"Best in Social Media" Weekly Round-Up 6/5/12 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 4:16 PM

Insight and Studies

What Makes Someone Leave a Website (Infographic) from Social Media Today

Detailed graphic of how not to layout a website and what viewers react to:

Attracting a potential customer is hard enough.  Grabbing their interest and retaining them is even more difficult.  It’s important to design your site so that user frustration is kept to a minimum, thereby maximizing customer retention.  Below are some examples of what not to do when designing your website.

 Salesforce.com Expected To Buy Buddy Media, Ups Social Marketing Muscle from MediaPost

Amid broad consolidation in the social marketing space, Salesforce.com is reportedly closing in on Facebook specialist Buddy Media. Although unconfirmed by either company, the would-be deal comes just a week after Oracle agreed to buy social marketing firm Vitrue for a reported $300 million.  While the transaction has yet to close, Buddy Media and SalesForce.com have already agreed to terms that value Buddy at more than $800 million, reports AllThingsD. 

Get caught in the act doing something good from PR Week

Stresses the importance in freely distributing quality information without restraint through social media channels:

The best way to be “caught in the act” is by sharing information freely, openly, and often – providing valuable, useful content to potential clients. Companies that give away quality content through a variety of communications channels can dominate their competition in social media.

Ten tips every PR pro must master when emailing clients from PR Week

Writers have gotten lazy recently with regards to communicating with clients. These important tips can aid in making an email to a client advantageous and favorable:

1.Tell people what they need to know.  2.Take the time to provide a brief salutation. 3. Use numbered bullet points. 4. Include words “please” and “thank you.” 5. Avoid writing sentences that are longer than 30 words. 6. Describe what action should result from the correspondence. 7. Note who is responsible for the action. 8. Provide specific due dates-with times. 9. Avoid giving orders. 10. Provide a relevant and provocative subject line.

Social Media

Social Media Marketing Is An Oxymoron (Branding Strategy Insider)

The term "social media marketing" is now firmly established in our current lexicon. The big job is to get the marketer embedded in the "social," and once there, pile on the "marketing." The truth is, though, that consumers are not listening. Here's why.

4 Ways To Use Storytelling For B2B Social Media (Social Media B2B)

B2B companies who embrace social media to connect with prospects and customers need to understand storytelling as a means for communication. No one wants to hear about your products. They want to hear about solutions to their problems.

Women Are Bugger Fans of Social Media than Men, Survey Says from Mashable

2,000 Brits were surveyed and the results indicate that 54% use social media sites compared to 34% of men:

It’s no secret that women tend to use Pinterest more than men. Women are also more likely to have a blog than men. And the usage of social media by women influences advertisers and shapes web content.

Pinterest

Why Online Brand Marketers Better Get an Interest in Pinterest, Fast from Social Media Today

While Pinterest hasn’t made major news in the last few weeks, it is still important for Marketers to use Pinterest to reach Moms and e-commerce shoppers:

A few months ago I wrote of the need for brand managers to get “pinterested” due to the fact that women, AKA the one responsible for the majority of household purchase decisions has “developed an affinity for the latest and greatest social media platform.”

It would also appear that those in the e-commerce world better also get “pinterested” if they have not already.

Facebook

Facebook Camera: The Love Child of Facebook and Instagram from Social Media Today

We already see a result of the Instagram-Facebook combination:

The transformation is complete. Not even two months after the purchase of Instagram Facebook has released its own photo app to the public. Facebook Camera, a separate app from the Facebook mobile app, can be considered a complete clone to Instagram.

Facebook Promoted Posts: A Step-By-Step Guide from Mashable

Facebook adapted a new feature that now lets businesses promote their posts for a certain fee. The advantage this brings to businesses is that they increase the amount of people a business reaches for any eligible post. They also can specifically target their audience by language or location as well as keep track of how many people viewed their post:

Earlier this year, Facebook shared the statistic that a Brand Page’s content is only seen by 16% of the fans. Facebook’s slew of ad tools and these new Promoted Posts are geared to help businesses reach and engage more of their fan base. A brand can now pay $5, $10, $15 or $20 to “get more people who like your Page to see this post.”

Facebook Rolling Out ‘Trending Videos’ [REPORT] from Mashable

Facebook users recently have come across a new feature that trends articles in their news feed and now Facebook will do the same with viral videos:

Once you’ve got the new feature, it will auto-populate with videos your friends are watching on Facebook’s Open Graph apps…However, plenty of Mashable readers found the feature cumbersome and annoying. One, David Holley, called it “obnoxious as hell” because it didn’t seem to actually highlight articles that his friends were reading.

Facebook Finally Lets Page Admins Schedule Posts, Have Different Roles from Mashable

Facebook is letting Page admins schedule posts and brands can now individualize specific duties for different page admins:

Separate help center page from Facebook also provides an answer to one question many Facebook Page admins have been asking for some time: How do I schedule a post to appear later? The answer: From your Page’s sharing tool.

Twitter

Twitter trumps Facebook as Primary source of Social Media Intelligence from Social Media Today

Interesting- More companies are monitoring their Twitter regularly than Facebook:

The survey shows that 62.5% of companies monitor Twitter and 69.4% monitor LinkedIn as part of their day-to-day intelligence activities. However, Facebook and Google+ are not regarded as essential sources to monitor, with just 47.2% and 35.2% of companies monitoring these sites regularly.

‘Crowdspeaking’ Platform Thunderclap Pushes Your Tweets to the Masses from Mashable

A new site called Thunderclap helps messages trend on Twitter:

A message will be Thunderclapped if it gets a certain number of supporters by a certain date in time, determined when you create the message. The default setting is 500 supporters within seven days. Once the goal is reached, the message will be automatically re-tweeted by every person who supported your message by clicking the “Back this Message” button.

The site is partnering with notable people who have strong social media followings. Essentially, the person sends out an invite tweet (or status update or email), encouraging people to support a message and take action. This message will link them to the Thunderclap website. Currently, there is no limit to the number of Thunderclaps per day, but the company says it’s keeping it small to start so as not to crash any servers. It’ll also be measuring the effectiveness of certain Thunderclaps as it rolls out.

YouTube

How to Use YouTube for Marketing Your Business from Social Media Today

Video is becoming crucial in online marketing; here are a few tips to doing so:

The best part about using YouTube for your company videos is that embedding the YouTube link on your site saves bandwidth, meaning a faster download time for customers when they visit your page. However, make sure that you take full advantage of the SEO and branding options available through YouTube by following the simple tips below.

Marketing to Moms

Multi-Level Mommas from MediaPost: Engage Moms

Goes to show the best way to market to Mom may be having her sell the product for you:

Most moms are natural-born multi-taskers—an ability that many of them are nurturing as part of their transformation into effective multi-level marketers. This can be unofficially traced back to the advent of the home party, where moms emerge as effusive sales consultants for their favorite brands, inviting their friends over and for product-themed social events in a festive setting. These home-based entrepreneurs often followed the reliable wine-in-the-kitchen/products-in-the-dining room format, but once creative and smart marketers started catching on, they began offering moms new ways to sell more, more often, and without even popping a cork!

Brand Social Media Marketing Strategies

Pepsi to Provide Free Music Downloads on Twitter from Mashable

During the upcoming summer and fall months Pepsi will offer free music downloads, music videos, and a series of concerts through a year long partnership with Twitter:

The “Live for Now Music” initiative is an extension of Pepsi’s recently launched “Live for Now” global campaign, will offer free music downloads, music videos and a series of pop-up concerts this summer and fall. Every Wednesday for the next 52 weeks, Pepsi will offer videos providing an overview of the artists, music and music news trending on Twitter that week. In addition, @pepsi will offer free downloads from the Amazon MP3 store for fans who follow the brand on Twitter and use the hashtag #PepsiMusicNOW in their tweets. The brand will also use Twitter to announce pop-up concerts, which it will offer on-demand afterward for fans who want to watch it later.

How (RED) United the Social Web in the Fight Against AIDS from Mashable

Red has utilized social awareness for RED’s iconic products through specific digital campaigns and partnerships with prevailing brands such as Coca-Cola, Apple and Starbucks:

RED’s most recent digital campaign, RED Rush to Zero, includes three new efforts to drive money toward the Global Fund: the RED Rush Games, a global video gaming tournament; the RED Music program, which offers RED tickets to concerts featuring popular artists at major venues; and the Cash & Rocket RED Tour, a fundraising mission across Europe. RED Rush to Zero will take place June 1-10.

JCPenney June Book Features Gay Dads Huffington Post

After working with JCP we’ve kept an eye on what they have done in the social media space as well as national ad campaigns. JCP stands strong, preparing their Father’s Day ad!

JCPenney has put out another gorgeous ad featuring a same-sex couple, this time two dads and their two kids in honor of Father's Day. It seems pretty clear that One Million Moms had less than no effect on JCPenney. (Other than perhaps inspiring JCP to keep moving forward seeing how desperately ads like this are needed.)

Social Video Boosts JCPenney Brand Lift 23% from MediaPost

 With the Olympics just around the corner, brand marketers will be looking for ways to leverage their marketing for the Games and to boost their ad buys with social components, as brands increasingly integrate social video into larger broadcast campaigns.

Agency Trends

The Ongoing Agency Evolution (Society Of Digital Agencies)

Some of the most successful agencies embrace a "beta culture"--where they are always experimenting, prototyping, and placing small bets to learn and build on what's working--both for their clients' needs as well as their own bottom lines.

Pay-For-Performance: Agencies' New Reality (CMO.com)

As CMOs feel the pressure of added accountability from their organizations, that pressure is rightly being shared with their agencies. The agencies that succeed are the ones that truly understand marketing's responsibility beyond brand impressions.

 

"Best in Social Media" Weekly Round-Up 5/25/12 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 11:47 AM

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.

"Best in Social Media" Weekly Round-Up May 14, 2012 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 12:07 PM

Marketing to Moms

Women Stop At Nothing To Go Online from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Moms use social media everywhere….and yes we mean everywhere!

"TMI" or not, certain brands will be delighted to learn that one in five moms (born between 1977 and 1994) admit to consuming media in the bathroom. Whether they're checking Facebook, streaming TV or reading magazines, it's clear that moms are developing entirely new relationships with media -- and increasingly relying on their smartphones to do it.

