Today I found a few interesting articles offering tricks in social media marketing. The first article was from Mashable and offered tricks that top brands utilize. (I thought it was relevant that in italics before the article started, author Wasserman noted that the post had also been published on American Express' OPENforum, a community based forum I have previously mentioned...) Wasserman goes on to identify three social marketing tips used by large brands that you could use too. 1. Becoming a passion brand. An example in this category is Nike, consistently highlighting the same underlying point: athletic achievement. This is a topic that all athletes are passionate about and can connect with on some level. The second tip comes in the form of becoming a personality brand, such as Skittles. Skittles does not have the same opportunity as Nike to attract passion but rather can utilize a stream of consciousness updating on outlets such as Facebook to drive involvement. One funny example of their posts is, "the frenemy of my frenemy is my enefriend. This entertains followers and comes off as witty and clever. The last tip from large brands is to be transparent. A good example of transparency comes from Microsoft, who regularly post blogs about current initiatives, etc. Transparency is highly valued among consumers and creates a certain level of trust.
Another excellent article I found today came from the Examiner regarding the idea that social media strength lies within content/audience, and not the viral factor. It is safe to assume that brands do not produce anything "ground-breaking", and as a result you can see that a good social strategy must be based on the content published and audience involvement. Viral videos are really quite random and short-lived, usually individual user generated, and do not seem to thrive in the big business social world. Instead social strategies should aim to strive in responsiveness and to publish information specific to the needs of your audience. Finally, this article states an interesting development- the circle of content life breakdown. In this model, there are three circles of reach for a brand. Circle 1 being your immediate family, followers, fans, etc., circle 2 being your family's connections, and circle 3 being the people that are unreachable to you but that circle 1 can share information to. The article also goes on to reiterate the importance of quality over quantity in posting and information sharing.
The final article I found for today from NDTV.com touches on a different subject, the risks of social media marketing. The prime example illustrated in this article is of the recent McDonald's hijacking of the Burger King Twitter account. The daunting task of managing a company's social media feeds is becoming more and more difficult, as hackers seek to complicate the entire process in a variety of ways. Hackers posted on the Burger King feed that they had been "sold to McDonald's". Wow, think of the implications here. This shows the importance of being a step ahead of hackers - you must have prepared statements for such emergencies, and be ready to react quickly. Public relations and corporate communications is a major part of the success equation today, and must be managed correctly.
I hope you enjoyed today's post or learned something new. See you next time.
Steffan Pedersen
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Interesting Articles
Doing my weekly scanning of GoogleNews' "marketing" and "social media" articles I found a few intriguing ones this week to write about. First of all, PC World published an article regarding recent surveys done by Pew and GlobalWebIndex about social media platforms. It stated that whites are more inclined to user Pintrest, Twitter is mostly populated by African Americans and people who live in cities, Facebook has more women than men, and Instagram is most popular with adults under 30 years old. With surveys like this becoming readily available, just think of the marketing implications. Knowing this kind of stuff makes segmenting so much easier and you can really target whichever audience suits your product. Social media campaigns are undoubtedly becoming more and more specialized with these types of facts in mind. The article goes on to highlight more demographic information of the various social platforms. The most interesting statistic, in my opinion, was that 67% of internet users are active on Facebook (crazy!). The next article was from UK's Guardian about baby formula milk and how marketing promotions aimed at women are causing a decline in the number of women who naturally breast feed. Gifts and samples are given out with misleading information about the nutritional benefits of formula as opposed to natural milk. This is illegal and in fact putting children at risk. It's horrible to think that through marketing and promotions a company can cause mothers to change their habits and attitudes towards such products. And the fact that they are publishing misleading information about what to feed newborns just for monetary gains is horrible. To them I say: let mothers make their own decisions, and be more careful about the information you publish. The last article I found was from Yahoo about recent hacks on Facebook, Twitter, and news websites. The attacks on Facebook and Twitter were not to hurt the sites, but to infiltrate user accounts and obtain email addresses, names, etc. The hacks on the news sites were by a Chinese hacking team that wanted to control the sites' coverage of China. With overall technological knowledge increasing globally, attacks like this will continue and could potentially lead to the downfall of such sites if precautions are not taken. Facebook is an extremely powerful social site, and with over 1 billion users it is scary to think about someone hacking into it. Apologies for the randomness of topics covered today (especially the breast feeding). Hopefully you learned something or at least found this interesting.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Content Marketing and Integration
I found an interesting article today on clickz.com about content marketing trends for 2013 and thought I would share it. (January seems a little early to forecast the years' trends, but I found them very interesting...) Smartphones are flying off the shelves, and marketing is yet to truly catch up to this demand. Integration is becoming the norm-- you can see it at every corner, in every restaurant, and at every store. E-commerce is thriving, and businesses are becoming desperate to receive your "likes" and to have you use their Apps. Ideas, philosophies, and people are even turning into brands. It is actually becoming quite scary and overwhelming.
