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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Top 10 Facebook Pages Worldwide

Monday, October 10th, 2011

Have you ever wondered which brands are most popular on Facebook? Famecount has a list the shows the most “liked” brands on Facebook worldwide. The keyword is “Like” here. Facebook “Likes” are supposed to have less value in the future as Facebook just launched a new metric called “Talking about”. Pages with a high “Talking about” rating are the ones with the most compelling content because the metric will measure user-initiated activity related to a page. Activities include wall postings, “Likes”, commenting, and sharing a page. Marketers have to focus on coming up with compelling content in order to get users to interact more with their pages to score higher “Talking about” ratings. So while it’s good for a brand to have a lot of “Likes”, it’s better to get consumers “Talking about” them.

Top 10 “Liked” Brands on Facebook:
1. Coca-Cola- 34,563,347
2. Starbucks- 25,490,292
3. Oreo- 23,117,266
4. Red Bull- 22,447,819
5. Converse All-Star- 20,795,216
6. Converse- 20,169,668
7. Skittles- 19,359,111
8. Playstation- 17,448,382
9. Pringles- 15,631,111
10. Victoria’s Secret- 15,365,940

Tags:brands, coca-cola, consumers, facebook, Marketing, Pringles, Starbucks
Posted in Custom Packaging Products, Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Twitter Hits 100 Million Users, So What’s Next?

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Twitter announced this week that the social network hit 100 million users and that 50 million of them log in everyday. Wow, that’s an astounding number! Twitter defines an active user as an account holder who logs in at least once a month. 40 percent of current Twitter users are signing in just to observe what’s going on, without sending messages. There are 200 million registered Twitter accounts total.

So now what is next for Twitter? What can users expect to see changing as this social network grows? One thing that CEO Dick Costolo is aiming for is no more fail whales. If you use Twitter often you’ve probably noticed an improvement regarding the site reaching capacity. This is because last year, Twitter beefed up their infrastructure to accommodate to their growth which they plan to keep up with during their next phase of growth.

Twitter also plans to aim for the mainstream. While 40% of users don’t actively tweet, Costolo has talked about creating workflows to turn passive users into active ones. Simplifying a user’s ability to find content is another goal. While there is so much mainstream and niche content floating around on Twitter, many users aren’t up to speed enough to know how to find it. For example, using hash tags and other characters are foggy to many users so Twitter aims to have the content delivered or at least a lot easier to find.

Design changes are also on the horizon for Twitter. They plan to simplify the interface and make it consistent between platforms where Twitter.com will look the exact same as Twitter on tablets and mobile phones.

One thing Twitter will not pursue are obnoxious ways of increasing revenue. Costolo says the health of Twitter is great and although he is presented with hundreds of ways to increase revenue beyond advertising, he declines, “The advertising business will sustain us”.

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Tags:growth, Social Media, social networking, Twitter
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Google+ Vs. Facebook: Feature-By-Feature

Monday, July 11th, 2011

Recently Google launched its new social network, Google+, in hopes of delivering a huge blow to the Facebook empire. My first thought was this: I don’t want to invest the time in diving into Google+ when Facebook suits my online social needs perfectly well. My plan was to wait until I witnessed a large amount of my friends migrating over to Google+. Within a few days, I was noticing many of them were far too curious and invites were flooding my Gmail. So what else could I do but check it out myself. Here’s a little info on the features of both:

FEEDS

The feeds in Facebook and Google+ are very similar in that they both allow users to post text, links, photos, and videos. Facebook’s feed has “Top News” as well as the “Most Recent” posts which are visible to whoever your “friends” are. Google+ has a “Circles” friend organizational tool where posts can be shared with as few or as many people as you like. However, its criticism is that it is much like a populated Twitter feed.

FRIENDING

Google+ works different than Facebook in “Friending”. Adding contact in Facebook is a two-way street where users must accept you as friends in order for you to connect. Google+ allows any users to follow you while you can follow anybody as well without having to accept friend requests. This is a huge difference between the two making Google+ more like Twitter than Facebook. The “Circles” feature in Google+ allows users to put all of their contacts into groups and if desired, be able to communicate with particular groups without all of their friends seeing a particular post. That’s a very handy tool.

