Social Media

A recent report published by social media analytics experts Simply Measured unveiled that automotive, electronics and luxury are the top 3 industries on Google+ user engagement within the Interbrand Top 100 brands. According to Simply Measured CEO Adam Schoenfeld  ”luxury and automotive brands are clearly finding Google+ to be an effective way to connect with consumers”.

Brands like Ferrari, GUCCI and Burberry appear to be in the top of the Interbrand Top 100 list in the number Google+ circlers (followers). Read more…

Last week it was Friday the 13^th, so according to cliché it would be sombre day involving a lot of bad luck. This time though it was a lovely sunny day… and of course the day of BrightonSEO April 2012. Read more…

As Twitter has recently hit 500 million registered users and Google+ now has 90 million users, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the demographic makeup of each of the major social networks to see if certain types of people gravitate to a particular social network.

Looking at UK traffic data for the four social networks, Facebook is unsurprisingly way out in front with over 10x as many unique visitors as Google+. What is worth noting however is Twitters continued growth over the last 12 months, growing over 60% (Jan 2011 vs Jan 2012).

Facebook may get the most traffic but perhaps it doesn’t do as well with user engagement, maybe people spend less time on site, or come back less often? Not the case, looking at the stats above we can see that Facebook also Read more…

One common gripe over Facebook page creation is that, as a page administrator, you aren’t able to set a unique URL for a page until it has at least 25 fans.

In September 2011 there was a loophole which allowed page admins to set a username for pages with fewer than 25 fans, but this soon closed up.

However, whilst setting up a page for a client yesterday, I discovered that there is indeed currently a way to set a unique username/URL for a Facebook page with less than 25 fans. It’s a little lengthy but ultimately does work.

However, it’s worth noting that this will only work for brand new pages – you can’t use this loophole to set a unique username for a page you’ve already created. You will also have to follow the entire process again for each individual page/username you want to set.

Expect this loophole to close quickly; here’s how to take advantage of it:

1. Go to Facebook.com and make sure you are logged out. Beneath the sign up form, click on the ‘Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business.’ link

2. Choose whichever category is most appropriate for the page you want to create and continue

3. Even if you already have a Facebook account, select the ‘I do not have a Facebook account’ option

4. Sign up using an email address that is not associated with any Facebook account; you could create one just for this purpose. Follow the Facebook account creation and confirmation steps

5. Set up your profile (you can come back to this later)

6. Click on ‘Edit page’ and then navigate to the ‘Basic Information’ tab on the left

7. Click on the ‘Create a username for this page?’ link

8. This brings up a notice asking you to verify your account before you can create a username. Follow the verification steps

9. Once Facebook confirms that the code is correct, the page doesn’t seem to auto-redirect anywhere. Don’t click continue again, but instead click on the Facebook logo in the top left to go back to your page’s home page feed. Click ‘Edit page’ to bring up the admin section again, and click on the ‘Basic Information’ tab
Read more…

If someone told you that there is a hidden folder of messages waiting for you on the internet, full of elapsed party invites, unclaimed competition prizes, missed connections and even job offers from months ago, would you believe them? Of course not.

But this is no scam or hoax. Facebook – that very website you rely on to keep you in touch with friends, family and important messages like these – has been deciding on our behalf which personal messages we are likely to want to see, and which it thinks won’t be of interest to us. The messages we receive notifications for on a daily basis have been deemed worthy of our attention, and everything else automatically ends up in a buried folder. Because these less-worthy messages don’t show up with a notification, you wouldn’t know about their existence unless you specifically know to check the folder.

As soon as I found out about this quirk, I looked through my buried messages folder. I had missed out on some festival tickets I won back in July as a Facebook competition prize. I also missed out on a speaking invitation and an enquiry from a journalist, amongst countless messages from interesting people trying to get in touch with me. Facebook, that’s a fail. I trust you to connect me with these people and opportunities, and you’ve let me down.

What have you missed out on? To find your hidden messages folder, sign in to your Facebook account and go to your main news feed page. On the left hand side of the page, click ‘Messages’, and then click ‘Other’ that appears underneath this link. Be prepared to be very annoyed.

I posted my frustrations on my Facebook wall, and it turns out that many of my friends have missed equally important messages.  One said, “I’m so angry! Had four messages under ‘other’ offering to buy a festival ticket I desperately needed to sell for a lot more than I ended up parting with it for.” Another ran a boat owners’ association Page on Facebook and missed messages from potential members asking for information about their boat. Read more…

As we’re all winding down for Christmas, Facebook is working on a few additions which could be interesting for our social campaigns next year. Here’s a quick heads up…

1)      Sponsored Stories ads

Building on the success of Facebook’s Sponsored Story as a format in 2011, the social network is readying a plan to expand the format to introduce ads into users’ news feeds from early next year.

As display ads do not currently appear in a users’ feed, the initial roll out in the New Year will be introduced ‘thoughtfully and slowly’ and will be clearly marked. A spokesperson from Facebook said that initially no more than one ad per day will be shown to users.

Initial stats from Facebook’s introduction of Sponsored Stories showed that they were effectively driving up click through rates and decreasing the cost per acquisition.  The user feedback to the presence of ads in their new feeds will be interesting over the next few months so it’s definitely one to keep a close eye on in 2012.

Brand Republic has written a great article covering this.

2)      Private messages for Pages

It was announced yesterday that Facebook has begun to roll out a functionality that allows users and Page owners to exchange private messages! It’s breaking news – that could potentially allow page owners and brands direct access to their audience, however, with the initial roll out Facebook is requiring individuals to initiate the conversation.