The Rise of the Mommy Blogger [INFOGRAPHIC] from Mashable

Fun infographic showing how influential Mom Bloggers (not “Mommy Bloggers” ) have become in such a short time.

Moms Take Pinspiration To The Next Level from MediaPost: Engage Moms

No surprise Moms have already begun to take over Pinterest - they consume visual materials:

Moms are inspiring each other to try new things whether it is a recipe, craft or even a book to read. Brands and marketers can take advantage of this opportunity by sponsoring their own Pinterest challenge. Encourage moms to share their creations inspired by your brand or product.  You can even publish a Pinterest party guide to help get the evening of crafting and cooking underway. It is the new night out with the girls and your brand can be the fuel to the fun. 

 

Insight and Studies

Social Media Marketing in 2015 from Social Media Today

The social media space will look completely different in just 3 years:

So, when I grow weary of the day-to-day grind of marketing finglerless leather gloves and payment gateways online, I like to speculate on the future of social media. Where are we heading? What will the landscape look like in 2015, when the platforms and technology issues I just touched on will have shaken out? Here are a few thoughts.

12 Social Media Takeaways from Top Social Media Experts from Social Media Today

Short and to-the-point tips that are worth reading about successful Social Media:

So we thought to compile what we thought were 12 key takeaways from our Social Media WebConference event. You can implement these for your business right away. So here are 12 key Social Media takeaways by 12 Social Media experts:

Are Brands Wielding More Influence in Social Media than we Thought? from Social Media Today

New study shows that respondents (mostly women) actually pay attention to brands on Social Media:

One finding which was not surprising was the fact that 81% of US respondents indicated posts from their friends directly influenced their purchase decision…The finding that did surprise me, however, was that 78% of respondents said the posts by companies they follow on social media impact their purchases.

 

Social Media

3 Ways Companies Can Leverage Social Reviews from Mashable

When running a review or testimonial campaign, important to note what consumer notices, believes, and remembers about the product or experience:

Testimonials can be powerful marketing tools. But in the digital age customers have reason to doubt if every good review is a reflection of a good product or a made up comment meant to boost a company’s reputation. Social media testimonials, on the other hand, are harder to fake because there’s generally a person with a record of activity behind each one.

In fact, collecting and re-posting positive social media reviews not only shines a credible light on a company but may actually help search results for the brand and promote the company’s biggest supporters. Here are three ways to do this.

Twitter

Twitter could have a long-term edge over Facebook, ad exec says from SmartBrief

Twitter may have the long term edge over Facebook; if so, brands may want to make sure they make Twitter their strongest platform:

Twitter could outlast Facebook, Ogilvy & Mather's Rory Sutherland says. Twitter's "haiku element" and appeal to young urbanites give the network far more money-making potential than most people realize, Sutherland argues. "I can see Facebook being superseded more easily than Twitter being superseded. ... I wouldn't bet against it being more valuable [than Facebook] in the long term," he says. The Telegraph (London)

Facebook

Facebook Military Crisis Tools To Aid Families of Vets from Huffington Post

An interesting article about how Facebook is taking on another social initiative. We love to read articles about huge, profitable companies like Facebook putting their money and efforts towards a good cause:

Facebook has launched yet another service to help those in need, this time for military members, veterans and families suffering from the mental and emotional effects of war.

Facebook Begins Rolling Out News Feed “Offers” for Local Small Businesses from Social Media Today

Interesting new Facebook feature for small businesses:

“Zuckerberg and the now very, very big Facebook, have not let all the fame go to their heads and have decided to help out the little guy. Facebook has announced that they have begun rolling out News Feed “Offers” for Local Small Businesses. Once a option only reserved for the Loehmanns and Whole Foods of the Online world, now the Spotted Moth or The Bite Market can try to sway their local customers into local shops and have their own chance at a little fame. “

5 Things to Consider Before Creating an Offer from Social Media Today

A follow up article about the new “Offer” feature on Facebook, complications pop up:

Whether it was from lack of use or lack of success, Facebook Offers has streamlined the process while making it a bit more viral.  BUT, I am already seeing a few ‘road blocks’ as we just created our first offer this morning.

Brand-related content is best for creating engagement, Facebook says from SmartBrief

Consumers want to engage with your brand on your Facebook page – stick with your brand "voice," don't veer too far off topic:

Marketers shouldn't try to humanize their brands with chatty Facebook posts about things unrelated to their core identity, Facebook's Sean Bruich says. Staying on-topic and focusing on brand-related content is a better way to drive engagement and build relationships with fans, Bruich says. "By far, the biggest predictor of engagement was that the post was on a topic relevant to the brand. ... People are seeing the content because they liked the brand, and it makes sense that content about the brand will get them engaged," he says. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model)

Rules Of Facebook Engagement from MediaPost: Engage Moms

INFOGRAPHIC- Facebook rules as Moms favorite platform. We're not surprised:

(Infographic: http://blog.performics.com/search/2012/04/social-media-moms-infographic.html) As a self-proclaimed “social media mom,” I found a recent infographic from Performics to be quite interesting. Yes, social media moms are more likely to own smartphones than other women and, yes, an overwhelming majority believe they can influence companies by voicing their opinions via their social networks. But the two stats I found most interesting were those regarding how moms’ offline actions are somewhat motivated by those brands they follow on Facebook

Google+

Luxury brands sparkle on Google+ from SmartBrief

Looks like Google+ can gain traction…if you’re a "high-end" brand. But for those companies that are not, it may not be the best channel to leverage:

High-end brands such as Ferrari, Gucci and Burberry are beating lower-tier brands when it comes to generating engagement on Google+, according to a Simply Measured survey. Automotive brands remain the social network's strongest performers, with Ferrari leading the pack with about 750,000 connections on the network. WebProNews (Lexington, Ky.)

LinkedIn

LinkedIn to buy SlideShare for $118.8 million from Wall Street Journal

LinkedIn is taking a big (and expensive) step to build their platform. Unlike Facebook who purchases any social media threat standing in their way, LinkedIn makes smart purchases that complement their platform:

LinkedIn says it will buy SlideShare for $118.8 million in cash and stock. SlideShare will continue to operate as a standalone service, but LinkedIn will seek to integrate some of SlideShare's features into its core social network.

 

Brand Social Media Marketing Strategies

Oscar Mayer Selects Makes Limited-Time Social Offer from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Kraft Foods is venturing into new digital territory as part of the multimedia launch campaign for its “no artificial preservatives” Oscar Mayer Selects line:

Themed “It’s Yes Food,” the campaign -- one of the largest in Oscar Mayer’s history -- kicked off with three humorous TV spots showing a mother having to say “no” to all kinds of things (including her husband’s ill-fitting skinny jeans and her son’s plea to adopt a reptile as a pet), but happy to say “yes” to Selects cold cuts, hot dogs and bacon.

The hub of the campaign’s digital efforts, from 360i, is an Oscar Mayer “Yes Quest” on the Kraft promotions site. 

Behind the scenes at Coke's Polar Bowl from SmartBrief

Why do people love mixing social media with this type of advertising? Same reason people love to Tweet during their favorite TV shows! Strong strategic takeaway:

Coca-Cola's Polar Bowl campaign, which saw animated polar bears commenting on the Super Bowl in real time, drew 9 million viewers and kept users engaged for an average of 28 minutes. The campaign, which also drove a 38% increase in Coke's Twitter following in a four-hour period, is "redefining" the way Coke plans its outreach, says Coke's integrated-marketing director, Jennifer Healan. "It's a conversation, not a monologue," she explains. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model)

Kit Kat app sends random social updates for the weary from SmartBrief

This is an interesting strategy, but could be dangerous. It’s important to see if people will want that break from social media, and if so, will appreciate what the app has done for them in their absence. Is there a need for this?

Nestle's Kit Kat is promoting the idea of taking a respite from messaging friends with a tongue-in-cheek application called "Social Break." The app sends random updates to a user's LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts, giving the owner a chance to ignore his or her social media presence for a while. The app was developed by one of Nestle's agencies, JWT, and will target the Asian market, where users say they feel especially beleaguered by social media obligations. Reuters

The "Best in Social Media" Round-Up May 7, 2012 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 1:57 PM

Insight and Studies

Social Media in Regulated Industries from Social Media Today

Social Media use increases in Financial Services and Healthcare industries:

Social media use in regulated industries such as Financial Services and Healthcare is beginning to take hold. The benefits are clear - market your products, communicate with customers and get a pulse on your brand image - but it's important to adopt such technologies while adhering industry regulations.

Social Media Give You a Megaphone for Word-of-Mouth Marketing from Social Media Today

Is WOM the best kind of marketing?

Word-of-mouth has been and remains the best marketing. But these days, more people are talking, more are listening, and their conversations go far beyond the back fence or the local coffee shop. Social media are a megaphone for word-of-mouth marketing and a boon to small businesses and start ups. Inexpensive and far-reaching, social media bring impressive results.

The Most Actionable Social Media Metrics (1to1 Media)

Yet another take on metrics:

The past two years have seen an increase in maturity among many companies that engage in social channels. Carnival Cruise Lines, American Airlines, and Cirque du Soleil are examples of companies that use social media metrics to inform marketing decisions and reveal the optimal social investments.

Social Media

Why Big Brands Are More Socially Fit from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Big brands do social media right:

Social media has hit the big time -- or at least has become the province of big companies. A recent study on the fitness of social media reported that large and mid-size brands significantly outscored their smaller counterparts, and reveals intriguing insights into the state of social media.

The Next Phase of Social Marketing from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

How to turn fans into advocates and advocates into cash:

Marketers must focus on how to activate fans -- turning them into brand advocates and essentially evolving their social media presence into a research lab, idea store, and full-fledged peer-to-peer marketing channel.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ And The Social Sharing Avalanche [Infographic] (All Twitter)

Helpful infographic!

Facebook may be nearing its audience peak in the United States, Europe, and the U.K., but it (and Twitter) still has a huge and largely untapped audience across the rest of the world. This infographic collects the data on who's sharing what and the effect on brands.