Google+ users can also create profiles using any name they’d like, far different from Facebook’s real-name only policy. This could potentially make it difficult to find people you’re looking for.

NOTIFICATIONS

Notifications in Facebook and Google+ are pretty identical. Both tell you when someone comments on your post, tags you in a photo, or wants to be your friend. The only difference is that Google+ shows all notifications beneath the same tab where Facebook has a tab for messages, friend requests, and other activity.

BUTTONS

The buttons for Facebook and Google+ are very similar where users can click the buttons to show approval of particular content. Facebook however, also has sharing capabilities where a user’s “Likes” show up in their feed. Google+ doesn’t do this.

PHOTOS

Facebook has turned into the largest photo sharing site on the web making it simple to upload, share, and tag photos. The Google+ functionality is very nice as well and differs from Facebook because users can edit their photos easily. Editing features including rotate, crop, adding colors, and effects. The editing can be done in the photo album itself by clicking an “Actions” tab. Also, in Google+, comments appear to the right of the photos rather than the bottom like Facebook so you don’t have to keep scrolling up and down.

VIDEO

Video functionality is something that Google+ could offer that Facebook couldn’t. That is until Facebook announced last Wednesday their merger with Skype. A very good move by Facebook to quickly answer to the only clear cut advantage that Google+ would have. With that said, Google+ does have the edge in video. Facebook’s Skye video doesn’t have group-chat functionality where Google+ features “Hangouts” where you can video chat up to 10 people at once.

PRIVACY

Facebook has been heavy criticized in their privacy efforts especially in recent years. Setting your profile so your thoughts and actions are not viewed by the entire world is very difficult. In an effort to capitalize on this blunder, Google+ goes out of its way to make privacy controls a prominent feature. The privacy policy itself is much easier to read. It should be of note that Google+ doesn’t allow for a completely private profile. Facebook allows users to adjust their privacy settings themselves (though most users do not have a great understanding of them) and Google+ has placed privacy at the core of the social network.

So what is the future of the two social networks? It’s hard to foresee Google+ taking over in the short term as a lot of Facebook users, including myself, have invested a lot of time in building networks, pages, photo albums, etc. In the long term it will be interesting to see if Google+ will turn into the new hip place to be on the web and if Facebook will fade away like Myspace. My guess is no but a lot can change in a couple of years.

Tags:facebook, friends, google, photos, Social Media, social networking, Twitter
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

The Social Side of Gaming

Friday, June 17th, 2011

If you haven’t heard of Angry Birds or Farmville, you have been living under a rock. These are just two of the many games that have transformed the trend of social gaming. Social gaming is playing games as a way of social interaction, via social networks like Facebook. Gaming is not only for the stereotyped teens, now moms, business execs, and retirees are reshaping the demographics of who a gamer is. The two top activities people do online is social networking and gaming, so its no wonder social gaming has become so popular.

Social gaming is not only keeping users entertained, it is also helping companies market and advertise their brands. Marketers use social gaming to reach a wide variety of people. It also gives them the opportunity to target specific groups of people by uncovering their preferences, habits, and acquaintances via social networks. This is where targeted advertising comes into play. Companies are leveraging their brands to create experiences that exist within the games to encourage engagement and interaction. For example, you can get a pair of Nike tennis shoes for your Avatar. The idea is to incorporate businesses and brands into the gaming network instead of overloading users with ads. By integrating brands into games, users will have the chance to interact with the brand instead of being attacked by numerous ad campaigns.

Social gaming enables an interaction to take place. This is the first step in attracting users to a brand, product, or service. By integrating brands into a game, it allows users to have fun with the brand and get to know it. If a user’s avatar wears Nike shoes, the user may be more inclined to buy a pair of Nike shoes for themselves.

Tags:ads, advertising, brands, business, demographics, engagment, facebook, gaming, gaming network, integration, interaction, marketers, Marketing, social gaming, social interaction, social networks, targeting
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

What is Crowdsourcing?

