As we have learned, social media takes on many different tehnologies- blogging, micro blogging, social blogs, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs, video, etc.. Besides all of that, there is now mobile social media, which is vastly growing and (in my opinion) is becoming more widely used than regular social media. With all of this new technology, there is room for so many different options and room for growth.
Social media is ever changing and evolving every single day. The social media world constantly opens more doors for online marketing than traditional marketers could have ever imagined possible. When researching new technologies for social media, I came upon one that caught my eye.
SocialFlow is a fairly new platform used for online marketing.
The cool part about it, is that it optimizes a brand's social media presence by determining the best times for brands to post certain content. They also determine which messages to promote and on the proper platform.
SocialFlow consists of 2 different products: Cadence and Crescendo.
Cadence helps companies manage the messages they tweet or post to facebook. The technology uses algorithms that calculate when the brand's audience will be most receptive to the message(s).
Crescendo uses the same algorithms to figure out the best options for ads.
Companies like this show just how far social media has come and how many things we have seen that we never thought possible. Who knew a few years ago that companies would be making millions off giving brands advice on social media?
Sources: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/16/socialflow-series-b/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
Monday, April 15, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Apps
QR Codes, text messaging, apps and the smartphone boom have all changed the marketing world drastically. Think about how many times a day you check your phone, whether there is a text or not. According to this article, texting is the second most used feature on a phone (the first is checking the time).
SMS texting has been around for over 20 years now, and isn't going anywhere soon. Recently, there has been a huge boom in group messaging apps, conversations around images, embedded chat functions and cloud integration.
Texting has become a huge part of the marketing world. Marketers are beginning to get a hold of numbers and market via text messaging.
Another huge player in the marketing world is applications, or "apps." There are apps for anything and everything now, including copycat apps for most popular ones. People are constantly on their phones, whether it be checking the time, using an app, texting, or searching the web.
Perhaps the newest addition to this category is the QR code. They are simple to use and generate, but sometimes not always the best way to market.
this article gives tips for the best practices for using a QR code in marketing. These best practices may also be used for texting as well.
1. Make sure it serves a purpose. Think about if your QR code or your text actually serves a purpose. Don't just slap it up because you think it works.
2. Don't link to a desktop site. QR codes are MADE for phones. The linked content needs to be made for mobile optimization.
3. Think about placement. a bus or a train probably aren't the best places for QR codes since people won't have time to stop and scan it.
4. Use a URL shortener. The longer the URL, the more dots the QR code will generate.. which then makes it tougher for smartphones to read them.
5. Tell users what they stand to benefit. scanning a QR code is not easy, it is kind of a chore for people to pull their phone out and scan something. Make it worth it!
6. Test it. Make sure it works before you place it on marketing materials.
7. Track it. Be sure to track uses to see if it is something your consumers are using.
It is amazing to see how far technology has come and how it affects marketing. We are lucky to have all these new options, but sometimes more is worse. It can become stressful, but it all comes down to knowing your audience and knowing what works for your brand.
SMS texting has been around for over 20 years now, and isn't going anywhere soon. Recently, there has been a huge boom in group messaging apps, conversations around images, embedded chat functions and cloud integration.
Texting has become a huge part of the marketing world. Marketers are beginning to get a hold of numbers and market via text messaging.
Another huge player in the marketing world is applications, or "apps." There are apps for anything and everything now, including copycat apps for most popular ones. People are constantly on their phones, whether it be checking the time, using an app, texting, or searching the web.
Perhaps the newest addition to this category is the QR code. They are simple to use and generate, but sometimes not always the best way to market.
this article gives tips for the best practices for using a QR code in marketing. These best practices may also be used for texting as well.
1. Make sure it serves a purpose. Think about if your QR code or your text actually serves a purpose. Don't just slap it up because you think it works.
2. Don't link to a desktop site. QR codes are MADE for phones. The linked content needs to be made for mobile optimization.
3. Think about placement. a bus or a train probably aren't the best places for QR codes since people won't have time to stop and scan it.
