Insight and Studies
CEOs Are Finally Warming Up to Social Media [STUDY] from Mashable
Companies will start to embrace social media campaigns as CEOs recognize the benefits:
For businesses, social media is currently the least-utilized method for connecting with their audiences. The hierarchy of connecting is as follows: face-to-face interactions, websites, channel partners, call centers, traditional media, advisory groups, and then, finally, social media.
However, social media is expected to jump to the number two spot within three to five years — and traditional media will plummet to the bottom of the list — according to IBM’s report of their findings.
How the pursuit of social buzz hurts brands from Advertising Age
Keep values and missions that define your brand consistent when entering social media:
Social media is a powerful tool for "brand extensions" -- sales promotion, direct marketing and free publicity -- but it doesn't do such a good job of creating and sustaining a company's core brand identity, says Keith Reinhard. Many marketers forget that there's a big difference between creating a brand and creating buzz, Reinhard explains. "The danger is that in our mad dash to be digital, we lose sight of the former, and a brand's core values begin to disintegrate," he says.
Where Brands Should Build Their Digital Nests (Forbes.com)
Platform engagement: One size does not fit all:
A new study, the Digital Platform Engagement Index--a national study of 49,000 consumers looking at 83 categories and 600 brands--demonstrates unequivocally that not only does digital platform engagement differ by category, but when it comes to digital marketing, one-size-does-not-fit-all.
Social Media Data: Time To Stop Just Measuring And Start Learning? (eConsultancy)
Are actionable insights more important than metrics?
As an industry, we've come a long way in terms of listening and interacting, but there's still room for improving how and what we can learn from what consumers say. At the moment we seem stuck at measuring what can be measured at the expense of trying to really learn what consumers think.
Online Privacy Confuses Customers, Marketers Alike, CMO.com Europe Survey Reveals (CMO.com Europe)
Confuses those of us here in the U.S. too:
While marketers fully understand the importance of easing their customers' concerns, many also say changes in privacy laws haven't been well-explained by the governing bodies establishing policies.
Bing Moves Past Google on the Social Side of Search from Social Media Today
Bing tries to get ahead of Google by incorporating social results on search:
They announce that Bing will transform its interface to a layout in three separate panes, featuring traditional text results, results from specific information sources and services, and results related to your social-network friends
Infographic: Social Media- Unmeasurable Success? From Social Media Today
Useful infographic about measuring the success of social media:
In the last few years, both small and large businesses have increasingly turned their marketing efforts toward social media, convinced that joining the social ranks will deliver a measurable monetary Return on Investment (ROI). In truth, the ROI of social media – unlike other marketing techniques – is measured by the impact it creates, instead of a monetary return. This year, marketers promise to deliver both. We find out if the era of a truly measurable ROI in social media is here.
Oh, the Humanity! When Brands Become Publishers Social publishers urge brands to be 'more human' from AdWeek
How best to connect with consumers? Develop emotional and personal connections to the audience through advertisements. For ads to be monetarily successful, ad content needs to pertain to individuals on a realistic level:
IBM social strategist Jack Mason noted that brands have to "take the steps to actually care about what users want to know" rather than hurling a disconnected, unengaging banner ad at a user and expecting results.
Social Media
The rewards and risks of social media engagement from PRWeek
The hazardous dangers of social media:
Social media offers potentially lucrative opportunities for PR agencies.
Thirsty? How About A Brees, Waltrip or K-Cho? From MediaPost
Here’s a marketing dilemma: You have a new product that’s known colloquially as the name of a prominent celebrity. What’s worse, a competitor already has a licensing deal with said celebrity to market a similar product, using his name and image on packaging. It’s the prime selling season for your product. What do you do?
If you’re Country Time Lemonade (and the new product is a half lemonade/half iced tea drink mix, aka an Arnold Palmer), you enlist a handful of celebrities to spend the summer campaigning to change the nickname to something else.
Pinterest
Pinterest Is Turning Out Brand Advocates from MediaPost
Recent reports indicate the Pinterest tidal wave may be receding, yet there is no doubt people are just as crazy about new, quirky and socially connected platforms as ever:
Entrepreneurs are jumping at the chance to invent the next hottest start-up and one thing remains clear: Marketers must be just as interested in understanding best practices for using these emerging platforms.
Facebook
OoVoo Makes Facebook Multi-Person Video Hangouts Possible from Mashable
Facebook takes one of the most unique aspects of Google+ and mimics it, proving Facebook can take anyone's idea and run away with it:
Want to host a party with friends right on Facebook? Video chat company ooVoo has rolled out its service to the social networking site, allowing up to 12 friends to chat face-to-face at once.
The company also announced upgrades to its application for iPhone, Android, PC and the web users. The Facebook integration makes the service similar to Google Hangouts, which allows users to video chat in groups of 10 on the search engine giant’s social network Google+.
Commentary: Facebook's end is nigh from SmartBrief
Facebook’s end may be approaching – how would we reach out to our target markets?