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Have you ever wondered what crowdsourcing is? I have heard of it, but never fully understood what it was. For starters, the name crowdsourcing came from combining crowd and outsourcing. By definition, crowdsourcing is the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community. Still confused? Well when a company has a problem they usually hire someone to perform the necessary procedures to fix it. Now a company will involve a crowd to help them solve their problem. A larger group of people has a higher potential of finding a better solution than compared to one person. So the basic idea then is to tap into the collective intelligence of a group of people to perform business related tasks.

Crowdsourcing increases productivity, while also allowing to hear feedback from more than one individual. A lot of businesses are using crowdsourcing to gain insight and solve problems. As social media has become the way we communicate, crowdsourcing is becoming more and more popular. Businesses may use crowdsourcing to get opinions on a new logo design, voting on a product design, or rank songs and movies. Crowdsourcing can be used for any purpose a business needs.

Sony used crowdsourcing to get people from untapped audiences the chance to think of new ways to tackle the sustainability challenges we face. This started in September of 2010 when Sony set up an online open forum. PepsiCo also dabbled in crowdsourcing last year when they created their Refresh Project campaign. They asked for customer’s favorite ideas for community involvement and they would fund the ideas that got the most votes. Mob4Hire is one of the world’s largest mobile research and testing companies and they used crowdsourcing to test products.

Crowdsourcing connects businesses with their consumers and produces collaboration. It gives businesses the chance to hear what a group of people have to say to get more feedback and opinions.

Tags:business, collaboration, collective intelligence, communication, consumers, crowdsourcing, feedback, involvement, marketers, Marketing, outsourcing, Social Media, solutions
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

The Social Media Platform

Friday, June 10th, 2011

Social media has encompassed our world and lifestyles. Not only is social media used for personal reasons, but now businesses have put their mark on social media. Marketing via social media is a great way for businesses to get connected with a vast amount of people at the same time. It creates communication among consumers and has the potential to attract new ones. One of the main benefits of using social media is that it is free and easy to use. All you basically have to do is create a profile and let the marketing begin! Keep in mind that content is key to having a successful social media campaign. If your content is not interesting or useful, you will have no luck with social media.

Social media allows you to share, network, publish, and discuss. Although social media has these benefits for businesses, it is hard to decide which ones to use. There are so many social media outlets to choose from that it can get confusing. Let’s take a look at the most popular social media networks and what benefits they provide.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn sets the stage for networking with business professionals. It allows you to personally brand your business and market yourself to others within your industry. It is also a great outlet for providing knowledgeable content that informs and educates users. Lead generation is the most valuable outcome of using LinkedIn.

Facebook: Facebook has more than half a billion users, making it a great way to share a message and reach a large amount of people simultaneously. It opens up a communication portal and creates social interaction. Facebook works great as a promotional tool. You can promote your products, services, and events to a mass audience, giving your business the opportunity to expand. Frequent and interesting posts will help to keep users attracted to your business.

Twitter: Twitter is your outbound messaging tool. It consists of tweeting 140 characters or less messages to users. These tweets are short and concise, creating a social buzz. This buzz creates interaction with users. While you are tweeting it exposes your business and brand, and then you get to hear who is talking about you and what they are saying. Twitter is all about listening to others through feedback.

YouTube: Known as the largest video sharing community, YouTube is also a marketing and advertising tool. It gets an informative and positive message right in front of existing and/or potential customers. Creating and sharing a video on YouTube provides the opportunity to share knowledge, market products, show off expertise, and connect with users. Videos that are compelling and entertaining will catch the attention of users, also creating interaction for your business.

Tags:brand, business, communication, content, facebook, linkedin, Marketing, networks, promotion, social interaction, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, youtube
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

To Tweet or Not to Tweet

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

I will admit that I finally signed up for Twitter a week ago, so I am a few years behind. I didn’t really understand the importance of Twitter until I hopped on the bandwagon. I was confused by all the hash marks and other symbols, that I didn’t recognize how powerful Twitter is as a business and marketing tool. Using 140 characters or less, Twitter can help any business promote and share its marketing efforts to a vast amount of people. Since Twitter is one of the largest social media outlets in the world, it has also become a new form of communication. Twitter is used to share content. Businesses want to share content to attract potential customers. So here’s a crazy idea: businesses can share their content on Twitter to attract customers to their company.

