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Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

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Making Strides in the Social TV Space

In Social Media on 08/09/2011 at 10:15 pm

TV is inherently a social medium—people gathered around the water cooler for ages to discuss last night’s television program. Now, this behavior has shifted to the digital world where people are discussing TV programs in real-time, across social media environments such as Twitter and Facebook, and within mobile environments like the social TV check-in apps, GetGlue, IntoNow, Miso and Philo. Social TV is still in its infancy—the television industry is striving to learn how social media conversations can inspire tune-in and affect ratings, and how they can monetize their social audiences.

However, a couple of TV-specific listening tools are emerging such as Bluefin Signals and Social Guide that are curating social media conversations amongst TV viewers, allowing brands to learn more about their viewers and how they are engaging with the network. Interestingly enough, the conversations across social media environments mirror actual TV ratings. For example, this season’s premiere of the Jersey Shore ranked in 9.7 million viewers while also dominating 62% of total TV mentions within social media environments, including 912,055 Twitter mentions, 51,507 on Facebook, 10,250 check-ins on GetGlue and 357 on Miso—more than all the other prime time shows.

What were the top 5 programs that TV viewers talked about in July 2011 across the social media sphere?

The Social Guide identifies Family Guy, SpongeBob Square Pants, Basketball Wives, Maury, and the Jersey Shore as the top five programs in the month of July that boasted the highest number of shares, unique followers and comments. You can also discover the top social shows in real-time, who your top social fans are in real-time, or for the past 7 or 30 days.

Although the social TV partners do not have answers to some of the questions the brands are asking, many are dabbling around with interesting and innovative offerings, not just for entertainment-based shows but also for CPG brands. For example, IntoNow partnered with Pepsi, allowing the first 500 potential consumers to tag Pepsi Max’s commercial and redeem a free Pepsi bottle at their local Target or CVS. In addition, LocalResponse’s recent acquisition of social TV check-in company, Philo, will allow local businesses to target responses to people who are watching similar content on TV, matching promotions to viewing behavior. Xbox, too, is forging ahead at connecting viewers to commercials in innovative ways. Xbox recently announced a new way for advertisers to target interactive experiences at consumers via voice and motion interactivity— called NUads — for users with the Kinect attachment. This technology will allow users to send reminders to their phones of their favorite shows by simply saying, “Xbox Schedule,” or to vote for their favorite American Idol contestant by simply waving their hand in front of the screen.

What Social TV developments are you most interested in?

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Social Media Experienced Strong Growth in 2010

In Social Media on 01/16/2011 at 2:02 pm

When consumers need to find solutions, they actively seek content to find answers to their problems. It’s content that supplies those answers, in the form of text, video, audio, and social media – and consumers have almost unlimited ways to get that content. The difference today is that consumers are finding those answers coming from their peers, favorite brands and the media.

Everyone is a media company. Everyone is a publisher. If you publish online content to a blog, a microblog (Twitter), a social network, or a photo- or video-sharing site like YouTube and Flickr, you are a publisher. Today there are billion pieces of content all over the Internet. A recently released Royal Pingdom “Internet in 2010 in numbers” report demonstrates social content publishing continues to grow at a fast pace. Here are the latest social media growth numbers:

  • 152 million – the number of blogs on the Internet
  • 25 billion – the number of sent tweets on Twitter in 2010
  • 175 million – people on Twitter as of September 2010
  • 600 million – people on Facebook at the end of 2010
  • 30 billion – pieces of content (links, notes, photos, etc.) shared on Facebook per month
  • 2 billion – the number of videos watched per day on YouTube
  • 35 – hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute
  • 186 – the number of online videos the average U.S. Internet user watches per month
  • 5 billion – photos hosted by Flickr (September 2010)

Read the complete report.

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CollegeHumor.com CEO Shares Ten Urban Legends on Web Content

In Social Media on 06/09/2010 at 11:11 am

Whether you’re a big brand, a small business, or simply someone looking to build your own personal brand via online video, what other better way to start than taking advice from the CEO of CollegeHumor.com? A very funny, shaggy-haired, Dennis Crowley (Foursquare CEO) look-alike, Ricky Van Veen, presented a list of 10 myths about Web content yesterday at the Mashable Media Summit.

