There’s a lot going on in the social media space and so much can get lost or overlooked in your RSS feed reader. Here are 5 news items or blog posts that I wouldn’t want you to miss:
1. 12 Things To Consider Before Launching Your Blog
By Francisco Rosales One of the best things you can do online for your business or your freelance services is to start a blog. A blog will allow to attract very targeted prospects by providing content but just as any other marketing approach, it can also damage your business if not done correctly.
2. Data Shows That Social Behavior Gets More Followers
By Dan Zarrella The linguistic analysis engine behind TweetPsych has given me a bunch of cool data points to analyze, so I’ve begun to look at various factors and their relationship with follower counts. Using a database of over 30,000 accounts that have been analyzed with TweetPsych, the first dimension I’ve looked at is “Social Behavior”.
3. 80+% of Twitter Accounts Inactive, But Core Users More Committed
By Dirk Singer Though Twitter won’t be heading into obscurity like the virtual world (this New York Times article gives some good reasons why), it’s still the case that Twitter’s actual user base is small compared to the number of registrations as some new stats from RJMetrics show.
4. Report: Facebook’s Twitterfication May Have Stunted Twitter Growth
By Bilal Hameed RJ Metrics research analysis has stopped short of pinpointing the reasons behind the gradual decline in activity over at Twitter. However, we believe that one of the major reasons for this decline is Facebook’s gradual Twitterfication. After Facebook’s failed attempt to buy Twitter, Facebook has embarked on a policy of “If you cant buy them, destroy them” and has slowly but surely copied the features offered by Twitter.
5. Friendsourcing: Search Gone Social
By Eric Swayne What brands say and do in social media has an increasingly direct effect on how they will appear in search engines, both in search results position and in description. The more friends in my social circle (aka my “social graph”) talk about your brand, the more likely I am to see your brand, click on your brand’s listing and become another voice talking about your brand..
Have a great weekend everyone!
[Image: Deciter_Interactions]
Many companies now include a Facebook or Twitter URL in their television commercials. Almost every cell phone provider now touts Facebook and/or Twitter connectivity in their TV spots. In my Social Search: Tempur-Pedic “Ask Me” Commercial post a few weeks back I shared Tempur-Pedic’s commercial in which they suggest viewers ask their friends on Facebook and Twitter what they think of their mattresses before buying. Now another commercial has caught my eye. This one is from Dentyne.
This playful commercial compares sharing pieces of Dentyne gum to sending and receiving friend requests on Facebook. They wrap it up up with “Dentyne: 60 connections in every bottle.” Very clever. Connecting online is great, but taking those relationships offline is even better.
They continue the importance of offline relationships idea on their website. Visitors to Dentyne.com are only allowed 3 minutes on the site before it shuts down. They are told that everything you need to do on their website can be done in 3 minutes and that it’s important you spend more time in the “real world” than on their website.
There is a countdown clock in the top right-hand corner of their site to let you know how much time you have remaining. When your 3 minutes is up, you are told “Time’s up. No need to linger in cyberspace when there’s real live people outside.” You can then enter your email addresses to be alerted of any updates made to the site while you are away.
[Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5LnMngY51c]
Way back in August
2007, the AARP launched a YouTube video contest that asked younger
generations to voice their concerns about aging. The grand prize was $5,000.
In February 2008,
after receiving over 50 video entries, the AARP announced When
I’m 50 as the winning video. It contains students sharing their thoughts on what they think they’ll be like when they are 50years old – their hopes,
dreams, and aspirations.
While the video was well done, I was more impressed with the second place winner, Lost Generation.
Being the same age as this video’s creator, I feel a strong
connection to the message in this video. At some point in our lives we’re often looked down upon as inferior, materialistic, and shallow, but it is our own
choice to change people’s perspective on ourselves.
You can make of the
world what you may, but by taking a moment to reverse your thinking you’ll find
out that you can reverse not only pessimism to optimism, but you also gain
hope, values, and, in all honesty, a future.
The best way to
spread a message is to prove that you know what you’re talking about. In less
than 2 minutes the author of this video proved that to everyone who watches it in a way that I don’t think can be argued.
Simply put, this is
brilliant.