A trend is currently forming around authors/bloggers who are joining together behind a common cause/passion to create "brands" of their own. Creative partnerships of this nature are actually quite exciting and I believe can lead to great innovation. Voluntarily combining your website or work with another prominent persons' work is a genius idea and should be supported to the fullest. I certainly hope this trend explodes in 2013.
Another topic of discussion comes in the trend of brands evolving into thought leaders. This means that brands who have immense followings and experience in their content marketing campaigns are now actually becoming the "go-to" places for customers seeking advice or help with critical interests. It takes patience and perseverance to achieve this placement in consumers' minds, and very few companies are actually able to accomplish this. An example of a thought leader, to me, is that if I have any issue/question about budgeting I will head to the American Express website or blog (called OPEN FORUM) to find my solution. This is extremely intelligent and I believe will be an area of growth in 2013. What company doesn't want their brand to be known as the "go-to" place for information for consumers? The connection this creates between people and brands is amazing.
A final trend from the article I agree with and see exploding this year is the rise of infographics and outlets such as Instagram and Pinterest. Visual narratives are extremely powerful and much more convenient and attractive for consumers than reading a whoooolllleee page of letters. Once a consistent stream of visuals are created and published, followers will flock to your website to gain knowledge and "re-tweet" or share what you post. Integration of information in to social media in this way is very interesting. It allows people to have a constant "feed" of information they are interested in, without having to do any research. This trend, along with the rise of infographics, will certainly continue throughout 2013, and probably even become the new norm. Personally, I think they are very appealing and I thoroughly enjoy Instagram in this way. I can scroll though 10 posts on Instagram and learn the same things I would learn in 10 articles, but at a fraction of the time.
Content marketing and our generation's continual integration are interesting topics that go hand in hand. I look forward to seeing what 2013 has in store for them.
Until next time,
Steffan
A trend is currently forming around authors/bloggers who are joining together behind a common cause/passion to create "brands" of their own. Creative partnerships of this nature are actually quite exciting and I believe can lead to great innovation. Voluntarily combining your website or work with another prominent persons' work is a genius idea and should be supported to the fullest. I certainly hope this trend explodes in 2013.
Another topic of discussion comes in the trend of brands evolving into thought leaders. This means that brands who have immense followings and experience in their content marketing campaigns are now actually becoming the "go-to" places for customers seeking advice or help with critical interests. It takes patience and perseverance to achieve this placement in consumers' minds, and very few companies are actually able to accomplish this. An example of a thought leader, to me, is that if I have any issue/question about budgeting I will head to the American Express website or blog (called OPEN FORUM) to find my solution. This is extremely intelligent and I believe will be an area of growth in 2013. What company doesn't want their brand to be known as the "go-to" place for information for consumers? The connection this creates between people and brands is amazing.
A final trend from the article I agree with and see exploding this year is the rise of infographics and outlets such as Instagram and Pinterest. Visual narratives are extremely powerful and much more convenient and attractive for consumers than reading a whoooolllleee page of letters. Once a consistent stream of visuals are created and published, followers will flock to your website to gain knowledge and "re-tweet" or share what you post. Integration of information in to social media in this way is very interesting. It allows people to have a constant "feed" of information they are interested in, without having to do any research. This trend, along with the rise of infographics, will certainly continue throughout 2013, and probably even become the new norm. Personally, I think they are very appealing and I thoroughly enjoy Instagram in this way. I can scroll though 10 posts on Instagram and learn the same things I would learn in 10 articles, but at a fraction of the time.
Content marketing and our generation's continual integration are interesting topics that go hand in hand. I look forward to seeing what 2013 has in store for them.