Watch Veen’s opening remarks here.

Myth # 1: People will watch my branded content.

 You must ask yourself first, ‘Why would anyone watch this content?’ If 75% of your content’s purpose is to entertain and 25% is to sell, they you are already starting off with a handicap because you are competing with TV shows. The key is to have truly unique content that can’t be seen anywhere else. One mistake that brands make when creating content is worrying too much about legal and PR. Brands have to more flexible and less self-serving.

Myth # 2: People will be patient with content.

 Thirty percent are gone after the first 30 seconds, and one-third of all Internet activity is done simultaneously while the audience is watching television.

  1. Take down the barriers to access your content
  2. Get to the Point

Myth #3: People will find my content.

People won’t just stumble upon your content. One needs a seed strategy to push it out and generate buzz and word-of-mouth to make it viral. One way to do this is to team up with an already-established brand.

Myth #4: The internet is a level-playing field.

 A link on Drudge Report yields more results than some dude’s blog. Veen suggests tapping into the power users with a large audience.

Myth #5: We have no idea why things go viral.

 While there are no rules for making videos viral, they all share one commonality–they give users a reason to pass it on.

  •  Videos should be short, approximately two to three minutes long
  •  A hook should come in the first 20 seconds
  •  Clear title
  •  Sweet spots College Humor taps into: Topical issues and “Candycorn” (cultural touchstones that everyone knows, but doesn’t actively think about).

 Myth # 6: Experience leads documentation.

We have a new generation that puts documentation above experience. It’s all about Flickr feeds and Facebook status updates. It’s basically high-tech bragging.

- If you’re a marketer, create experiences that allow people to show off how cool they are.

Myth # 7: Let’s build our own community and tools.

Don’t build your own features — if you want people to share photos and whatnot, use Facebook and Flickr. You get much more exposure and reach in that way.

Myth # 8: Let’s keep things professional.

Personality drives your brand. At CollegeHumor, we post photos of staff as well as videos and other content on their site.

Myth # 9: Traditional media is irrelevant to the Web.

The Web content creators eventually want to move into the film and television space. The Web hasn’t quite yet figured out how to monetize its model, while film and television have been making money for years.

Myth # 10: People will create good content for me.

Getting people to create content is hard, getting people to create good content is really hard.

Veen wrapped up the presentation with the announcement of the partnership between College Humor and Pepsi’s SoBe that will launch SoBe Studios — a project that creates branded video content. As part of this project, a new three-part web series, “Mr. Vicarious,” featuring comedians Paul Scheer and Nick Kroll, will premiere today.

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Three Riveting Startups You Should Know About

In Digital Media, Social Media on 05/21/2010 at 4:09 am

Ah, home, sweet home! It’s been a long and tiresome day, but very rewarding.  After work, I headed over to a Digital Flash NYC event that featured two Mashable panelists, a diverse set of questions from the audience, and an open bar. Hopefully, the open bar liquor had something to do with the ditzy question from the back of the room–“Why would I read Mashable? I’m interested in fashion; who is wearing what”–asked by a former teacher.  Either way, I met some amazing, new start-ups that I just couldn’t wait to write about. So here it goes…

  1. Catchafire.org connects volunteers within the areas of design, social media, advertising, legal, public relations, marketing, and others, with non-profit organizations. If you are a volunteer, you simply select your skill areas and the social cause you’d like to support, integrate your LinkedIn profile, and select a project of your choice. If you are a non-profit organization, pick a project from the project menu, and wait to see who your match is.
  2. Pixable aggregates your and your friends’ photos from multiple Web sites, including Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, SmugMug, and Photobucket into one central site and allows you to create and print photo books.
  3. EZTexting, founded in 2006, provides a simple, affordable text messaging platform for small to medium-sized businesses. The company allows businesses within the education, hospitality, religion, politics, non-profits, and technology industries to develop and execute a text messaging campaign within minutes.

What are some of the newly launched startups you’ve stumbled upon? Let me know.

