microsoft wants customers to pay a premium for a full Windows experience,” Coulling told The Channel.

“The vast majority of business people use an iPad and a notebook, so it will probably be cheaper to have one Surface Pro when they upgrade devices. IT managers will look to replace iPad with Pro because the OS is easier to manage and is familiar.”

In addition to running the full Windows 8 operating system, over the RT edition used by the Surface RT, the Pro also offers the added benefit of far superior hardware.

The Pro packs a dual-core i5 processor clocked at 1.7GHz, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and 128GB of SSD storage, which along with its use of the full Windows 8 OS, could see the Pro viewed by some as a viable gaming system.

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A report by Tech Crunch indicates that Microsoft is looking to follow up its initial $300 million investment in Nook with a further bid to take on the firm in its entirety.

Questions were raised following Microsoft’s initial investment in Nook given that its device predominantly featured the Android operating system. However, the deal did provide Microsoft with a number of patents and a Windows 8 Nook application.

However, it would appear that Microsoft is taking an even greater interest in the e-reader market, which Tech Crunch opting to explain Microsoft’s internal documents on the matter.

“In this plan, Microsoft would redeem preferred units in Nook Media, which also includes a college textbook division, leaving it with the digital operation — e-books, as well as Nook e-readers and tablets,” reads Tech Crunch’s report.

The documents continue to reveal that Nook is set to discontinue its Android-based tablet range, instead moving its content to a third-party partner, who we can safely assume would be Microsoft.

According to research conducted by Windows Phone, one in ten parents whose children have purchased apps and IAPs without authorisation were concerned that they couldn’t afford to pay their increased bill.

The findings reveal for those parents who have suffered from unauthorised app or IAPs, eight year olds are running up the largest app costs, having added on average an extra £59.59 to their parents’ smartphone or tablet bill.

Unauthorised app purchases have added £30 million in total to parents’ smartphone and tablet bills across the nation.

Brett Siddons, Head of Consumer Marketing for Windows Phone UK, said:  “Our research reveals parents are worried about the impact of app and in-app purchases on their bills and we understand the stress this can cause. With technology becoming more and more intuitive, it’s important that parents can trust in the technology they use and feel as safe as possible when handing over their smartphone and tablet devices to their children.”

The latest Windows Phone handsets, which run Windows Phone 8, have an exclusive Kid’s Corner feature.

This gives parents the ability to set-up what their children can and can’t access. In-app purchases are automatically prohibited in Kid’s Corner – Windows Phones are the first smartphone to have this feature.

“We know from our customers that they want a simple and hassle-free way to share their smartphones with family members. The Kid’s Corner feature on the latest Windows Phones, as well as the ability to create separate accounts and use the Family Safety Tool for Windows 8 PC and tablet users, provide parents with an easy-to-use solution for this.”

Earlier this year, PCR reported that a five-year old boy spent £1,700 on iTunes. A short while later the OFT announced that it is to investigate free smartphones and online games that offer IAPs. In a similar way to Windows Phones separate accounts, Kurio tablet developer InspirationWorks has created parental controls to allow or block IAPs within apps as well as giving parents the option to set up ‘piggy bank’ accounts for their children so they can control their IAP spending.

Kids and tablet image via ShutterStock.com

The news follows on from Windows co-chief Tami Reller’s comments yesterday, who claimed that the firm’s flagship operating system Windows 8 had surpassed the 100 million licenses sold milestone.

Reller also went on to confirm the existence of Blue, whilst stating the update should be elected in 2013.

It appears Microsoft didn’t want to keep anyone waiting.

Windows’ other co-chief Julie Larson-Green addressed Blue at the Wired Business Conference, which took place yesterday.

Larson-Green confirmed that Blue – otherwise known as Windows 8.1 – would be available throughout the firm’s BUILD conference held in June.

Microsoft is expected to ship a final edition of Windows 8.1 before the end of the year, as Reller stressed that the update would incorporate changes that are a direct reaction to customer feedback.

One such change could be the reimplementation of the traditional Windows Start button, a feature axed from Windows 8, much to the anger of the Windows faithful.

“We’ve really also tried to understand what people are really asking for when they’re asking for that,” said Reller.

Leaked builds of Windows 8.1 also include an improved Start Screen, greater customisation of colours and themes, and improved settings on Windows 8′s Metro feature.

“Our fans have been asking for a way to play their game on different phones or tablets without losing their progress when changing the device. This is exactly what Rovio Account lets you do,” reads an official announcement from Rovio.

Rovio Account is currently available through The Croodsworldwide and the original Angry Birds on iOS in Finland and Poland.

The feature will be gradually introduced to all Rovio titles worldwide ‘in the future’.

First reported by rumour blog Patently Apple, word from manufacturers based in China is that parts set to feature within the new iPhone have already been shipped, with the report even naming the rumoured device as the iPhone 5S.

The report continues to speculate that following the receipt by manufacturers of new iPhone parts, a potential release of the device could come sooner rather than later.

Historically, Apple has maintained a two-month gap between the receipt of parts and the start of production of its new devices, which would indicate that work on the iPhone 5S is to begin in July.

Whether that will have an effect on the device’s availability remains to be seen, as Apple traditionally opts for a September release for its new products.

Given the recent release of rival Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S 4 smartphone, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see Apple working to have its own new flagship handset on the market.

The figure puts the new OS on par with its predecessor Windows 7, which accumulated the same figure across the same length of time.

Despite the figures, Tami Reller, chief marketing and financial officer for Microsoft, stated that the numbers could have been higher, citing a lack of touch devices hindering the sales.

“If there had been more touch devices in the market, it would have been even more,” said Reller during an interview on Microsoft’s official blog.

However, Reller went on to highlight that the situation should become more favourable by July and the beginning of the back-to-school selling period as a wider variety of Windows 8 enabled devices are available.

Following its launch last October, Windows 8 scored 40 million sales throughout its first month on the market, whilst upping the figure to 60 million in January of this year.

Reller went on to state that the remaining 40 million licenses have been made up predominantly by sales of new PCs rather than existing Windows users upgrading to the new OS.

In addition to the sales of Windows 8, Microsoft also moved to address Windows Blue.

Despite confirming the existence and codename of Windows Blue, the firm didn’t offer up any further information on the update, other than it would be available before the end of 2013.