The potential for this is huge with Econsultancy stating that ‘it’s far easier to market to consumers than it is to communicate with them. Facebook may be looking to change that slightly’. The possibilities for  customer service is huge and it could propel brand pages towards being a much more effective marketing tool for brands. Those brands with larger Facebook followings should look into this sooner rather than later, and be geared up for possible increased communication through the channel in 2012.

As always we will be sure to let you know of any further advances as the New Year kicks in.

First Facebook was followed by LinkedIn and Google. Now its Twitter’s turn as they have announced new profiles for businesses. At the moment they are only available to a limited number of companies, but Twitter has said that it will be rolling out more broadly in the coming weeks together with important updates across the different platforms; PC and mobile versions.

As competitors did before, Twitter has partnered up with some of the biggest International companies in supporting the new version, such as  McDonalds , Coca-Cola, Bing, Dell, Heineken,  HP and  Intel among others. Most of these already have official  brand pages on Twitter.

What’s different?

Design, Videos and Images

On Twitter’s official blog, the company describe a new and simplified version of the social network, which provides companies the ability to customise their profile with more of a branded look. As we can see in the below example from the Coca-Cola Twitter page.

However, customisation is not the only new advantage for companies and followers. The new twitter also allows brands to show embedded multimedia; videos and images. This makes the new Twitter site more visually appealing for users and gives businesses the opportunity to spread content in different formats.

What are Embeddable Tweets?

A new feature from Twitter allows content authors to add tweets to their websites, simply by copying and pasting a simple line of code.  That enables visitors to follow, reply, re-tweet or favourite a tweet with a single click and without leaving the page.

Twitter Buttons Read more…

It was less than a month ago when my colleague and fellow marketeer Dani Fernandez pinged me an email with the awkward title ‘Pinterest’ , which at first seemed like a misspell rather than something that actually pinned my interest! The content of the email was just a link pointing to Wil Reynolds’ blog , where this post was discussing the potential SEO value of Pinterest – a social pinboard where people could share and tag content in a visually aesthetic way.

As expected from most professionals within the digital media industry, “new”, “revolutionary” and “innovative” social media services emerge on a weekly basis, so separating the wheat from the chaff is neccessary, although quite difficult. The main reason for that difficulty is that regardless of what an individual’s opinion is with regards to a new online service, what really matters is the reaction of the online community, which very often is contrary to many experts’ opinions.

Nevertheless, during the next few weeks the terms ‘Pinterest’ and ‘pin it’ were standing out more than anything else meaning that the relatively new service is gaining momentum quite rapidly.  An obvious question would be whether there is any real need for another social media service, given that with Facebook, and Twitter have alredy been established and Google continuously trying to increase its Google+ market share by slowly and steadily incorporating it into the search giant’s organic listings.

What Is Pinterest?

It is a pinboard site that allows users to discover new things which have been cherry-picked (or pinned) by others and grouped together into collections (boards). In other words, users can browse other users’ collections and get inspiration and ideas. In plain web jargon it can be said that it is another bookmarking service with some very distinct characteristics that make it unique.

People are going to Pinterest to get inspiration for the most important life projects, which correlate to the most important purchasing events in their life.

According to Ben Silberman, co-founder of Pinterest:

“People are planning their vacation, they are redecorating their home, they are planning their wardrobe…They are going to Pinterest to get inspiration for the most important life projects, which correlate to the most important purchasing events in their life.”

According to Douglas MacMillan from Bloomberg Businessweek, Pinterest, has become the favorite website of moms, do-it-yourselfers, home cooks, brides-to-be and others with an estimated 70% of its users being women.

Read more…

Yesterday Google announced that businesses can now create pages to market themselves on Google+, Google’s social network product torival Facebook.

Google was released earlier this  year and individuals were able to set up profiles and use the network for connecting to others and sharing information with those with mutual interests. Businesses were discouraged from setting up profiles with word that pages specifically for businesses were soon on their way.

Google has been using social signals as part of their ranking algorithm over past years and Google+ is a their way of having ownership of these signals.

Still in its infancy but expected to grow, it is recommended for businesses to embrace Google+ and use it in a similar way to Facebook and Twitter. Unique strategies for the different social platforms is best practice but the  basic principles  of social network interaction apply.

Google intends to use Google+ and its social signals as a significant part of its ranking algorithm in its mainstream web SERPs. This highlights the importance of Google+ adoption by businesses as integral to any competitive SEO strategy.

You can sign a business up here on Google+ .

iCrossing’s fashion & retail editor Jo-ann Fortune takes a light-hearted look at how digital has helped transform the fashion landscape.

1. Blogosphere – Susie Bubble, Mademoiselle Robot, The Clothes Whisperer – not children’s TV characters but our new fashion heroes. Real-girl style inspiration, insider insight and one-on-one engagement have us hooked to the point that the big brands have had to sit up and take note. The best part is; anyone can give it a go.

2. Live in your living room – Burberry helped to democratise high-fashion when it became the first label to stream its fashion week shows live online, sell directly from the runway via iPad and release its new season looks through Twitter before they hit the catwalk. All we’re missing now is the front row goodie bags.

3. Street style – Ten years ago, if someone asked to take your photo outside Tesco, you’d be forgiven for making a quick retreat whilst avoiding eye contact – now, thanks to street style photographers such as The Satorialist, it’s the ultimate in fashion flattery.

4. 24/7 shopping – Picking up this season’s Topshop must-haves while in your PJs? Unheard of a decade ago – now common practice. We can now shop 24/7 – in our lunchbreaks, on the tube or in the evening after a few glasses of wine – the latter not to be advised… Read more…