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Emerging Social Media Moms

In Social Media on 05/09/2010 at 8:43 pm

Like many social media moms, Irene Bernshteyn, a New York stay-at-home mom, turned to Facebook and blogging to gain exposure for her hobby-turned-small-online-business, Baby Chic.

Mommy bloggers have become a strong online force, helping marketers to reach mothers, a powerful demographic that often controls household spending. With over 30,000 mom bloggers and their strong following, they are capable of activating an online network of thousands of people within their community who quickly interact through a number of viral channels, including Twitter and Facebook.

“Facebook is a huge exposure. There is a movement called “Link Love,” where I check the fan pages of some jewelry makers I like, and then I can post my links on their discussion board. In turn, they “like” my store’s fan page and post their links–it’s like free advertisement of their business,” said Bernshteyn.

While some social media moms still rely on one another to cross-promote their Web sites and prompt online participation, many seek out and cultivate powerful relationships with brands that seek to reach a similar audience. In light of Mother’s Day, let’s celebrate social media moms and their impact on social media marketing.

Four emerging social media trends for mommy bloggers:

  1. Oversharing – more and more moms are moving beyond blogging and are joining location-based networks such as Foursquare, and other sharing-based sites such as Plancast, which allow moms to share their plans for the future, and Blippy, which allows them to discuss their purchases.
  2. Blog sponsorships - while many brands recruit moms to generate buzz about their products through blogger outreach or place traditional display ads, more are beginning to sponsor individual mom blogs that align with the brand. Participating bloggers are already customizing content, contests, and giveaways.
  3. Self-owned communities – mommy bloggers will expand their efforts beyond individual blogs and fan pages into self-owned communities, built using white label forums/social networking platforms and plug-ins. Pioneer Woman has already paved the way for this trend.
  4. Campaign consultants – According to Mom Blog Magazine, brands will soon hire mommy bloggers to consult on campaigns in the ideas and planning phases instead of after a social media crisis hits the fan that requires reactionary advice.

Here is a list of top 25 influential moms in the Twitterverse according to the Mom Blog Magazine.

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How Online Shopping is Becoming More Social

In Social Media on 05/04/2010 at 6:19 am

People have always turned to friends and family for advice when making purchase decisions. Social media has expanded people’s connections and allowed for new ways to interact. According to Manage Smarter, 83 percent of online shoppers said they are interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place. Forward-thinking advertisers have embraced digital word-of-mouth marketing via social networks and blogger outreach, environments where customers like to spend their time. And although social commerce is still in its early stages, many retailers are already experimenting with cost-effective marketing channels such as Facebook and Twitter, user ratings and reviews, Facebok connect, online communities, and the most-recent Facebook “Like” feature that customizes one’s shopping experience and allows friends to comment and share the merchandise liked by that individual.

Apparel store, Levi’s Jean is an early adopter of the social plugin “Like.” Each product is paired with a “like” button, allowing views of who on Facebook likes the item, along with their profile photos. The brand also built an online “Friend Store”, where shoppers who are logged into Facebook can see a list of their friends’ favorite Levi’s products and seamlessly shop with their friends and share your online shopping decisions.

“By allowing our shoppers to publicly “like” their products, they are influencing the current product and future product assortment. Additionally, it makes shopping more fun. Imagine shopping for your back to school jeans with your best friend who lives 2,000 miles away,” said Megan O’Connor, director of digital and social marketing of Levi Strauss (in a recent eMarketer interview.)

Since the button’s launch two weeks ago, more than 50,000 websites have implemented Facebook’s new social plug-ins, including the “Like” button.

To add the “Like” button to your Web site, simply fill out this brief form and receive the code.

To view shared links and likes of your Facebook friends across most-popular Web sites, visit likebutton.me.

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Beyond Facebook and Twitter: 5 Ways to Leverage Tweetups To Drive Business

In How-to's, Social Media on 04/24/2010 at 5:27 am

Social media can be leveraged to build deep connections with existing and potential customers. When people think of social media, they think of sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. However, social media extends beyond these popular social networks with millions of active members across the globe. Tweetups, in-person, impromptu meeting organized by Twitter users across different geographic locations, can be just as important in helping business owners connect with their potential consumers.

