As I prepped my clients for a great 2014, I found myself digging deep into the Lightspan social media archives for the best resources to get the most out of my digital media work this year. It never hurts to revisit your old ideas to see what you can re-apply, what you may have forgotten, and what needs to be updated in a fast-changing industry.

Here are some of the best social media resources I found in my digging, and for those embarking on social media plans of their own, I figured I’d share the resources I lean on the most. Yes, I’m helping you cheat and skip out on all the trial and error I went through to learn all this great stuff. Hopefully this is as helpful to you as it is to me and cuts some frustration from your planning!

Here’s to kicking ass with your marketing in 2014!

Lightspan Social Media Resource Guide

Social Media Workouts

The Daily Social Media Workout is the guiding document of Lightspan. We believe that social media should be done with purpose. Purposeful social media takes time and work, so our founder Mana Ionescu created this workout plan to help guide people through the process of best practices for Twitter and Facebook. Get your free copy here>>

LinkedIn Strategy

Still not digging into Linkedin for your marketing strategy? Well, it’s past time you do, and we have the guide for you:  7 Steps to Creating a Powerful LinkedIn Marketing Strategy. It’s one of our most popular blog posts ever.

Facebook Advertising

We’re seeing that a Facebook ad budget is becoming more and more necessary not only to connect with new audiences, but also so that your existing audience is able to see and engage with your content. Here’s how to set up Facebook ads and why.

Twitter

If anyone in your organization ever asks what Twitter is, how to use it and how to start – here’s a quick guide on how to create a Twitter account. If you have a colleague who’s still not sure about social media, Myles Dannhausen wrote a great post about How to Be Social Without Saying A Word.

Pinterest

I’m predicting that Pinterest is going to become an even more popular avenue for marketers in 2014. As we’re seeing Facebook ads becoming more necessary, many will move efforts to Pinterest. Here’s how to use the new Pinterest “place” pins to create engaging Pinterest content.

Promoting Events

This could be a conference, a trade show, even a fun staff meeting. This guide shows the best ways to go through the process. I’ve also written a blog post on this subject with more detailed information on what to do before, during and after a live event.

Google Analytics

We have a few blog posts about how to best leverage Google Analytics and how to utilize the Google Analytics URL Builder in order to best track social media campaign work. Google Analytics is the absolute best way to track website traffic; you just have to know how to use it to your advantage. The URL builder is absolutely crucial for giving you the data you need to make the right decisions for your marketing.

Writing for the Web

Our Content Strategist wrote a great post last year aimed at those who feel squeamish about writing for keywords. Dannhausen, a freelance writer and former news editor, points out that optimizing content to grab readers is nothing new for writers in his post Why Writing for the Web Isn’t Much Different than Print Journalism.

This is what stands out to me, but please let us know if there’s a guide you’d like to see or a question you want us to answer. We may already have the information for you – and if we don’t we‘ll get to it!