Buddy Media Launches BuyBuddy Social Ad Service From Online Media Daily

New Facebook ad platform service from Buddy Media:

BuyBuddy, a self-service offering advertisers can use to create, track and optimize campaigns on Facebook. Built into the company’s existing platform enabling social content publishing, app creation and e-commerce, the aim is to help companies better combine owned, earned and paid media efforts on Facebook and other social sites.

Social Gaming to Social Good—Brands Matter to Youth Market From Online Media Daily

A really interesting perspective to think about when working with the Gen Y bloggers, and which "social good" campaigns resonate well with them:

Status symbols for the under-30 demographic show their commitment to the environment, global access to clean water, better access to nutritious foods and other social good causes. Today's youth market is consciously conscious, and they hold their brands accountable to representing their values. 

Pinterest

Pinterest: It’s Time to Go ‘Pinternational’ from Mashable

Going global will allow more brands to participate in the popular platform, and more target audiences reached:

The photo-centric website announced in a blog post that it’s looking for translators in French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Though Pinterest a visual-based site, the company said translators are now necessary to make the website truly global:

Twitter

Twitter to upgrade "Discover" feature from CNET

Twitter personalizes reach and targets appropriate consumers based on their interests:

Twitter's "Discover" feature will get an upgrade, turning to a user's followers list for personalized signals to determine which stories to highlight. The feature will be rolled out to the website before it comes to mobile applications, the company says. CNET

Facebook

Gap, H&M, Sephora and Others Unwrap Social Gifting in the U.S. from Wall Street Journal

A great way for parents to give their college-aged child a special gift, or to give friends a long way away a "I’m thinking of you" pick me up:

“It works like this:  

• • Using Facebook and a mobile application, people can give their Facebook friends free gift cards, commonly valued at $5 to $15.
  • A notification saying that they’ve received a gift card is posted to that friend’s wall, where anyone can see it and contribute more money if they wish.
  • The person, who received the gift card, can then redeem it using a mobile application in the store.”

Facebook’s New “Life-Saving” Tool? It Could Be for Fighting Cyberbullies. from Wall Street Journal

Cyberbullying is real, and parents worry about their children being the victim. Do these tools that Facebook is hinting at really make a difference? Will they help?

“Slated to air Tuesday evening, ABC News has snagged interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, in which the two will debut a mystery tool “which has the power to save lives,” according to the company.”

5 Facebook Insights Your Business Can’t Ignore from Social Media Today

There’s a lot of data available on Facebook that could have potential for measuring campaign success:

Using third-party tools can be useful, but when it comes to Facebook, there is more than enough data in its native Insights information to get any business off and running on the right foot.   The following are five Insights your business can’t afford to ignore.

Facebook provides ‘Organ Donor’ status- and will save lives from Social Media Today

What else will Facebook come up with to represent our offline choices on our profile page?

Recently they've [Facebook] made some pretty good moves:  there was the anti-bullying initiative and a referral system for friends expressing suicidal thoughts.  Now comes an 'Organ Donation Status' which will hopefully push up the numbers of people around the globe currently registered to be organ donors.

Wrapp Up Social Gifting On Facebook From Online Media Daily

This is very cool - we love this idea:

Gifting Starbucks coffee, lipstick or a free week of online access to The Wall Street Journal could become the new currency for Facebook Fans.

4 Ways to Drive Engagement With Facebook Ads from Mashable

More authentic ads may be the most beneficial when driving engagement:

The run up to Facebook’s fast-approaching IPO, the company is making extensive and ongoing improvements to its advertising platform. The most recent updates, which are not yet live, will allow marketers to optimize their ads for any Facebook action (not just likes). These new capabilities will also give advertisers a much greater understanding of their consumers, allowing them to segment marketing messages based on certain user groups. All of this goes to support the general belief that Facebook wants to turn their ad platform into the main driver of a brand’s reach. To be successful in this space, brands will have to be very authentic.

YouTube 

YouTube Commits $200 Million in Marketing Support to Channels from ADWeek

As YouTube and other online streaming platforms become the new TV’s, and DVR has decreased the effects of TV Ads, marketing dollars are better spent in platforms such as YouTube:

YouTube's "brandcast" event (please don't call it a NewFront) started off with a bang and ended with vp, global head of content Robert Kyncl pledging some $200 million in marketing dollars on YouTube and Google's Display Network to support its 100 new professionally produced channels.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn 4x Better for B2B Leads than Facebook or Twitter from Social Media Today

This article is focused on B2B but it's interesting that LinkedIn created more conversions than the other social media sites:

In a study of 3,128 HubSpot B2B customers, LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.60%, four times higher than Twitter (.67%) and seven times better than Facebook (.39%).

Marketing to Moms

The New Mommy Wars from MediaPost: Engage Moms

Stay at home Moms are working Moms. To say otherwise is both an insult, as well as detrimental to your company:

Smart marketers who target moms know these women work hard. The best among these marketers create and sell products that help make their work easier. Key denominators in products and services that are directed toward an audience of moms are convenience and ease of use. 

Mobile Marketing

Study Finds Gen Y Responds To App Ads from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Mobile app ads more revelant to Gen Y:

The study found that adults 25-34 are more likely to value the influence of advertisements, and they recall seeing more ads while using mobile apps, particularly video ads or fully sponsored/branded apps.

Branded Social Media Campaigns

How Four Brands Manage Their Wildly Successful Facebook Pages (Ragan.com)

Successful brand Facebook Pages – how they differ.

Imagine having legions of engaged fans commenting, liking, and sharing your brands' brilliant posts. For the following four brands, that's a reality. Here's a look at their best practices (among them: strong content) and what you can learn from each one.

How 7 Top Brands Are Using Facebook’s New Ad Tools from Mashable

Brand show how to effectively use the new Facebook Page:

Among the products Facebook introduced were Premium on Facebook, Reach Generator, Offers and Logged Out ads. The company also asked brands to embrace a paradigm shift from advertising to “Stories,” Facebook’s preferred term for brand-related messages. Since that time, a few big brands have experimented with the new tools. Here are a few examples or, if you prefer, Stories…

Coke and Pepsi face off on Facebook from SmartBrief

Coke and Pepsi wars start again – yet this time via socal media:

Coca-Cola and Pepsi are rolling out rival campaigns on Facebook and other social media platforms. Both are taking creative approaches to social media outreach, with Pepsi wheeling out celebrities for its Pepsi Pulse campaign, and Coke teaming with Spotify to integrate music into its Facebook page. "Consumers are incredibly empowered, and what used to work to get their attention now needs a bit more thoughtfulness," author Brian Solis says. USA TODAY

Best of Social Media Round-Up April 30, 2012 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 4:32 PM

Brand Social Media Marketing Strategies

Use Social Curation To Build Brand Presence from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Interesting article by Roger Ebert (the movie guy):

Engaging social curation can positively increase the reach, relevancy and credibility of your brand. Social engagement is a multichannel dialogue that requires vigilance -- but the payoff is that it builds reach and lasting relationships with your customers and the community.

Get Rid of Negative Facebook Ads With Dove’s ‘Ad Makeover’ [VIDEO] from Mashable

Another reason Dove really resonates with women. They know exactly how to target women, and with campaigns that hit a personal note: (Video)

That’s the aim of a new marketing campaign from Dove. The beauty goods manufacturer released a Facebook app in Australia that allows users to replace negative ads with one of eight messages designed to boost women’s self esteem. One message reads, “Your birthday suit suits you.” Another: “The perfect bum is the one you’re sitting on.”

Kimberly-Clark jokes about Cottonelle moist wipes from SmartBrief

More toilet paper campaigns prove social media can even handle the most sensitive subjects:

A Kimberly-Clark campaign via Facebook is trying to wipe out the embarrassment associated with using flushable moist toilet wipes. Ads for Cottonelle Fresh Care show people nicknaming the practice of using a moist then a dry wipe as "the clean getaway" and "two-handed tango," among other humorous names. The ads then direct viewers to Facebook to come up with their own terms for the practice -- without overtly specifying a proper bathroom procedure. "We don't as a brand want to push a toilet routine, but we want to activate the conversation," said Biggs|Gilmore's Dean Suarez-Starfeldt. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)

Boosting ROI with sweet tweets from MediaPost: Online Media Daily

This is really interesting to see how brands are measuring the ROI of tweets—and Ben & Jerry’s sampling model is something brands should look to as guidance when thinking about a Twitter presence:

Jay Curley, integrated marketing manager at Ben & Jerry’s, tells Marketing Daily how using Twitter as an integral part of its sampling program has boosted its ROI.

Trop50 Extends Products -- And 'Girlfriends' Campaign

Aw, we love Jane Krakowski!

PepsiCo continues to build on the impressive success of its half-the-calories juices brand, Trop50, with (more) new extensions and new “Girlfriends”-themed TV spots starring "30 Rock" star Jane Krakowski. 

Insights and Studies

Engagement aint Nothing but a Number. Why 1% Isn’t good enough from Social Media Today

Ideas about redefining “engagement” for brands from Brian Solis:

“A recent study published by Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, an Australia-based research group found that less than 1-percent of Facebook “Fans” actually engage with brands.”

How To Turn Your Digital Thought Leadership Into Business Development (CMO.com)

How open communication with readers can focus biz dev perspective:

For B2B firms that view their online journals as a forum to host an open exchange with readers, the rewards are there. What's more, the very tools used to create the exchange can be a rich source of data to help guide ongoing marketing efforts.

Forrester Rates Top 'Listening' Platforms/Vendors from MediaPost

Social media is a great tool for measuring consumer sentiment -- if you’re using the right “listening platform.” Aiding in the decision process, Forrester has released a 64-criteria evaluation of enterprise “listening” vendors, which it breaks down by product fit, customer success, and Forrester client demand:

Fresh off its acquisition of Cymfony, Visible Technologies shared the top spot with Radian6 thanks to their flexible dashboards and inventive road maps. “The landscape consists of many strong performers,” according to Zach Hofer-Shall, social intelligence analyst at Forrester, and lead author of the report.

Additional standouts included Attensity with its data-processing focus; Converseon with its research reporting; Networked Insights with its focus on media planning and buying; NM Incite with its consulting services; SDL with its data collecting; and Synthesio with its international expertise.