Until next time,
Steffan
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Social Media and Celebrities
Let's get started by addressing the Falcons' frustrating loss to the 49ers this past Sunday, leaving Atlanta title-less for another year when everything was seemingly falling into place. I'm so mad I think I'll go to my Twitter to binge-tweet some smack talk to Colin Kaepernick... Just kidding, but on a similar note - an article I read this week from the Baltimore Sun addresses this sort of reaction. Wes Welker's wife, along with other frustrated NFL players/spouses, Facebook ranted about Ray Lewis' 6 kids, 4 wives, and murder case after the Ravens knocked out the Patriots in the AFC Championship. She has since apologized to the future hall of famer, but this comes to show how deeply social media is integrated these days.
Another interesting article I read about social media and celebrities came from the Huffington Post. It pertains to the "branding" of celebrities online and how there is A LOT of pressure on their profiles and posts. Anything they do or say in social media can have an enormous impact on any one of their millions of followers. On Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube celebrities are beginning to engage in marketing practices to keep their pages relevant. For this reason, I think it may be smart for celebrities to consider opening their accounts to their agents or PR/Marketing firms in order to save themselves any embarrassment or scandal.
Another interesting trend I noted in this article was the creation of the celebrity/fan relationship. Social media's integration has shifted conversations from a one-way message to more of a back and forth channel. I can personally say this is true after tweeting back and forth with one of my favorite artists a few months back. As the article states, this does create a powerful and meaningful way for celebrities to engage and increase their fan base.
In other news, Facebook's marketing company GroSocial was recently acquired by Infusionsoft for around $54 million. Infusionsoft released statements addressing their stance on helping small businesses achieve large social media presences, and how GroSocial has excelled in doing so. The 19 person team at GroSocial joining Infusionsoft means that they are now a 370 person team. Infusionsoft's customer service, larger employee base, and various tools are sure to make this a seamless acquisition. In other words, I'm sure the Facebook ads will continue to get better and better...creepy...
Until next time,
Steffan
Another interesting article I read about social media and celebrities came from the Huffington Post. It pertains to the "branding" of celebrities online and how there is A LOT of pressure on their profiles and posts. Anything they do or say in social media can have an enormous impact on any one of their millions of followers. On Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube celebrities are beginning to engage in marketing practices to keep their pages relevant. For this reason, I think it may be smart for celebrities to consider opening their accounts to their agents or PR/Marketing firms in order to save themselves any embarrassment or scandal.
Another interesting trend I noted in this article was the creation of the celebrity/fan relationship. Social media's integration has shifted conversations from a one-way message to more of a back and forth channel. I can personally say this is true after tweeting back and forth with one of my favorite artists a few months back. As the article states, this does create a powerful and meaningful way for celebrities to engage and increase their fan base.
In other news, Facebook's marketing company GroSocial was recently acquired by Infusionsoft for around $54 million. Infusionsoft released statements addressing their stance on helping small businesses achieve large social media presences, and how GroSocial has excelled in doing so. The 19 person team at GroSocial joining Infusionsoft means that they are now a 370 person team. Infusionsoft's customer service, larger employee base, and various tools are sure to make this a seamless acquisition. In other words, I'm sure the Facebook ads will continue to get better and better...creepy...
Until next time,
Steffan
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Interesting Developments...
So I figure it's about time to give this whole "blogging" thing a go. Although it's only been a week, my Social Media Marketing class here at UGA has already sparked my interest in the topic (and possibly even as a career path as well). So what do I do when there's something I'm interested in that I'd like to find more information on..? Hit up Google: News and search for relevant or interesting articles from the past couple days. As I did this today there were a couple different things that really caught my eye:
The first article, off of Forbes, was about managing relationships and how 150 is said to be the maximum number of "friends" any person should have. We are not intellectually capable of managing more relationships than this, but channels like Facebook/Twitter may actually be conditioning us to be capable of increasing this number. There is nothing wrong with having 5,000+ friends, since we know each one of them will not be thoroughly examining your profile or your status posts. "Quality comes in Quantity". We cannot search for quality alone, so we eventually find it in quantity instead. Also there is the Networking Effect. Simply put - the more, the merrier. On a platform like LinkedIn, for example, you would never reach all of your 3rd party connections if you haven't connected with all of your acquaintances. In this sense, there is strength in numbers. So in conclusion to this article, I do believe having 150+ "friends" is beneficial, but you must find the best way to manage them. (I can't imagine scrolling through Twitter/Facebook feeds following 1,000+ people...)