Twitter may seem confusing at first, but it is actually easy to use and provides many benefits to businesses.

Here are some of the benefits Twitter can bring to businesses:

Free and easy to set up

Can impact search rankings

Drive traffic to your business website

Can be used check competitors accounts to see what they are sharing and who they are following

Target the people you want to target in relation to your business

Twitter search allows you to follow relevant conversations, trends, and people

Hear feedback about your business from the content you share and conversations you start

Those are just a few benefits Twitter provides for businesses and marketers. Twitter also allows you to unleash your creative side. You can customize your profile, add a picture, and create a descriptive bio. Creativity combined with interesting and knowledgeable tweets will allow any business to be successful on Twitter. So the question is: to tweet or not to tweet? I will let you decide.

Tags:benefits, business, communication, content, conversation, creativity, feedback, marketers, Marketing, search rankings, Social Media, Target, traffic, tweet, Twitter
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Kung Fu and QR Codes

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

QR codes (quick response) are those black and white symbols that can be found on all types of packaging, print ads, and billboards. These codes provide a wealth of information such as text, websites, and other data that is embedded and decoded with a mobile device. All this mobile device needs is a camera and the down-loadable app and the information is unleashed. Usually QR codes are embedded with some type of promotional tool such as a contest, special offer, or an unique website. It is a great way for marketers to engage and attract consumers. These codes are designed to invite customers to participate, discover, share, save, and interact with brands.

Sun-Maid, the famous raisin brand, is utilizing QR codes to promote the animated movie by DreamWorks, Kung Fu Panda 2. Sun-maid has put these codes on their packaging to take customers to a special website where they have a chance to win a trip to Zoo Atlanta. Since entering the contest is as simple as having a mobile device, Sun-Maid hopes the number of entries will be high. They have also used Facebook to promote this contest as well. Sun-Maid brand designed their packaging with these QR codes in hope the special contest will entice consumers to buy their raisins. The packaging design also gets consumers engaged in the Sun-Maid brand as well as provides consumers a way to interact with the brand.

Tags:brand, consumers, DreamWorks, facebook, Kung Fu Panda 2, marketers, Marketing, mobile device, packaging, Packaging Design, promotion, QR codes, raisins, Social Media, Sun-Maid
Posted in Marketing, Packaging Design, Product Information, Social Media | No Comments »

Inbound Marketing Overview

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

Traditional marketing has been centered around companies taking action to initiate a conversation, meaning companies are focused on finding customers. This is done by sending out a message to an audience through TV commercials, print ads, and cold calling. This form of marketing is called outbound marketing and it is starting to lose its effectiveness. We now have technologies like spam filtering, caller id, Tivo, and other measures to block out these outbound marketing techniques. It is also costly to create outbound marketing messages and difficult to track how successful or unsuccessful the campaign was.

We live in a world where things change everyday. Even the way we market has changed immensely. We have turned away from our traditional forms of marketing and have adapted something different called inbound marketing. This new form of marketing is centered around being found by customers. Companies that participate in inbound marketing take the stress of hoping the money they spent on expensive ads will somehow attract some new customers. Companies using inbound marketing utilize techniques such as writing a blog, creating a YouTube video, and constructing a presence via social media to draw customers in.

Inbound marketing is an efficient way to attract customers. It is less costly than outbound marketing, especially since many social media outlets are free to use. It also allows for more accurate targeting. Instead of sending a message to a large amount of people, inbound marketing allows messages to be formed specifically to certain people that you want to hear the message. The secret to a valuable inbound marketing campaign is through content and communication. If a company focuses on useful and confident content, people will find it and like it. Communication is also key to creating a conversation with potential customers because it could turn into a beneficial business relationship.

Tags:Blog, business, communication, content, conversation, customers, inbound marketing, Marketing, marketing message, outbound marketing, relationship, Social Media, targeting, youtube
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

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