Social Media

Father Puts Wire on Son with Autism, Records Verbal Abuse from Teacher Huffington Post

This story will break your heart and infuriate you. A father had been receiving reports from his son’s teachers that he was having violent outbursts and hitting his teachers. Confused by these reports – he put a wire on his son to wear to school, which showed his son's teachers verbally abusing him. Outraged, the father turned to YouTube and shared the recordings and his disgust – and within a few days it already has over 3 million views:

The two (teachers) engage in inappropriate conversations, like joking about their alcohol abuse and sex lives in front of their students -- all of whom have behavioral conditions and, according to Chaifetz, communication difficulties that prevent them from relaying the conversations to their parents.

Integrated Marketing: 4 Reasons Social Media is Needed from Social Media Today

Need more reasons to participate in social media?

‘There are four areas where social media works. In addition to providing opportunities, they provide the reasons companies need to participate.’

Your Start-Up Life: Am I Wasting My Time with Social Media? Huffington Post

From large companies to start-ups, we oftentimes find ourselves explaining to a client why they would benefit from running a program with us. This article has Rana Florida (CEO of The Creative  Class Group) answering a certain entrepreneur’s question as to why social media is beneficial:

You're right; the options to connect and engage through social media are very thick and constantly changing. Social media can greatly enhance sales and a brand if done correctly but a wrong step can also turn off customers and tarnish a reputation -- just think of Alec Baldwin's Twitter rants about American Airlines or Charlie Sheen's #winning hashtag

Klout

Klout to Launch Brand Pages: Should Marketers Care? From Hub Spot

Klout is currently in beta testing mode of brand pages and Marketers should pay attention. Your brands' most influential speakers will now have a chance to do PR for you. In turn, they will become loyalists and activists of the brand. The additional benefits for the brand include knowing the activity around your brand, perks for your customers, and news on your brand in the space: 

Earlier this week, Klout announced its own version of brand pages -- Brand "Squads." Klout calls these pages a "way of giving influencers a place to be recognized and have a direct impact on the brands they care about most."

And while influencers get excited for their potential to be recognized by top brands, social media marketers also have plenty of reasons to be excited for this cool new tool.

Pinterest

When more pins bring more problems from SmartBrief

Pinterest can increase web traffic for companies that otherwise wouldn’t have the exposure, but just like any other social media platform, negative sentiment can quickly spread as well:

Jewelry-maker Michelle DiFilippo-Espinoza had a bad experience with Pinterest when unscrupulous individuals stole images of her products and used them to spread malware. "People thought I was not a legitimate business. I lost sales because of it and had to rebuild and regain trust in the Internet community," she said. To help prevent future problems, DiFilippo-Espinoza now places watermarks on her images and remains on watch for suspicious users. The Daily Dot

Facebook

Facebook Marketing: Why Less Is More from Mashable

With all the campaigns currently run on Facebook, it’s important to keep in mind “what will resonate” rather that “how much can we do?”

It’s hard to keep track of what’s actually working for brands on Facebook. The most recent numbers actually indicate fan growth slowed with the Brand Timeline switch. But thinking smart transcends those changes — and never goes out of style. You want to engage your audience and make sure that they feel like they’re apart of something — not just being marketed to,” Shankman explains. “Then they will do your PR for you.”

Study: Facebook Timeline gives brands an engagement boost from SmartBrief

How beneficial is the new Timeline change for brands looking to connect with fans on Facebook?

Brands have seen a spike in user engagement since switching to Facebook's Timeline layout, according to a Simply Measured analysis. The 15 brand pages studied saw their per-post engagement increase by an average of 46% in the three weeks after adopting Timeline. eMarketer

Google+
Google Adds a ‘Share’ Button for Google+ from Mashable

As these platforms continue to copy one another, there will be no way to differeniate them, and only one can prevail:

The new button enables website operators to more easily encourage visitors to spread content among connections on Google’s social network. It’s the latest step in integrating the social network with content across the web. The Share button joins the already existing +1 button, which enables Google+ members to indicate that they — for lack of a better term — like a page or an article.

Instagram

Instagram's iPhone Success Story from MediaPost

Instagram is one of the most popular ways to post photos to Twitter. These visual apps are a fast success – but is it global?

Adoption of Instagram can be region-specific. In the U.S. iPhone market, it took only one day from the app’s release for it to become the top-ranking app in the Photography section. In Korea, it took 187 days, France 82 days, and China 58 days. For most non-U.S. nations, however, Instagram’s dominance of the photo section took less than a month from the time it was released into that market.

Marketing to Moms

We Love Mom: Mother's Day Spending To Rise from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

For all the Moms out there!

By far, the most common purchase is a greeting card, with 83% of the sample planning on buying one, followed by flowers, the choice of 66%, and some sort of pampering service, such as a spa day, a facial or a massage (58%).

Walk Score Places a Value on How Easy It Is to Navigate a Neighborhood from Wall Street Journal

An interesting way for concerned parents to evaluate their neighborhood, especially as their children get older and start going out or driving by themselves:

“Seattle-based Walk Score has created an easy way to evaluate how walkable and public-transportation-friendly a neighborhood is on a scale from one to 100. A 90 and higher is a Walker’s Paradise, meaning that daily errands there do not require a car. On the other end of the spectrum, and for scores under 50, it means there are very few amenities within walking distance and that people are car-dependent. For example, Seattle ranks as a 74.”

Walmart.com Lets You Pay with Cash When Shopping Online

Many Moms are on a budget and do not utilize credit cards. This is a new way for Moms to make the most of their tight budget by shopping Wal-Mart online and being able to pay with cash:

“In an interview, Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Walmart.com, said the new feature is targeting people who don’t have access to debit or credit cards. The fact that only 15 percent of our transactions are done in the form of credit at our stores means there’s a large percentage of Walmart customers who are dependent on cash to transact online. We definitely think it is a big opportunity,” he said.”

‘Moms for Mitt’ Flock to New Romney Facebook Community [EXCLUSIVE] from Mashable

Moms will play a large role in the upcoming election due to their influence on their social media platforms:

An unexpected social media byproduct has risen from the “War on Women” debate between Democrats and Republicans: Mitt Romney’s team was able to build an 80,000-strong women-centered Facebook community nearly overnight. The Romney campaign created “Moms for Mitt,” a Facebook community that’s being used to display Romney’s life as father and husband and to share infographics dealing with women’s issues.

Mobile Marketing

Infographic- Great Trends in Mobile from Social Media Today

New mobile trends, and a nice infographic!

“The folks at CultureLabel.com recently put out this fabulous infographic that shows how quickly mobile has become a mainstay of our everyday reality. In fact, it represents a potential paradigm shift for consumers and businesses alike, both in our personal and professional lives.”

Parents Find Use In Smartphones from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Parents learn how to use smartphones (Oh Em Gee!)

According to a survey of more than 2,200 adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of LG, more than half (57%) of all parents said they relied on their smartphone to keep them on track.

US mobile ad spend to double in 2012 from MediaPost: Online Media Daily

How much focus should a brand put on a mobile ad survey or program?

A new forecast from Strategy Analytics projects mobile ad spending worldwide will grow 85% in 2012 from $6.3 billion to $11.6 billion.

 

No More “Moms Like Me” POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 2:10 PM

Gannett just announced that MomsLikeMe, its online community for Moms, would cease operations on Friday, Oct. 14^th after three years and 81 localized sites.

Gannett, the media giant that operates USA Today, more than 20 news stations across the country, over 80 newspapers, and a host of other digital and online properties, said on the MomsLikeMe site that “the market has evolved substantially since we launched three years ago and there are many new and different ways for people to connect and engage.” The site went on to say that the decision to shutter MomsLikeMe took place at the corporate level and that the company plans to invest in other “digital initiatives” throughout its organization and plans to launch them in the future.

The closure reflects ongoing trends seen across the marketplace of the challenge in aggregating consumers – particularly busy Moms – into separate online communities far removed from the social media platforms they use on a daily basis. A recent Mom Central Consulting survey showed that 9 out of 10 Moms cite Facebook as their “go-to” destination for connecting with family, friends, and brands. Moreover, 4 out of 5 Moms have two separate identities on Facebook – one public and one private – further demonstrating how completely they rely on the platform to facilitate all of their social media connections.

We’ve also seen that driving Moms to separate websites – whether they focus on brands or communities – represents a thing of the past. Brand marketers have learned that Moms want brands to come to them – to the online neighborhoods where they hang out on such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs. In fact, 56% of Moms agree that brands can most effectively reach them via social media networks or through Mom bloggers.

It now appears that Moms have delivered the same message to traditional media.

 

Moms Ready to Have "The Talk," But Daily Conversations Prove Tougher POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 10:05 AM

We recently partnered with Bausch + Lomb to understand how Moms feel about having "The Big Talk" with their teen. Our findings? The majority of Moms surveyed feel well-prepared to talk to their teens about tough topics such as drugs, smoking and alcohol but agreed the daily chats about nutrition, make-up or contact lenses prove tougher to navigate:

“The Daily Talk” survey, conducted amongst more than 800 moms in the U.S. with at least one child over the age of 10, showed that 93 percent of moms have already had the “big” conversations with their child about drugs, alcohol and smoking and that 63 percent felt well-prepared to discuss these topics. On the other hand, the survey showed that it’s the day-to-day conversations about issues related to nutrition, use of contact lenses and makeup that were hardest to navigate. Overall, moms felt least prepared to talk to their children about makeup (33%) or to talk with a child who wants to forego glasses for contact lenses (21%).

“We find it interesting that moms feel stymied when it comes to discussing those issues that are more closely linked to a child’s self confidence. Wearing makeup and contact lenses are associated with a child’s desire to look better and not as closely linked to safety as some of the’big talks’. These topics can however, help a child to address issues related to self-confidence and even academic performance,” said Stacy DeBroff, CEO and Founder of Mom Central Consulting. “Speaking with an outside party, such as a doctor can help to provide answers while also giving your child another impartial, but credible source of information.”

For more information about "The Daily Talk" survey please visit Bausch + Lomb's website. For more information about surveying our Mom Community, please contact us via contactus@momcentral.com.