4. Use a URL shortener. The longer the URL, the more dots the QR code will generate.. which then makes it tougher for smartphones to read them.
5. Tell users what they stand to benefit. scanning a QR code is not easy, it is kind of a chore for people to pull their phone out and scan something. Make it worth it!
6. Test it. Make sure it works before you place it on marketing materials.
7. Track it. Be sure to track uses to see if it is something your consumers are using.
It is amazing to see how far technology has come and how it affects marketing. We are lucky to have all these new options, but sometimes more is worse. It can become stressful, but it all comes down to knowing your audience and knowing what works for your brand.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Viral Videos
We have all seen them, laughed at them, rolled our eyes at them, cried at them and absolutely hated them. Viral videos are a fairly recent internet trend that some spend hours watching every day.
What exactly is a viral video?
According to this article on Mashable.com, a viral video is a video that becomes popular through internet sharing.. hence the term "viral." The content is usually humorous, but many serious videos have become viral through stunning content such as the Kony 2012 video and eyewitness events. In my opinion, some are just plain stupid (Cue Gangnam Style).
Viral videos first began circling the internet through e-mail. Remember the nice German car commercial where the scary face pops up and scares you? Or the e-mail that told you to focus on the haunted house to see the ghost, and the same thing happens where the face pops up? I remember those videos being shared via e-mail long before YouTube or Vimeo were around.
Today, websites like Vimeo and YouTube contain millions and millions of video content for users to search.
Viral videos can and are huge for online marketing. Brands have the ability to either monetize popular videos to get their name out there, or even attempt to create viral videos of their own. I personally think it is a crucial part of social media marketing. It is important to study the trends, as well as think outside of the box to create viral material. Usually the most ridiculous things go viral. According to the article Brands Gone Viral, columnist Alex Rowland suggests that it's a recipe of "the perfect combination of creative genius, market timing, and emotionally engaged audience."
Old Spice is a perfect example.
Videos are becoming more and more popular. They can be used for entertainment, information, as well as marketing.
What exactly is a viral video?
According to this article on Mashable.com, a viral video is a video that becomes popular through internet sharing.. hence the term "viral." The content is usually humorous, but many serious videos have become viral through stunning content such as the Kony 2012 video and eyewitness events. In my opinion, some are just plain stupid (Cue Gangnam Style).
Viral videos first began circling the internet through e-mail. Remember the nice German car commercial where the scary face pops up and scares you? Or the e-mail that told you to focus on the haunted house to see the ghost, and the same thing happens where the face pops up? I remember those videos being shared via e-mail long before YouTube or Vimeo were around.
Today, websites like Vimeo and YouTube contain millions and millions of video content for users to search.
Viral videos can and are huge for online marketing. Brands have the ability to either monetize popular videos to get their name out there, or even attempt to create viral videos of their own. I personally think it is a crucial part of social media marketing. It is important to study the trends, as well as think outside of the box to create viral material. Usually the most ridiculous things go viral. According to the article Brands Gone Viral, columnist Alex Rowland suggests that it's a recipe of "the perfect combination of creative genius, market timing, and emotionally engaged audience."
Old Spice is a perfect example.
Videos are becoming more and more popular. They can be used for entertainment, information, as well as marketing.
Monday, March 18, 2013
SEO
Out of any social media topic we have previously discussed this semester, SEO is by far the most important (in my opinion).
According to this article, Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting website traffic from organic and free sources. SEO pros know just the right keywords and formats to use in articles, social media, coding, etc to optimize their content for successful searching.
So what does SEO have to do with Social Media?
SEO is based off of three different things: popularity, authority and relevance. Popularity is the number of inbound links to a certain set of content. Authority is the amount of links from websites with a high number of links going to them. Relevance is the extent to which the search terms match the anchor text of the content.
Thinking about these three things, it is easy to see why social media would play a huge role in SEO. Social media is the fastest and most convenient way to share content. The more quality content shared via social media, the more people are likely to share that content.. which turns into many more links to the original content, the potential for autoritative sources to pick it up, and more people talking about it.. which then turns into website traffic. Make sense?