Extending conversations initiated in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to offline can strengthen these relationships and convert fans and followers into brand advocates. Tweetups are especially beneficial to local businesses or national businesses that wish to advertise in specific region. For example. NASA is hosting a special Tweetup in May, where they will randomly select 150 of their Twitter followers to view a shuttle launch in person at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At Kennedy, NASA Twitter followers will take a tour of the center, view the shuttle launch and speak with shuttle technicians, managers, engineers, and astronauts. Another great use of Tweetups is by the Grammy Award-winning British singer, Imogen Heap, who leveraged Tweetups in New York and Los Angeles to turn online interactions into real-life connections, providing her Twitter followers with exclusive first listen of her album, “Ellipse.” In addition, one of the most-popular Tweetup events is the National Hockey League’s (NHL) first Tweetup (now taking place in over 20 cities across the U.S.) kicking off the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the league’s NYC store back in April 2009.

How can Tweetups help your business?

  1. Meet with existing or potential customers. Invite people who are interested in what your business has to offer. For example, Tommy Hilfiger and Lucky Magazine are hosting a Tweetup today, April 24, in NYC to draw customers into the Fifth Avenue store to shop their Spring collection.
  2. Connect you with people in your local community who are passionate about your industry. By bringing people together around a common interest, you help them to get to know each other better.
  3. Activate offline and inspire online actions. Another benefit to these Twitter-based gatherings is the amount of messages your attendees will spread before, during and after the event. Twitter users will tweet their experiences, photos and possibly blog about the event.
  4. Introduce and help fuel demand for new products or services. Invite an expert to speak about the products and issues that the brand and customers both care about in order to establish or increase your business’ credibility.
  5. Build your content inventory that can be repurposed across the interwebs. If you are struggling for content on your Facebook, YouTube or Twitter page(s), hosting events and capturing content at those events, including videos of experts, how-tos, photos of guests or captured by guests can all make engaging, diverse UGC posts across these platforms.

Hosting a tweetup is simple. All you need to do is suggest a date, location, and time on Twitter. Your followers chime in if they want to join you, and you instantly have a gathering!

Visit twivite.com for a list of all upcoming Tweetups in your area!

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Google plunges knee-deep into social media with a UGC search stories video creator

In Digital Media, Social Media on 04/13/2010 at 9:42 pm

Internet search can give a lot of insight into someone’s life. It can reveal our personality, desires, needs, behaviors, and passions. Remember the Google television spot that aired during the Saints-Colts Super Bowl game this year? “Parisian Love,” Google’s very first Super Bowl commercial, and one of the most-talked-about 2010 Super Bowl ads, shows how the internet and search engines are integrated into everyday life. As part of its search stories campaign that launched in November 2009, “Parisian Love” tells a story of a young man who studies abroad in France and along the way uses Google to find the girl of his dreams. Now, Google is inviting users to create their own version of the “Parisian Love” search story with their new Google Search Stories Video Creator tool located at youtube.com/searchstories.

In today’s consumer-focused world, every successful brand is shifting towards consumer-centric advertising that combines more granular targeting and measurement with cross-platform integration in order to satisfy the digital demands of today’s digitally savvy customers. After dipping its toes in the Super Bowl television advertising, and testing the social media waters with Google Buzz in recent months, the internet search giant is embracing user-generated content, allowing anyone, regardless of their video production skills, to create their own Google search stories and share the videos through their extended social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, just to name a few.

Three simple steps in creating a search story:

  1. Enter a sequence of 7 search queries (words or phrases) into the Google Search Stories Video Creator Tool. The new UGC functionality tells a story when the search results are revealed and automatically formatted into a Search Story video
  2. Select the music that is most-appropriate to the topic of your search story from the soundtrack library and add it to your video
  3. Preview your video. Here you will have one more chance to edit your search queries or simply change the music. If you are satisfied with the story created, you will write in the title and description of your search story as well as select the genre of your story, which can match the genre of the soundtrack music. Once your video is complete, you can upload it to YouTube (assuming you have a YouTube or Gmail account) and share it across the interwebs.

Google will post some of the most creative and fun user-created stories to the official YouTube Search Stories Channel.