"Best in Social Media" Weekly Round-Up 6/5/12 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 4:16 PM

Insight and Studies

What Makes Someone Leave a Website (Infographic) from Social Media Today

Detailed graphic of how not to layout a website and what viewers react to:

Attracting a potential customer is hard enough.  Grabbing their interest and retaining them is even more difficult.  It’s important to design your site so that user frustration is kept to a minimum, thereby maximizing customer retention.  Below are some examples of what not to do when designing your website.

 Salesforce.com Expected To Buy Buddy Media, Ups Social Marketing Muscle from MediaPost

Amid broad consolidation in the social marketing space, Salesforce.com is reportedly closing in on Facebook specialist Buddy Media. Although unconfirmed by either company, the would-be deal comes just a week after Oracle agreed to buy social marketing firm Vitrue for a reported $300 million.  While the transaction has yet to close, Buddy Media and SalesForce.com have already agreed to terms that value Buddy at more than $800 million, reports AllThingsD. 

Get caught in the act doing something good from PR Week

Stresses the importance in freely distributing quality information without restraint through social media channels:

The best way to be “caught in the act” is by sharing information freely, openly, and often – providing valuable, useful content to potential clients. Companies that give away quality content through a variety of communications channels can dominate their competition in social media.

Ten tips every PR pro must master when emailing clients from PR Week

Writers have gotten lazy recently with regards to communicating with clients. These important tips can aid in making an email to a client advantageous and favorable:

1.Tell people what they need to know.  2.Take the time to provide a brief salutation. 3. Use numbered bullet points. 4. Include words “please” and “thank you.” 5. Avoid writing sentences that are longer than 30 words. 6. Describe what action should result from the correspondence. 7. Note who is responsible for the action. 8. Provide specific due dates-with times. 9. Avoid giving orders. 10. Provide a relevant and provocative subject line.

Social Media

Social Media Marketing Is An Oxymoron (Branding Strategy Insider)

The term "social media marketing" is now firmly established in our current lexicon. The big job is to get the marketer embedded in the "social," and once there, pile on the "marketing." The truth is, though, that consumers are not listening. Here's why.

4 Ways To Use Storytelling For B2B Social Media (Social Media B2B)

B2B companies who embrace social media to connect with prospects and customers need to understand storytelling as a means for communication. No one wants to hear about your products. They want to hear about solutions to their problems.

Women Are Bugger Fans of Social Media than Men, Survey Says from Mashable

2,000 Brits were surveyed and the results indicate that 54% use social media sites compared to 34% of men:

It’s no secret that women tend to use Pinterest more than men. Women are also more likely to have a blog than men. And the usage of social media by women influences advertisers and shapes web content.

Pinterest

Why Online Brand Marketers Better Get an Interest in Pinterest, Fast from Social Media Today

While Pinterest hasn’t made major news in the last few weeks, it is still important for Marketers to use Pinterest to reach Moms and e-commerce shoppers:

A few months ago I wrote of the need for brand managers to get “pinterested” due to the fact that women, AKA the one responsible for the majority of household purchase decisions has “developed an affinity for the latest and greatest social media platform.”

It would also appear that those in the e-commerce world better also get “pinterested” if they have not already.

Facebook

Facebook Camera: The Love Child of Facebook and Instagram from Social Media Today

We already see a result of the Instagram-Facebook combination:

The transformation is complete. Not even two months after the purchase of Instagram Facebook has released its own photo app to the public. Facebook Camera, a separate app from the Facebook mobile app, can be considered a complete clone to Instagram.

Facebook Promoted Posts: A Step-By-Step Guide from Mashable

Facebook adapted a new feature that now lets businesses promote their posts for a certain fee. The advantage this brings to businesses is that they increase the amount of people a business reaches for any eligible post. They also can specifically target their audience by language or location as well as keep track of how many people viewed their post:

Earlier this year, Facebook shared the statistic that a Brand Page’s content is only seen by 16% of the fans. Facebook’s slew of ad tools and these new Promoted Posts are geared to help businesses reach and engage more of their fan base. A brand can now pay $5, $10, $15 or $20 to “get more people who like your Page to see this post.”

Facebook Rolling Out ‘Trending Videos’ [REPORT] from Mashable

Facebook users recently have come across a new feature that trends articles in their news feed and now Facebook will do the same with viral videos:

Once you’ve got the new feature, it will auto-populate with videos your friends are watching on Facebook’s Open Graph apps…However, plenty of Mashable readers found the feature cumbersome and annoying. One, David Holley, called it “obnoxious as hell” because it didn’t seem to actually highlight articles that his friends were reading.

Facebook Finally Lets Page Admins Schedule Posts, Have Different Roles from Mashable

Facebook is letting Page admins schedule posts and brands can now individualize specific duties for different page admins:

Separate help center page from Facebook also provides an answer to one question many Facebook Page admins have been asking for some time: How do I schedule a post to appear later? The answer: From your Page’s sharing tool.

Twitter

Twitter trumps Facebook as Primary source of Social Media Intelligence from Social Media Today

Interesting- More companies are monitoring their Twitter regularly than Facebook:

The survey shows that 62.5% of companies monitor Twitter and 69.4% monitor LinkedIn as part of their day-to-day intelligence activities. However, Facebook and Google+ are not regarded as essential sources to monitor, with just 47.2% and 35.2% of companies monitoring these sites regularly.

‘Crowdspeaking’ Platform Thunderclap Pushes Your Tweets to the Masses from Mashable

A new site called Thunderclap helps messages trend on Twitter:

A message will be Thunderclapped if it gets a certain number of supporters by a certain date in time, determined when you create the message. The default setting is 500 supporters within seven days. Once the goal is reached, the message will be automatically re-tweeted by every person who supported your message by clicking the “Back this Message” button.

The site is partnering with notable people who have strong social media followings. Essentially, the person sends out an invite tweet (or status update or email), encouraging people to support a message and take action. This message will link them to the Thunderclap website. Currently, there is no limit to the number of Thunderclaps per day, but the company says it’s keeping it small to start so as not to crash any servers. It’ll also be measuring the effectiveness of certain Thunderclaps as it rolls out.

YouTube

How to Use YouTube for Marketing Your Business from Social Media Today

Video is becoming crucial in online marketing; here are a few tips to doing so:

The best part about using YouTube for your company videos is that embedding the YouTube link on your site saves bandwidth, meaning a faster download time for customers when they visit your page. However, make sure that you take full advantage of the SEO and branding options available through YouTube by following the simple tips below.

Marketing to Moms

Multi-Level Mommas from MediaPost: Engage Moms

Goes to show the best way to market to Mom may be having her sell the product for you:

Most moms are natural-born multi-taskers—an ability that many of them are nurturing as part of their transformation into effective multi-level marketers. This can be unofficially traced back to the advent of the home party, where moms emerge as effusive sales consultants for their favorite brands, inviting their friends over and for product-themed social events in a festive setting. These home-based entrepreneurs often followed the reliable wine-in-the-kitchen/products-in-the-dining room format, but once creative and smart marketers started catching on, they began offering moms new ways to sell more, more often, and without even popping a cork!

Brand Social Media Marketing Strategies

Pepsi to Provide Free Music Downloads on Twitter from Mashable

During the upcoming summer and fall months Pepsi will offer free music downloads, music videos, and a series of concerts through a year long partnership with Twitter:

The “Live for Now Music” initiative is an extension of Pepsi’s recently launched “Live for Now” global campaign, will offer free music downloads, music videos and a series of pop-up concerts this summer and fall. Every Wednesday for the next 52 weeks, Pepsi will offer videos providing an overview of the artists, music and music news trending on Twitter that week. In addition, @pepsi will offer free downloads from the Amazon MP3 store for fans who follow the brand on Twitter and use the hashtag #PepsiMusicNOW in their tweets. The brand will also use Twitter to announce pop-up concerts, which it will offer on-demand afterward for fans who want to watch it later.

How (RED) United the Social Web in the Fight Against AIDS from Mashable

Red has utilized social awareness for RED’s iconic products through specific digital campaigns and partnerships with prevailing brands such as Coca-Cola, Apple and Starbucks:

RED’s most recent digital campaign, RED Rush to Zero, includes three new efforts to drive money toward the Global Fund: the RED Rush Games, a global video gaming tournament; the RED Music program, which offers RED tickets to concerts featuring popular artists at major venues; and the Cash & Rocket RED Tour, a fundraising mission across Europe. RED Rush to Zero will take place June 1-10.

JCPenney June Book Features Gay Dads Huffington Post

After working with JCP we’ve kept an eye on what they have done in the social media space as well as national ad campaigns. JCP stands strong, preparing their Father’s Day ad!

JCPenney has put out another gorgeous ad featuring a same-sex couple, this time two dads and their two kids in honor of Father's Day. It seems pretty clear that One Million Moms had less than no effect on JCPenney. (Other than perhaps inspiring JCP to keep moving forward seeing how desperately ads like this are needed.)

Social Video Boosts JCPenney Brand Lift 23% from MediaPost

 With the Olympics just around the corner, brand marketers will be looking for ways to leverage their marketing for the Games and to boost their ad buys with social components, as brands increasingly integrate social video into larger broadcast campaigns.

Agency Trends

The Ongoing Agency Evolution (Society Of Digital Agencies)

Some of the most successful agencies embrace a "beta culture"--where they are always experimenting, prototyping, and placing small bets to learn and build on what's working--both for their clients' needs as well as their own bottom lines.

Pay-For-Performance: Agencies' New Reality (CMO.com)

As CMOs feel the pressure of added accountability from their organizations, that pressure is rightly being shared with their agencies. The agencies that succeed are the ones that truly understand marketing's responsibility beyond brand impressions.

 

"Best in Social Media" Weekly Round-Up 5/25/12 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 11:47 AM

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.

"Best in Social Media" Weekly Round-Up May 14, 2012 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 12:07 PM

Marketing to Moms

Women Stop At Nothing To Go Online from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Moms use social media everywhere….and yes we mean everywhere!

"TMI" or not, certain brands will be delighted to learn that one in five moms (born between 1977 and 1994) admit to consuming media in the bathroom. Whether they're checking Facebook, streaming TV or reading magazines, it's clear that moms are developing entirely new relationships with media -- and increasingly relying on their smartphones to do it.