Facebook's enormous reach could be the social network's downfall -- and a disaster for the rest of the ad-supported Internet, Michael Wolff writes. Weak demand and a huge oversupply of ad inventory will force Facebook to reduce its per-user revenues, depressing the broader online-advertising market and forcing Facebook and other sites out of business, Wolff writes. "The crash will come. And Facebook -- that putative transformer of worlds, which is, in reality, only an ad-driven site -- will fall with everybody else," Wolff writes. MIT Technology Review online
Facebook Timeline: 9 Best Practices For Brands (Mashable)
Key insights about Facebook timeline:
From the most effective ways to use images to how to involve your fans, these nine tips -- plus a bonus slideshow of examples -- are geared to take your company's fan base to the next level. They'll help you get your content (and brand) into organic buzz through more and more news feeds.
5 Hidden Features of Facebook from Social Media Today
Many of us probably know about most or all of these features but just in case!
…These features are here to make the experience of having a profile on Facebook one you can customize deeper while still protecting the privacy of.
Facebook Camera: Company Launches iPhone Camera App Huffington Post
With so much chatter about Facebook’s less-than-exciting IPO, this is an interesting article describing Facebook’s new camera app, to compete with Instagram:
The app can be downloaded from Apple's App Store and works like most other camera applications for smart phones. To take a photo, you tap a camera icon in the upper left corner of your screen, aim and shoot. You can then add filters, crop or tilt your photo, and share it on Facebook.
Twitter
Dunkin' In First Product Launch Via Twitter from MediaPost
For the first time, Dunkin’ Donuts is using Twitter as the initial vehicle for a product launch:
From May 21 through May 24, Dunkin’ is running a “Mocha MaDDness Twitter Sweepstakes” to pre-promote its new Mocha K-Cup packs, which will be available for purchase for a limited time starting in June, at Dunkin’ restaurant locations.
What a 12-Hour Twitter ban Says about Pakistan’s Fractured Society Huffington Post
Interesting to read about a country in the Middle East, who is apparently very active on Twitter, have such a strong backlash to it being banned. The power of social media!!
Last Sunday, after Pakistan's government briefly blocked access to Twitter, the outcry in the country was instantaneous. Ironically, most of this outrage was expressed on Twitter itself. Users in Pakistan promptly discovered alternate means of accessing the micro-blogging site, created the hashtag #TwitterBan, and angrily tweeted away.
Marketing to Moms
What Do Moms Want From A Brand? Respect from MediaPost: Engage Moms
Moms want respect from brands; why would they be advocates for a brand if the brand won’t be an advocate for Moms?
75% of women still feel brands miss the mark. So what does today’s mom want from a brand? Brands have to work hard to gain her trust. She doesn’t have time to investigate your product, so the first place she is going to turn is to her friends. They’ve already earned her trust. A brand has to work twice as hard, and it all starts with: R. E. S. P. E. C. T.
Marketing to Millennials
‘Digistalgia’: Has Social Media Shaped Teen Attitudes to Brands?
The younger generation uses social media more than ever - how does it affect brand perceptions?
In much of the social media research I’ve done, younger teens are increasingly reflective when discussing brands that they used to eat, drink or play with only a couple of years ago.
It’s easy to envisage it has always been this way but I think social media, and the particular way younger people use these sites, is playing a big part in advancing this.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile social users interact with brands more than they admit from SmartBrief
Mobile users prefer natural, easy interactions with brands:
Thirty-five percent of mobile users say they don't want brands communicating with them through mobile social networks, according to a poll by the Direct Marketing Association's Mobile Marketing Council. An additional 31% don't want to communicate with brands via mobile devices. But the number of people who in fact interact with brands via mobile social media (43%) is actually higher than those who say they are happy doing so (23%).
Brand Social Media Marketing Strategies
AT&T Thanks Individual Users With 500 Custom YouTube Videos from Mashable
How do brands get personal with loyal customers and build fans? Recognize fan loyalty:
AT&T is taking advantage of the personal nature of social media with a new campaign called “Thank You Notes” that will include 500 customized YouTube videos thanking fans in song.
For instance, the video above thanks “Mary C.,” an AT&T fan, with a nerdcore rap. Other genres include soul, doo-wop and hip-hop. The full list of videos is available on AT&T’s YouTube page.
The effort, which began Tuesday, is a celebration of the brand hitting 2 million fans on Facebook. Fans interested in getting their own song are encouraged to fill out a form with their name, city, musical genre and reasons “why you’re awesome.”
Coca-Cola targets teens with celebrity-designed Tumblr themes from MediaPost
The best way to reach teens may be through these celebrity endorsements:
Coca-Cola is planning celebrity-tailored Tumblr themes with which the site's users can customize their pages. The campaign is an attempt to reach out to the 11 million teen bloggers who spend an average of nearly 40 minutes per day on Tumblr.