How do I optimize my social content?
Since most search engines pull from content that is publicly available, brand social media should not be private. It is also a good idea to stick to content that truly relates to your brand and what they are trying to accomplish, this will tell search engines that you have a lot of content based on one thing.
SEO is an extremely complicated topic, but it is important to understand the very basics of it for any brand management online.
According to this article, Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting website traffic from organic and free sources. SEO pros know just the right keywords and formats to use in articles, social media, coding, etc to optimize their content for successful searching.
So what does SEO have to do with Social Media?
SEO is based off of three different things: popularity, authority and relevance. Popularity is the number of inbound links to a certain set of content. Authority is the amount of links from websites with a high number of links going to them. Relevance is the extent to which the search terms match the anchor text of the content.
Thinking about these three things, it is easy to see why social media would play a huge role in SEO. Social media is the fastest and most convenient way to share content. The more quality content shared via social media, the more people are likely to share that content.. which turns into many more links to the original content, the potential for autoritative sources to pick it up, and more people talking about it.. which then turns into website traffic. Make sense?
How do I optimize my social content?
Since most search engines pull from content that is publicly available, brand social media should not be private. It is also a good idea to stick to content that truly relates to your brand and what they are trying to accomplish, this will tell search engines that you have a lot of content based on one thing.
SEO is an extremely complicated topic, but it is important to understand the very basics of it for any brand management online.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Ethics in Social Media
Social media has become such a huge part of every brand and almost all companies now use it. Companies can use it for such a large number of things like increasing web presence, sales, website traffic and many more things. According to this reading, many things have changed since social media has been introduced.
Along with all of these benefits and new changes comes the responsibility of keeping things completely ethical. A brand, of course, wants to keep the most positive image for itself that it can. It is important to create a set of ethical rules for your brand to follow. Some examples include:
Check out another reading on how news organizations have implemented social media ethics plans.
- People have now become both producers and consumers of information
- Information has become immediately available
- The reader must now decide whether information is credible
- Readers have the ability to filter through the messages they wish to see
Along with all of these benefits and new changes comes the responsibility of keeping things completely ethical. A brand, of course, wants to keep the most positive image for itself that it can. It is important to create a set of ethical rules for your brand to follow. Some examples include:
- Share information to give your brand a positive image
- Share information that is fair and credible, check your sources
- As hard as it is, be open to what your consumers have to say
- Respond to both negative and positive feedback you receive
- Be aware of current events impacting your audience and be sensitive to those
Check out another reading on how news organizations have implemented social media ethics plans.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Management
Management, aggregators, analytics, tracking (alerts, URL shorteners, etc.), etc.
Social Media has become so important in business that community managers are now using tons of different management tools to track, measure and manage their social media platforms. This is extremely helpful because with so much money and time being spent on social media, brands need to be able to measure the usage so they know if certain strategies are working or not.
Something that has become pretty widely used in the past few years is link-shorteners. If you've ever seen bit.ly or tinyurl in a link, then the link has been shortened. There are tons of link shorteners out there, but those two are the most common. One good thing about a link shortener is that it cleans up any post, especially tweets.
What looks better?
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2864306235701033867#editor/target=post;postID=5049591820560910424
or
http://tinyurl.com/a2hgcs6
The answer is pretty obvious, the second link looks a lot less stressful.
Another great thing about link shorteners are that they can now be linked with analytics. A brand can buy its own link shortener through bit.ly and shorten links through this custom shortener which allows the social media manager to check analytics on that one link. They are able to track how many clicks the link has received and where they are from.
According to FastCompany, social media tracking is forecasted to be a huge trend in 2013. "This coming year we will see the emergence of new software tools to do just that. Using new wave social media command centers capable of tracking stats in real-time, from tweets and likes to customer sentiment, companies will radically be able to improve customer service and predict future buying patters. Not to mention streamline internal communication and increase productivity."
readings:
http://mediafunnel.com/social-media/link-analytics-url-shorteners/
http://www.fastcompany.com/3003473/cant-miss-social-media-trends-2013
Social Media has become so important in business that community managers are now using tons of different management tools to track, measure and manage their social media platforms. This is extremely helpful because with so much money and time being spent on social media, brands need to be able to measure the usage so they know if certain strategies are working or not.