The Rise of the Mommy Blogger [INFOGRAPHIC] from Mashable

Fun infographic showing how influential Mom Bloggers (not “Mommy Bloggers” ) have become in such a short time.

Moms Take Pinspiration To The Next Level from MediaPost: Engage Moms

No surprise Moms have already begun to take over Pinterest - they consume visual materials:

Moms are inspiring each other to try new things whether it is a recipe, craft or even a book to read. Brands and marketers can take advantage of this opportunity by sponsoring their own Pinterest challenge. Encourage moms to share their creations inspired by your brand or product.  You can even publish a Pinterest party guide to help get the evening of crafting and cooking underway. It is the new night out with the girls and your brand can be the fuel to the fun. 

 

Insight and Studies

Social Media Marketing in 2015 from Social Media Today

The social media space will look completely different in just 3 years:

So, when I grow weary of the day-to-day grind of marketing finglerless leather gloves and payment gateways online, I like to speculate on the future of social media. Where are we heading? What will the landscape look like in 2015, when the platforms and technology issues I just touched on will have shaken out? Here are a few thoughts.

12 Social Media Takeaways from Top Social Media Experts from Social Media Today

Short and to-the-point tips that are worth reading about successful Social Media:

So we thought to compile what we thought were 12 key takeaways from our Social Media WebConference event. You can implement these for your business right away. So here are 12 key Social Media takeaways by 12 Social Media experts:

Are Brands Wielding More Influence in Social Media than we Thought? from Social Media Today

New study shows that respondents (mostly women) actually pay attention to brands on Social Media:

One finding which was not surprising was the fact that 81% of US respondents indicated posts from their friends directly influenced their purchase decision…The finding that did surprise me, however, was that 78% of respondents said the posts by companies they follow on social media impact their purchases.

 

Social Media

3 Ways Companies Can Leverage Social Reviews from Mashable

When running a review or testimonial campaign, important to note what consumer notices, believes, and remembers about the product or experience:

Testimonials can be powerful marketing tools. But in the digital age customers have reason to doubt if every good review is a reflection of a good product or a made up comment meant to boost a company’s reputation. Social media testimonials, on the other hand, are harder to fake because there’s generally a person with a record of activity behind each one.

In fact, collecting and re-posting positive social media reviews not only shines a credible light on a company but may actually help search results for the brand and promote the company’s biggest supporters. Here are three ways to do this.

Twitter

Twitter could have a long-term edge over Facebook, ad exec says from SmartBrief

Twitter may have the long term edge over Facebook; if so, brands may want to make sure they make Twitter their strongest platform:

Twitter could outlast Facebook, Ogilvy & Mather's Rory Sutherland says. Twitter's "haiku element" and appeal to young urbanites give the network far more money-making potential than most people realize, Sutherland argues. "I can see Facebook being superseded more easily than Twitter being superseded. ... I wouldn't bet against it being more valuable [than Facebook] in the long term," he says. The Telegraph (London)

Facebook

Facebook Military Crisis Tools To Aid Families of Vets from Huffington Post

An interesting article about how Facebook is taking on another social initiative. We love to read articles about huge, profitable companies like Facebook putting their money and efforts towards a good cause:

Facebook has launched yet another service to help those in need, this time for military members, veterans and families suffering from the mental and emotional effects of war.

Facebook Begins Rolling Out News Feed “Offers” for Local Small Businesses from Social Media Today

Interesting new Facebook feature for small businesses:

“Zuckerberg and the now very, very big Facebook, have not let all the fame go to their heads and have decided to help out the little guy. Facebook has announced that they have begun rolling out News Feed “Offers” for Local Small Businesses. Once a option only reserved for the Loehmanns and Whole Foods of the Online world, now the Spotted Moth or The Bite Market can try to sway their local customers into local shops and have their own chance at a little fame. “

5 Things to Consider Before Creating an Offer from Social Media Today

A follow up article about the new “Offer” feature on Facebook, complications pop up:

Whether it was from lack of use or lack of success, Facebook Offers has streamlined the process while making it a bit more viral.  BUT, I am already seeing a few ‘road blocks’ as we just created our first offer this morning.

Brand-related content is best for creating engagement, Facebook says from SmartBrief

Consumers want to engage with your brand on your Facebook page – stick with your brand "voice," don't veer too far off topic:

Marketers shouldn't try to humanize their brands with chatty Facebook posts about things unrelated to their core identity, Facebook's Sean Bruich says. Staying on-topic and focusing on brand-related content is a better way to drive engagement and build relationships with fans, Bruich says. "By far, the biggest predictor of engagement was that the post was on a topic relevant to the brand. ... People are seeing the content because they liked the brand, and it makes sense that content about the brand will get them engaged," he says. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model)

Rules Of Facebook Engagement from MediaPost: Engage Moms

INFOGRAPHIC- Facebook rules as Moms favorite platform. We're not surprised:

(Infographic: http://blog.performics.com/search/2012/04/social-media-moms-infographic.html) As a self-proclaimed “social media mom,” I found a recent infographic from Performics to be quite interesting. Yes, social media moms are more likely to own smartphones than other women and, yes, an overwhelming majority believe they can influence companies by voicing their opinions via their social networks. But the two stats I found most interesting were those regarding how moms’ offline actions are somewhat motivated by those brands they follow on Facebook

Google+

Luxury brands sparkle on Google+ from SmartBrief

Looks like Google+ can gain traction…if you’re a "high-end" brand. But for those companies that are not, it may not be the best channel to leverage:

High-end brands such as Ferrari, Gucci and Burberry are beating lower-tier brands when it comes to generating engagement on Google+, according to a Simply Measured survey. Automotive brands remain the social network's strongest performers, with Ferrari leading the pack with about 750,000 connections on the network. WebProNews (Lexington, Ky.)

LinkedIn

LinkedIn to buy SlideShare for $118.8 million from Wall Street Journal

LinkedIn is taking a big (and expensive) step to build their platform. Unlike Facebook who purchases any social media threat standing in their way, LinkedIn makes smart purchases that complement their platform:

LinkedIn says it will buy SlideShare for $118.8 million in cash and stock. SlideShare will continue to operate as a standalone service, but LinkedIn will seek to integrate some of SlideShare's features into its core social network.

 

Brand Social Media Marketing Strategies

Oscar Mayer Selects Makes Limited-Time Social Offer from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Kraft Foods is venturing into new digital territory as part of the multimedia launch campaign for its “no artificial preservatives” Oscar Mayer Selects line:

Themed “It’s Yes Food,” the campaign -- one of the largest in Oscar Mayer’s history -- kicked off with three humorous TV spots showing a mother having to say “no” to all kinds of things (including her husband’s ill-fitting skinny jeans and her son’s plea to adopt a reptile as a pet), but happy to say “yes” to Selects cold cuts, hot dogs and bacon.

The hub of the campaign’s digital efforts, from 360i, is an Oscar Mayer “Yes Quest” on the Kraft promotions site. 

Behind the scenes at Coke's Polar Bowl from SmartBrief

Why do people love mixing social media with this type of advertising? Same reason people love to Tweet during their favorite TV shows! Strong strategic takeaway:

Coca-Cola's Polar Bowl campaign, which saw animated polar bears commenting on the Super Bowl in real time, drew 9 million viewers and kept users engaged for an average of 28 minutes. The campaign, which also drove a 38% increase in Coke's Twitter following in a four-hour period, is "redefining" the way Coke plans its outreach, says Coke's integrated-marketing director, Jennifer Healan. "It's a conversation, not a monologue," she explains. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model)

Kit Kat app sends random social updates for the weary from SmartBrief

This is an interesting strategy, but could be dangerous. It’s important to see if people will want that break from social media, and if so, will appreciate what the app has done for them in their absence. Is there a need for this?

Nestle's Kit Kat is promoting the idea of taking a respite from messaging friends with a tongue-in-cheek application called "Social Break." The app sends random updates to a user's LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts, giving the owner a chance to ignore his or her social media presence for a while. The app was developed by one of Nestle's agencies, JWT, and will target the Asian market, where users say they feel especially beleaguered by social media obligations. Reuters

The "Best in Social Media" Round-Up May 7, 2012 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 1:57 PM

Insight and Studies

Social Media in Regulated Industries from Social Media Today

Social Media use increases in Financial Services and Healthcare industries:

Social media use in regulated industries such as Financial Services and Healthcare is beginning to take hold. The benefits are clear - market your products, communicate with customers and get a pulse on your brand image - but it's important to adopt such technologies while adhering industry regulations.

Social Media Give You a Megaphone for Word-of-Mouth Marketing from Social Media Today

Is WOM the best kind of marketing?

Word-of-mouth has been and remains the best marketing. But these days, more people are talking, more are listening, and their conversations go far beyond the back fence or the local coffee shop. Social media are a megaphone for word-of-mouth marketing and a boon to small businesses and start ups. Inexpensive and far-reaching, social media bring impressive results.

The Most Actionable Social Media Metrics (1to1 Media)

Yet another take on metrics:

The past two years have seen an increase in maturity among many companies that engage in social channels. Carnival Cruise Lines, American Airlines, and Cirque du Soleil are examples of companies that use social media metrics to inform marketing decisions and reveal the optimal social investments.

Social Media

Why Big Brands Are More Socially Fit from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Big brands do social media right:

Social media has hit the big time -- or at least has become the province of big companies. A recent study on the fitness of social media reported that large and mid-size brands significantly outscored their smaller counterparts, and reveals intriguing insights into the state of social media.

The Next Phase of Social Marketing from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

How to turn fans into advocates and advocates into cash:

Marketers must focus on how to activate fans -- turning them into brand advocates and essentially evolving their social media presence into a research lab, idea store, and full-fledged peer-to-peer marketing channel.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ And The Social Sharing Avalanche [Infographic] (All Twitter)

Helpful infographic!

Facebook may be nearing its audience peak in the United States, Europe, and the U.K., but it (and Twitter) still has a huge and largely untapped audience across the rest of the world. This infographic collects the data on who's sharing what and the effect on brands.