The next article I found, also on Forbes, talked about the BCS National Championship game, stating "Alabama Beating Notre Dame in BCS Battle of Social Media Buzz". I thought it was very interesting to read that Alabama was mentioned twice as often as the Irish leading up to the game, and Coach Saban was mentioned about 5 times more than Coach Kelly. Poptip, a social data company, was hired to track and analyze all of the buzz leading up to the game. I decided to look into Poptip a little more after reading this. They provide REALTIME polling for Twitter results, which undoubtedly is a game changer for anything in social media. (At this point I'm actually enjoying blogging; I would've never known about Poptip.)
In a few weeks, look for a follow-up post from me regarding the Super Bowl, as I'm sure it will dwarf anything created by the BCS National Championship. Usually some pretty crazy stuff happens in advertising that day if you're not familiar.
The next article I found interesting was from Mirror, a UK-based news outlet. The article talked about Facebook launching a new search engine to rival that of Google's, and possibly tapping the Smartphone industry. The search engine would provide results for people sifting for information on business/people/events/etc. It would be allowed to connect to your Facebook account to answer questions for you like, "Where should I eat Mexican food tonight?" This is pretty scary stuff. I'm not sure I want algorithms making my life decisions, Zuckerberg.
And the last article I found was on good-old Fox News, stating that Twitter (and other social medias) may be the new and best way to lose weight. The University of South Carolina did a study with around 100 people where half would receive bi-weekly podcasts, and the other half would use a Twitter app on top of the podcasts. Researchers ended up finding that every 10 posts on Twitter corresponded to about 0.5% weight loss. Twitter has the capability to become an online social network support group for anyone seeking help with something like this. Traditional interventions with group meetings or face-to-face are often time consuming and expensive, so my advice to you is to start a workout program (still counts as a New Year's Resolution, right?) and use Twitter or Instagram, anonymously if you'd like, to monitor your results.
Until next time -
Steffan
The first article, off of Forbes, was about managing relationships and how 150 is said to be the maximum number of "friends" any person should have. We are not intellectually capable of managing more relationships than this, but channels like Facebook/Twitter may actually be conditioning us to be capable of increasing this number. There is nothing wrong with having 5,000+ friends, since we know each one of them will not be thoroughly examining your profile or your status posts. "Quality comes in Quantity". We cannot search for quality alone, so we eventually find it in quantity instead. Also there is the Networking Effect. Simply put - the more, the merrier. On a platform like LinkedIn, for example, you would never reach all of your 3rd party connections if you haven't connected with all of your acquaintances. In this sense, there is strength in numbers. So in conclusion to this article, I do believe having 150+ "friends" is beneficial, but you must find the best way to manage them. (I can't imagine scrolling through Twitter/Facebook feeds following 1,000+ people...)
The next article I found, also on Forbes, talked about the BCS National Championship game, stating "Alabama Beating Notre Dame in BCS Battle of Social Media Buzz". I thought it was very interesting to read that Alabama was mentioned twice as often as the Irish leading up to the game, and Coach Saban was mentioned about 5 times more than Coach Kelly. Poptip, a social data company, was hired to track and analyze all of the buzz leading up to the game. I decided to look into Poptip a little more after reading this. They provide REALTIME polling for Twitter results, which undoubtedly is a game changer for anything in social media. (At this point I'm actually enjoying blogging; I would've never known about Poptip.)
In a few weeks, look for a follow-up post from me regarding the Super Bowl, as I'm sure it will dwarf anything created by the BCS National Championship. Usually some pretty crazy stuff happens in advertising that day if you're not familiar.
The next article I found interesting was from Mirror, a UK-based news outlet. The article talked about Facebook launching a new search engine to rival that of Google's, and possibly tapping the Smartphone industry. The search engine would provide results for people sifting for information on business/people/events/etc. It would be allowed to connect to your Facebook account to answer questions for you like, "Where should I eat Mexican food tonight?" This is pretty scary stuff. I'm not sure I want algorithms making my life decisions, Zuckerberg.
And the last article I found was on good-old Fox News, stating that Twitter (and other social medias) may be the new and best way to lose weight. The University of South Carolina did a study with around 100 people where half would receive bi-weekly podcasts, and the other half would use a Twitter app on top of the podcasts. Researchers ended up finding that every 10 posts on Twitter corresponded to about 0.5% weight loss. Twitter has the capability to become an online social network support group for anyone seeking help with something like this. Traditional interventions with group meetings or face-to-face are often time consuming and expensive, so my advice to you is to start a workout program (still counts as a New Year's Resolution, right?) and use Twitter or Instagram, anonymously if you'd like, to monitor your results.
Until next time -
Steffan
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