Something that has become pretty widely used in the past few years is link-shorteners. If you've ever seen bit.ly or tinyurl in a link, then the link has been shortened. There are tons of link shorteners out there, but those two are the most common. One good thing about a link shortener is that it cleans up any post, especially tweets.
What looks better?
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2864306235701033867#editor/target=post;postID=5049591820560910424
or
http://tinyurl.com/a2hgcs6
The answer is pretty obvious, the second link looks a lot less stressful.
Another great thing about link shorteners are that they can now be linked with analytics. A brand can buy its own link shortener through bit.ly and shorten links through this custom shortener which allows the social media manager to check analytics on that one link. They are able to track how many clicks the link has received and where they are from.
According to FastCompany, social media tracking is forecasted to be a huge trend in 2013. "This coming year we will see the emergence of new software tools to do just that. Using new wave social media command centers capable of tracking stats in real-time, from tweets and likes to customer sentiment, companies will radically be able to improve customer service and predict future buying patters. Not to mention streamline internal communication and increase productivity."
readings:
http://mediafunnel.com/social-media/link-analytics-url-shorteners/
http://www.fastcompany.com/3003473/cant-miss-social-media-trends-2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Social Platforms
Social Media. Millions have joined, and few have tried to resist.. but with the way the world is heading these days people are almost being forced to join the social revolution. Some people join every possible social network while others stick to the basics like Facebook and Twitter.
When it comes to business and brand awareness, there are some obvious crucial players- Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (for recruiting purposes). These social media top dogs are probably the most well known for individuals as well as brands; however, there are other platforms out in the webby world that are fantastic for brands.
1. Pinterest-
When it comes to business and brand awareness, there are some obvious crucial players- Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (for recruiting purposes). These social media top dogs are probably the most well known for individuals as well as brands; however, there are other platforms out in the webby world that are fantastic for brands.
1. Pinterest-
Pinterest is vastly growing for individuals (especially college-aged girls) everywhere. It's layout appeals to the user visually and features a series of photos that users can "re-pin" onto their own pinboards. It is essentially just personal curation of content.
Pinterest can be used for brands, believe it or not. Many brands have found it to be extremely successful, with tons of traffic leading back to their sites. Brands like West Elm, Starbucks, and Uniqlo have found creative ways to engage users and spread content throughout the Pinterest world.
2. Spotify-
Spotify isn't usually the first social platform one thinks of when considering brand awareness. Truthfully, it isn't even one most people even think of when they think of the words "social platform." Spotify is becoming a big competitor with Pandora for discovering music. The plus side to Spotify over Pandora is that users can interact with their friends and see what they are currently listening to. They can also listen to any song they want, whenever they want.
Brands can use Spotify by creating shareable playlists to share with customers and users. It also gives a personal feel to a brand seeing that they share music. It may not be the best platform to direct traffic back to a site, but it's great for brand awareness.
3. Instagram
Ahh, Instagram. The ridiculously-fast growing app for iPhone and Android devices where users can take and share photos while adding filters. Instagram has reached millions of users who religiously check their "instafeed" every single day.
Instagram gives brands the chance to get a little more personal with their fans. They can share office insights, previews of new products/services, and pretty much anything they want. Starbucks has 1.08 million followers with almost 36,000 likes on a single photo of a coffee cup shadow. It's a bit more of an informal way to communicate with followers and brands can do so much with the platform.
Those are just a few ideas of different options to try rather than the typical Facebook and Twitter. Social Media is the new Public Relations tool and every brand should jump on board or watch themselves sink.
readings-
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/top-social-media-sites-how-you-can-benefit-from-them/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2012/10/31/6-ways-brands-build-trust-through-social-media/
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