Buddy Media Launches BuyBuddy Social Ad Service From Online Media Daily

New Facebook ad platform service from Buddy Media:

BuyBuddy, a self-service offering advertisers can use to create, track and optimize campaigns on Facebook. Built into the company’s existing platform enabling social content publishing, app creation and e-commerce, the aim is to help companies better combine owned, earned and paid media efforts on Facebook and other social sites.

Social Gaming to Social Good—Brands Matter to Youth Market From Online Media Daily

A really interesting perspective to think about when working with the Gen Y bloggers, and which "social good" campaigns resonate well with them:

Status symbols for the under-30 demographic show their commitment to the environment, global access to clean water, better access to nutritious foods and other social good causes. Today's youth market is consciously conscious, and they hold their brands accountable to representing their values. 

Pinterest

Pinterest: It’s Time to Go ‘Pinternational’ from Mashable

Going global will allow more brands to participate in the popular platform, and more target audiences reached:

The photo-centric website announced in a blog post that it’s looking for translators in French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Though Pinterest a visual-based site, the company said translators are now necessary to make the website truly global:

Twitter

Twitter to upgrade "Discover" feature from CNET

Twitter personalizes reach and targets appropriate consumers based on their interests:

Twitter's "Discover" feature will get an upgrade, turning to a user's followers list for personalized signals to determine which stories to highlight. The feature will be rolled out to the website before it comes to mobile applications, the company says. CNET

Facebook

Gap, H&M, Sephora and Others Unwrap Social Gifting in the U.S. from Wall Street Journal

A great way for parents to give their college-aged child a special gift, or to give friends a long way away a "I’m thinking of you" pick me up:

“It works like this:  

• • Using Facebook and a mobile application, people can give their Facebook friends free gift cards, commonly valued at $5 to $15.
  • A notification saying that they’ve received a gift card is posted to that friend’s wall, where anyone can see it and contribute more money if they wish.
  • The person, who received the gift card, can then redeem it using a mobile application in the store.”

Facebook’s New “Life-Saving” Tool? It Could Be for Fighting Cyberbullies. from Wall Street Journal

Cyberbullying is real, and parents worry about their children being the victim. Do these tools that Facebook is hinting at really make a difference? Will they help?

“Slated to air Tuesday evening, ABC News has snagged interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, in which the two will debut a mystery tool “which has the power to save lives,” according to the company.”

5 Facebook Insights Your Business Can’t Ignore from Social Media Today

There’s a lot of data available on Facebook that could have potential for measuring campaign success:

Using third-party tools can be useful, but when it comes to Facebook, there is more than enough data in its native Insights information to get any business off and running on the right foot.   The following are five Insights your business can’t afford to ignore.

Facebook provides ‘Organ Donor’ status- and will save lives from Social Media Today

What else will Facebook come up with to represent our offline choices on our profile page?

Recently they've [Facebook] made some pretty good moves:  there was the anti-bullying initiative and a referral system for friends expressing suicidal thoughts.  Now comes an 'Organ Donation Status' which will hopefully push up the numbers of people around the globe currently registered to be organ donors.

Wrapp Up Social Gifting On Facebook From Online Media Daily

This is very cool - we love this idea:

Gifting Starbucks coffee, lipstick or a free week of online access to The Wall Street Journal could become the new currency for Facebook Fans.

4 Ways to Drive Engagement With Facebook Ads from Mashable

More authentic ads may be the most beneficial when driving engagement:

The run up to Facebook’s fast-approaching IPO, the company is making extensive and ongoing improvements to its advertising platform. The most recent updates, which are not yet live, will allow marketers to optimize their ads for any Facebook action (not just likes). These new capabilities will also give advertisers a much greater understanding of their consumers, allowing them to segment marketing messages based on certain user groups. All of this goes to support the general belief that Facebook wants to turn their ad platform into the main driver of a brand’s reach. To be successful in this space, brands will have to be very authentic.

YouTube 

YouTube Commits $200 Million in Marketing Support to Channels from ADWeek

As YouTube and other online streaming platforms become the new TV’s, and DVR has decreased the effects of TV Ads, marketing dollars are better spent in platforms such as YouTube:

YouTube's "brandcast" event (please don't call it a NewFront) started off with a bang and ended with vp, global head of content Robert Kyncl pledging some $200 million in marketing dollars on YouTube and Google's Display Network to support its 100 new professionally produced channels.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn 4x Better for B2B Leads than Facebook or Twitter from Social Media Today

This article is focused on B2B but it's interesting that LinkedIn created more conversions than the other social media sites:

In a study of 3,128 HubSpot B2B customers, LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.60%, four times higher than Twitter (.67%) and seven times better than Facebook (.39%).

Marketing to Moms

The New Mommy Wars from MediaPost: Engage Moms

Stay at home Moms are working Moms. To say otherwise is both an insult, as well as detrimental to your company:

Smart marketers who target moms know these women work hard. The best among these marketers create and sell products that help make their work easier. Key denominators in products and services that are directed toward an audience of moms are convenience and ease of use. 

Mobile Marketing

Study Finds Gen Y Responds To App Ads from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Mobile app ads more revelant to Gen Y:

The study found that adults 25-34 are more likely to value the influence of advertisements, and they recall seeing more ads while using mobile apps, particularly video ads or fully sponsored/branded apps.

Branded Social Media Campaigns

How Four Brands Manage Their Wildly Successful Facebook Pages (Ragan.com)

Successful brand Facebook Pages – how they differ.

Imagine having legions of engaged fans commenting, liking, and sharing your brands' brilliant posts. For the following four brands, that's a reality. Here's a look at their best practices (among them: strong content) and what you can learn from each one.

How 7 Top Brands Are Using Facebook’s New Ad Tools from Mashable

Brand show how to effectively use the new Facebook Page:

Among the products Facebook introduced were Premium on Facebook, Reach Generator, Offers and Logged Out ads. The company also asked brands to embrace a paradigm shift from advertising to “Stories,” Facebook’s preferred term for brand-related messages. Since that time, a few big brands have experimented with the new tools. Here are a few examples or, if you prefer, Stories…

Coke and Pepsi face off on Facebook from SmartBrief

Coke and Pepsi wars start again – yet this time via socal media:

Coca-Cola and Pepsi are rolling out rival campaigns on Facebook and other social media platforms. Both are taking creative approaches to social media outreach, with Pepsi wheeling out celebrities for its Pepsi Pulse campaign, and Coke teaming with Spotify to integrate music into its Facebook page. "Consumers are incredibly empowered, and what used to work to get their attention now needs a bit more thoughtfulness," author Brian Solis says. USA TODAY

Best of Social Media Round-Up April 30, 2012 POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 4:32 PM

Brand Social Media Marketing Strategies

Use Social Curation To Build Brand Presence from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Interesting article by Roger Ebert (the movie guy):

Engaging social curation can positively increase the reach, relevancy and credibility of your brand. Social engagement is a multichannel dialogue that requires vigilance -- but the payoff is that it builds reach and lasting relationships with your customers and the community.

Get Rid of Negative Facebook Ads With Dove’s ‘Ad Makeover’ [VIDEO] from Mashable

Another reason Dove really resonates with women. They know exactly how to target women, and with campaigns that hit a personal note: (Video)

That’s the aim of a new marketing campaign from Dove. The beauty goods manufacturer released a Facebook app in Australia that allows users to replace negative ads with one of eight messages designed to boost women’s self esteem. One message reads, “Your birthday suit suits you.” Another: “The perfect bum is the one you’re sitting on.”

Kimberly-Clark jokes about Cottonelle moist wipes from SmartBrief

More toilet paper campaigns prove social media can even handle the most sensitive subjects:

A Kimberly-Clark campaign via Facebook is trying to wipe out the embarrassment associated with using flushable moist toilet wipes. Ads for Cottonelle Fresh Care show people nicknaming the practice of using a moist then a dry wipe as "the clean getaway" and "two-handed tango," among other humorous names. The ads then direct viewers to Facebook to come up with their own terms for the practice -- without overtly specifying a proper bathroom procedure. "We don't as a brand want to push a toilet routine, but we want to activate the conversation," said Biggs|Gilmore's Dean Suarez-Starfeldt. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)

Boosting ROI with sweet tweets from MediaPost: Online Media Daily

This is really interesting to see how brands are measuring the ROI of tweets—and Ben & Jerry’s sampling model is something brands should look to as guidance when thinking about a Twitter presence:

Jay Curley, integrated marketing manager at Ben & Jerry’s, tells Marketing Daily how using Twitter as an integral part of its sampling program has boosted its ROI.

Trop50 Extends Products -- And 'Girlfriends' Campaign

Aw, we love Jane Krakowski!

PepsiCo continues to build on the impressive success of its half-the-calories juices brand, Trop50, with (more) new extensions and new “Girlfriends”-themed TV spots starring "30 Rock" star Jane Krakowski. 

Insights and Studies

Engagement aint Nothing but a Number. Why 1% Isn’t good enough from Social Media Today

Ideas about redefining “engagement” for brands from Brian Solis:

“A recent study published by Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, an Australia-based research group found that less than 1-percent of Facebook “Fans” actually engage with brands.”

How To Turn Your Digital Thought Leadership Into Business Development (CMO.com)

How open communication with readers can focus biz dev perspective:

For B2B firms that view their online journals as a forum to host an open exchange with readers, the rewards are there. What's more, the very tools used to create the exchange can be a rich source of data to help guide ongoing marketing efforts.

Forrester Rates Top 'Listening' Platforms/Vendors from MediaPost

Social media is a great tool for measuring consumer sentiment -- if you’re using the right “listening platform.” Aiding in the decision process, Forrester has released a 64-criteria evaluation of enterprise “listening” vendors, which it breaks down by product fit, customer success, and Forrester client demand:

Fresh off its acquisition of Cymfony, Visible Technologies shared the top spot with Radian6 thanks to their flexible dashboards and inventive road maps. “The landscape consists of many strong performers,” according to Zach Hofer-Shall, social intelligence analyst at Forrester, and lead author of the report.

Additional standouts included Attensity with its data-processing focus; Converseon with its research reporting; Networked Insights with its focus on media planning and buying; NM Incite with its consulting services; SDL with its data collecting; and Synthesio with its international expertise.