Here is a sample search story. Now, go make your own and share it with the world!

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Practice safe social networking

In Social Media on 03/26/2010 at 5:32 am

Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Four Square have changed our daily lives and how we interact with others . We use them to reconnect with old friends, make new ones, find the latest news, inform our friends about our whereabouts and meet new people in a nearby area. While social networks can be essential for some like the chronically ill who depend on social networks like Facebook to maintain their connections with people, or vital in solving crimes, they also have a dangerous side. For example, Web site, pleaserobme.com shows that updating a Facebook status or using Twitter or Four Square to announce where one is located can open up new opportunities for burglars.

In Indiana, a woman reported two men burglarized her home right after she posted a Facebook update that she and her fiance are going out to a concert that evening. The most astonishing fact is that one of the burglars turned out to be her friend on the social media platform. So how can we protect ourselves on these social media platforms?

  1. Networks such as Facebook allow you to set their privacy settings and have a limited profile to a selected group of friends.
  2. Only friend or accept friendships from people you know and trust
  3. If you are using location-based networks, turn your check-ins notifications off
  4. Do not use the new Twitter location feature which can broadcast the city, the neighborhood, or your exact address from which you are tweeting.

Not only can social networks provoke robberies if not careful, but they can also victimize users through frauds and hoaxes. For example, Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner of Tour de France and his charity, Live Strong, were exploited by a Twitterer who impersonated a cancer-stricken patient in need of money to save her life. IKEA furniture store has, too, been a recent victim of a Facebook scam.  A fraudulent Facebook campaign was “run” by IKEA that promised to give its first 7,000 fans a 1,000 USD gift card if you became a fan of the Swedish company. Of course, this is not really a campaign that is run by IKEA.

The bottom line is reap the benefits of social media, but also remember to practice safe social networking.

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Fashion Week Gets Social

In Social Media on 02/11/2010 at 11:53 am

By Irina Skaya

Today marks the first day of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City.  In addition to reducing its carbon footprint by adopting low-carbon technology this year, many designers are also taking advantage of social media and what it has to offer.  Designers including, Lacoste, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs will live stream their shows on the Web, giving the fashion-week obsessed fans a virtual front row seat.

While most of the designers are streaming their shows on their Web sites, three of the designers, Lacoste, G-Star Raw and Calvin Klein, will stream their shows on their Facebook pages. Calvin Klein is leveraging the “Fashion Week” live stream tab on Facebook for fan acquisition, providing non-fans with an incentive to become a fan.  Unlike the Calvin Klein show, which will broadcast on both, its Web site and the Facebook page, Lacoste features an exclusive broadcast on its Facebook fan page only, providing non-fans with even more of an incentive to join in.  G-Star Raw will also broadcast its show live on their Facebook fan page as well. In addition to live streaming, the brand is inviting fans, also called, Raw Reporters, to live blog and tweet at their event.

Fashion week has been democratized—attendance is no longer by invitation-only for celebrities and Hollywood socialites—anyone can join in the fun from the comfort of their own home or iPhone.  As a matter of fact, designers like Marc Jacobs are banning celebrities from attending their shows and are pointing them to live stream! 

I will be sure to tweet live from Lacoste and Thuy, and will post my exclusive interview with designer Tibi here.  Stay tuned!

Here is a compiled list of the shows that are streaming live:

PORTS 1961
Thursday, February 11 at 3PM
http://www.Vogue.com/

G-STAR RAW
February 16 at 7 p.m.
http://facebook.com/gstar

ALEXANDER WANG
February 13, 22:00 GMT / 17:00 EST
http://live.showstudio.com. Be sure to tune in early.

CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION MEN’S
February 14, AIRS 2PM EST
http://www.facebook.com/calvinklein

MARC JACOBS
February 15 at more or less 8 p.m (check site)
http://www.marcjacobs.com/#/en-us/home

RODARTE
AIRS 16 FEB 2010, 17.00 GMT / 12.00 EST
http://live.showstudio.com. Be sure to tune in early.

CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION Womenswear
3:00pm EST on Thursday, February 18th
http://www.facebook.com/calvinklein

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