Lost Generation:
And just in case you’re curious on the grand prize winner’s video;
When I’m 50:
Kristina Williams (_Kristina20_)
Challenge
Firebelly was engaged to help United Way of Central Indiana generate online buzz about, and traffic to, the Live United Give United microsite designed by Epigram with the ultimate goal of increased donations in the $5-$10 range.
Approach
Firebelly built a blog and microsite for easy syndication of news, updates and stories about the campaign to UWCI’s Twitter account, Facebook page, and LUGU microsite. The microsite also contained sharing functionalities that made it easy for vistors to share the page with their family and friends on their social networks and via email.
Firebelly was also brought into the United Way of Central Indiana office to consult staff on social marketing best practices, as well as ways for them to best leverage their existing network to help share the message.
After identifying and reaching out to Indianapolis-area online influencers, Firebelly produced and marketed a video with those influencers asking their Facebook and Twitter networks to watch the video, share it with their friends, and donate. Two versions of the video were made – one specifically for distribution on Facebook and another for Twitter.
Below is the Facebook version of the video:
Results
Overall giving was up over the 2008 campaign. United Way of Central Indiana witnessed a 75% increase in donations in the $5-$10 dollar range and a 94% increase in fans on their Facebook page that they can now engage and mobilize during future campaigns.
How can Firebelly help you develop your social marketing campaign?
There’s a lot going on in the social media space and so much can get lost or overlooked in your RSS feed reader. Here are 5 news items or blog posts that I wouldn’t want you to miss:
1. Why Augmented Reality Will Change The World As We Know It
By Giedrius Ivanauskas Augmented reality is clearly the buzz word of 2010. There were not too many bloggers who hadn’t identified augmented reality as a top subject in their trend lists of 2010 and there is a simple reason for it – it is (or will be) the world-changing trend.
2. Social Media Contests – Participation Is Not Always Easy To Come By
By Mike Kornacki Give away something for nothing and people will say “yes please.” Give away something for almost nothing and people will say “what’s the catch.” By nature, people do not want to do a whole lot to get something especially if the activity will step outside the bounds of their normal daily routine.
3. Get Rid Of Stale Twitter Users Who Have Stopped Tweeting
By Chris Norton Here is a Twitter tool which can be a little slow to use but is quite a good idea. As Twitter has grown, so has the amount of people we follow and it can become time consuming reading everything. Sometimes it’s difficult to decide who to keep and who to ditch to keep your account fresh.
4. Is Advertising on Facebook Really Effective?
By Mia Dand The popularity of advertising on social networks is primarily based on the notion that sites like Facebook have a great deal of data on their users and this information can be exploited to deliver highly targeted ads to its huge user base. In theory, it makes a great deal of sense.
By Chris Brogan Farmers are fairly no-nonsense types. They wake up, get breakfast, and do their chores. They live by the season, worry about the yield, and think in reasonably conservative terms about what’s going to work for them. You think construction workers are sexy? Let’s talk about your farmer list.
Have a great weekend everyone!
[Image: Pat Lewis]
Last week, in We Interrupt This Lifecast: Syndication Overload (Part 1), I argued that people should not syndicate all of their tweets into Facebook.
This week, however, I want to talk about those who aggregate content from all over the web and syndicate it through their Twitter streams.
I see no problem with people using a service like Twitterfeed to syndicate posts from their blog (as long as it is a supplement and not the only way they are using Twitter), but I have unfollowed several people recently who did nothing but fill my screen with not only THEIR blog posts, but posts from a dozen or so other blogs and/or news sites they read, comments they’ve made in other places, their Foursquare check-ins, et cetera, et cetera. You get the point.
I checked out their Twitter pages and didn’t see any RTs or @ replies anywhere. They weren’t interacting with anyone. They weren’t saying anything. They were simply aggregating content from around the web and pushing it through their Twitter stream. Zero personality. Entirely automated. #FAIL
Just because you CAN, doesn’t mean you SHOULD.
When did Twitter become the dumping ground for all of your online and mobile activity? Now, I’m sure you are an interesting person, but not everything you do is.
It’s okay to supplement your Twitter activity with some syndicated content, but like I said in Part 1, it’s important to not overdo it and run the risk of becoming a robot.
What do you think?
[Image: rob.prideaux]