Social Media

Father Puts Wire on Son with Autism, Records Verbal Abuse from Teacher Huffington Post

This story will break your heart and infuriate you. A father had been receiving reports from his son’s teachers that he was having violent outbursts and hitting his teachers. Confused by these reports – he put a wire on his son to wear to school, which showed his son's teachers verbally abusing him. Outraged, the father turned to YouTube and shared the recordings and his disgust – and within a few days it already has over 3 million views:

The two (teachers) engage in inappropriate conversations, like joking about their alcohol abuse and sex lives in front of their students -- all of whom have behavioral conditions and, according to Chaifetz, communication difficulties that prevent them from relaying the conversations to their parents.

Integrated Marketing: 4 Reasons Social Media is Needed from Social Media Today

Need more reasons to participate in social media?

‘There are four areas where social media works. In addition to providing opportunities, they provide the reasons companies need to participate.’

Your Start-Up Life: Am I Wasting My Time with Social Media? Huffington Post

From large companies to start-ups, we oftentimes find ourselves explaining to a client why they would benefit from running a program with us. This article has Rana Florida (CEO of The Creative  Class Group) answering a certain entrepreneur’s question as to why social media is beneficial:

You're right; the options to connect and engage through social media are very thick and constantly changing. Social media can greatly enhance sales and a brand if done correctly but a wrong step can also turn off customers and tarnish a reputation -- just think of Alec Baldwin's Twitter rants about American Airlines or Charlie Sheen's #winning hashtag

Klout

Klout to Launch Brand Pages: Should Marketers Care? From Hub Spot

Klout is currently in beta testing mode of brand pages and Marketers should pay attention. Your brands' most influential speakers will now have a chance to do PR for you. In turn, they will become loyalists and activists of the brand. The additional benefits for the brand include knowing the activity around your brand, perks for your customers, and news on your brand in the space: 

Earlier this week, Klout announced its own version of brand pages -- Brand "Squads." Klout calls these pages a "way of giving influencers a place to be recognized and have a direct impact on the brands they care about most."

And while influencers get excited for their potential to be recognized by top brands, social media marketers also have plenty of reasons to be excited for this cool new tool.

Pinterest

When more pins bring more problems from SmartBrief

Pinterest can increase web traffic for companies that otherwise wouldn’t have the exposure, but just like any other social media platform, negative sentiment can quickly spread as well:

Jewelry-maker Michelle DiFilippo-Espinoza had a bad experience with Pinterest when unscrupulous individuals stole images of her products and used them to spread malware. "People thought I was not a legitimate business. I lost sales because of it and had to rebuild and regain trust in the Internet community," she said. To help prevent future problems, DiFilippo-Espinoza now places watermarks on her images and remains on watch for suspicious users. The Daily Dot

Facebook

Facebook Marketing: Why Less Is More from Mashable

With all the campaigns currently run on Facebook, it’s important to keep in mind “what will resonate” rather that “how much can we do?”

It’s hard to keep track of what’s actually working for brands on Facebook. The most recent numbers actually indicate fan growth slowed with the Brand Timeline switch. But thinking smart transcends those changes — and never goes out of style. You want to engage your audience and make sure that they feel like they’re apart of something — not just being marketed to,” Shankman explains. “Then they will do your PR for you.”

Study: Facebook Timeline gives brands an engagement boost from SmartBrief

How beneficial is the new Timeline change for brands looking to connect with fans on Facebook?

Brands have seen a spike in user engagement since switching to Facebook's Timeline layout, according to a Simply Measured analysis. The 15 brand pages studied saw their per-post engagement increase by an average of 46% in the three weeks after adopting Timeline. eMarketer

Google+
Google Adds a ‘Share’ Button for Google+ from Mashable

As these platforms continue to copy one another, there will be no way to differeniate them, and only one can prevail:

The new button enables website operators to more easily encourage visitors to spread content among connections on Google’s social network. It’s the latest step in integrating the social network with content across the web. The Share button joins the already existing +1 button, which enables Google+ members to indicate that they — for lack of a better term — like a page or an article.

Instagram

Instagram's iPhone Success Story from MediaPost

Instagram is one of the most popular ways to post photos to Twitter. These visual apps are a fast success – but is it global?

Adoption of Instagram can be region-specific. In the U.S. iPhone market, it took only one day from the app’s release for it to become the top-ranking app in the Photography section. In Korea, it took 187 days, France 82 days, and China 58 days. For most non-U.S. nations, however, Instagram’s dominance of the photo section took less than a month from the time it was released into that market.

Marketing to Moms

We Love Mom: Mother's Day Spending To Rise from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

For all the Moms out there!

By far, the most common purchase is a greeting card, with 83% of the sample planning on buying one, followed by flowers, the choice of 66%, and some sort of pampering service, such as a spa day, a facial or a massage (58%).

Walk Score Places a Value on How Easy It Is to Navigate a Neighborhood from Wall Street Journal

An interesting way for concerned parents to evaluate their neighborhood, especially as their children get older and start going out or driving by themselves:

“Seattle-based Walk Score has created an easy way to evaluate how walkable and public-transportation-friendly a neighborhood is on a scale from one to 100. A 90 and higher is a Walker’s Paradise, meaning that daily errands there do not require a car. On the other end of the spectrum, and for scores under 50, it means there are very few amenities within walking distance and that people are car-dependent. For example, Seattle ranks as a 74.”

Walmart.com Lets You Pay with Cash When Shopping Online

Many Moms are on a budget and do not utilize credit cards. This is a new way for Moms to make the most of their tight budget by shopping Wal-Mart online and being able to pay with cash:

“In an interview, Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Walmart.com, said the new feature is targeting people who don’t have access to debit or credit cards. The fact that only 15 percent of our transactions are done in the form of credit at our stores means there’s a large percentage of Walmart customers who are dependent on cash to transact online. We definitely think it is a big opportunity,” he said.”

‘Moms for Mitt’ Flock to New Romney Facebook Community [EXCLUSIVE] from Mashable

Moms will play a large role in the upcoming election due to their influence on their social media platforms:

An unexpected social media byproduct has risen from the “War on Women” debate between Democrats and Republicans: Mitt Romney’s team was able to build an 80,000-strong women-centered Facebook community nearly overnight. The Romney campaign created “Moms for Mitt,” a Facebook community that’s being used to display Romney’s life as father and husband and to share infographics dealing with women’s issues.

Mobile Marketing

Infographic- Great Trends in Mobile from Social Media Today

New mobile trends, and a nice infographic!

“The folks at CultureLabel.com recently put out this fabulous infographic that shows how quickly mobile has become a mainstay of our everyday reality. In fact, it represents a potential paradigm shift for consumers and businesses alike, both in our personal and professional lives.”

Parents Find Use In Smartphones from MediaPost: Marketing Daily

Parents learn how to use smartphones (Oh Em Gee!)

According to a survey of more than 2,200 adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of LG, more than half (57%) of all parents said they relied on their smartphone to keep them on track.

US mobile ad spend to double in 2012 from MediaPost: Online Media Daily

How much focus should a brand put on a mobile ad survey or program?

A new forecast from Strategy Analytics projects mobile ad spending worldwide will grow 85% in 2012 from $6.3 billion to $11.6 billion.

 

No More “Moms Like Me” POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 2:10 PM

Gannett just announced that MomsLikeMe, its online community for Moms, would cease operations on Friday, Oct. 14^th after three years and 81 localized sites.

Gannett, the media giant that operates USA Today, more than 20 news stations across the country, over 80 newspapers, and a host of other digital and online properties, said on the MomsLikeMe site that “the market has evolved substantially since we launched three years ago and there are many new and different ways for people to connect and engage.” The site went on to say that the decision to shutter MomsLikeMe took place at the corporate level and that the company plans to invest in other “digital initiatives” throughout its organization and plans to launch them in the future.

The closure reflects ongoing trends seen across the marketplace of the challenge in aggregating consumers – particularly busy Moms – into separate online communities far removed from the social media platforms they use on a daily basis. A recent Mom Central Consulting survey showed that 9 out of 10 Moms cite Facebook as their “go-to” destination for connecting with family, friends, and brands. Moreover, 4 out of 5 Moms have two separate identities on Facebook – one public and one private – further demonstrating how completely they rely on the platform to facilitate all of their social media connections.

We’ve also seen that driving Moms to separate websites – whether they focus on brands or communities – represents a thing of the past. Brand marketers have learned that Moms want brands to come to them – to the online neighborhoods where they hang out on such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs. In fact, 56% of Moms agree that brands can most effectively reach them via social media networks or through Mom bloggers.

It now appears that Moms have delivered the same message to traditional media.

 

Moms Ready to Have "The Talk," But Daily Conversations Prove Tougher POSTED BY Stacy DeBroff AT 10:05 AM

We recently partnered with Bausch + Lomb to understand how Moms feel about having "The Big Talk" with their teen. Our findings? The majority of Moms surveyed feel well-prepared to talk to their teens about tough topics such as drugs, smoking and alcohol but agreed the daily chats about nutrition, make-up or contact lenses prove tougher to navigate:

“The Daily Talk” survey, conducted amongst more than 800 moms in the U.S. with at least one child over the age of 10, showed that 93 percent of moms have already had the “big” conversations with their child about drugs, alcohol and smoking and that 63 percent felt well-prepared to discuss these topics. On the other hand, the survey showed that it’s the day-to-day conversations about issues related to nutrition, use of contact lenses and makeup that were hardest to navigate. Overall, moms felt least prepared to talk to their children about makeup (33%) or to talk with a child who wants to forego glasses for contact lenses (21%).

“We find it interesting that moms feel stymied when it comes to discussing those issues that are more closely linked to a child’s self confidence. Wearing makeup and contact lenses are associated with a child’s desire to look better and not as closely linked to safety as some of the’big talks’. These topics can however, help a child to address issues related to self-confidence and even academic performance,” said Stacy DeBroff, CEO and Founder of Mom Central Consulting. “Speaking with an outside party, such as a doctor can help to provide answers while also giving your child another impartial, but credible source of information.”

For more information about "The Daily Talk" survey please visit Bausch + Lomb's website. For more information about surveying our Mom Community, please contact us via contactus@momcentral.com.