Author: David Greaves
It appears that every man and his dog has something to say about Wimbledon 2011 on Twitter. No, seriously. As the global tennis audience ponders whether this will be Andy Murray’s year, the champion’s dog has opened an official account. Offering unique canine analysis as the tournament kicks off, Maggie May’s musings – allegedly written with a little help from Murray’s long-term girlfriend, Kim Sears – can be found at @maggiemay_hem.
For those seeking more professional insights, Wimbledon-mania has officially kicked off on Twitter, and here follows a guide to the top ten must-follow feeds:
1. @wimbledon
First stop is the official Wimbledon Twitter account, with over 112,000 followers and 3,700 tweets to date. As well as minute-by-minute, rather jovial updates on the latest news and weather, @wimbledon also offers Twitpics and videos.
2. @tennis.com
Tennis.com’s excellent Twitter feed serves up all things tennis related, including articles from former players like Jimmy Connors.
3. @tennis_updates
Does exactly what it says on the tin, so expect tweets by the minute during key match play this Wimbledon. More »
Google faced a difficult task when it came to the digital marketing of its new laptop, the web-only Chromebook. A revolutionary product, some might say that the Chromebook is a little ahead of its time. Its reliance on the web is undeniably clever – but are people ready to make the leap to cloud-based computers for personal computing?
Consumers who don’t yet know their cloud from their internal hard drive are bound to have questions about a laptop lacking familiar features such as a desktop background.
To solve this problem, Google has made fantastic use of video with a series of ads that utilise the format’s favourite ingredients: simplicity and humour.
Why keep it simple? This is a complicated product, and consumers demand quick and easy answers. Video is the ideal medium for a potentially complex sell – people ‘get’ visuals.
And why use humour to sell laptops? An ad that manages to educate while also entertaining will be remembered, and potentially become a viral video. While Google may not scoop any marketing awards for this campaign, it deserves recognition for cracking the notoriously difficult task of demystifying new technology for the progress-wary consumer. More »
According to Converse’s chief marketing officer, Geoff Cottrill, the secret of successful Facebook marketing is to do nothing.
Well, that may not be verbatim, but Cottrill does admit that on the day he learnt that Converse had 8 million fans and was asked what the brand should do, he did indeed reply: “Nothing”.
Converse now has more than 15 million fans on Facebook, which is almost four times more than its parent company, Nike and about eight times as many as Adidas.
Having achieved this with a smaller advertising budget than many of its competitors, Converse has proven that abundant ad dollars are not essential for an effective social media strategy.
When Cottrill refers to doing nothing, he specifically means doing more listening than talking, like a good dinner party guest.
“By showing respect and trusting your consumers, I believe your brand benefits via strong advocacy –- having millions of advocates can be a powerful thing. You just have to let go and trust your consumers, ” he said. More »
Link-building, a powerful means of ranking higher in search engines, should be an integral part of any business blog strategy.
But it’s not as simple as inviting owners of popular blogs to exchange links. Warner Carter, blogging for Technorati, suggests approaching link exchange similarly to a business deal or interview.
Branding is a critical starting point. This means investing in a unique blog design rather than opting for a free template. Think of it as dressing to impress for a job interview to make yourself stand out from the crowd.
Other blog owners will also scrutinise your blog content to assess your proposition. Carter advises creating at least 15 quality posts before embarking on a link-building campaign. It demonstrates commitment and dedication both as a blogger and a business.
Though it can take time, a solid network makes for a more appealing blog. Promote your blog before launching into link building, inviting comments and threaded conversations to lure target readers. More »
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: the cornerstone of effective Twitter marketing and indeed all social media campaigns is to offer something at least entertaining, but preferably of value to your target audience.
Currently hosting one billion tweets each week, Twitter is a crowded marketplace to say the least, so here are five ways to boost your presence on the increasingly influential microblogging platform:
1. Get visual
A picture is worth a thousand words, and video is pretty great too. If you’re stuck for copy one day, use images to tell your brand’s story and convey some personality and warmth through your profile.
2. Get physical
While social technologies like Twitter undoubtedly connect people in a virtual sense, they can also be used to facilitate face-to-face contact. If you or a colleague is attending an industry event, get it out there via a tweet and arrange to meet your potential customers in person. Even we concede that nothing tops real-life interaction for new business growth.
3. Get personal
The potential to add a personal touch via Twitter is vast, particularly if your business is relatively small. By answering questions and conversing with individual followers you’ll show appreciation for your customers and build on their loyalty. More »
There is an art to creating brilliant blog content and video, but the real mastery lies in ensuring that content goes viral.
These insights from Jon Steinberg over at Buzzfeed offer a great starting point, so we decided to share the love.
1. Keep it short
To create viral video – think 30 seconds good, 90 seconds bad. Any longer than that and people won’t reach the end, let alone share.
2. Offer an interpersonal, human angle
People only share what they know and feel a connection with.
3. Create rough content that feels authentic
Avoid over-produced content – people prefer a behind-the-scenes feel to a slick, edited product.
4. Make it something that people can engage with
People want to engage with content, not passively consume it. Include options to upload images, create quizzes or games.
5. Offer a platform for reactions/comments
The best business blogs offer a comment system, which you should aim to build into a community with viral potential.
6. Use lists and images
Why? Simple: people love them. Try creating blog posts that are lists and make it clear in your headline (it works for us!). Images are also highly shareable. More »
As online recommendations now stand among the most trusted forms of advertising, according to Nielsen, Facebook’s new tool offers up exciting opportunities for brands looking to maximise their Facebook marketing plans.
Following a year of beta testing, Facebook Questions finally rolled out globally on Facebook on March 24. The market research and crowdsourcing potential is vast, as companies can tap into real-time feedback from known fans in a trusted setting.
Brands should now ponder whether to leverage the tool similarly to other Q&A sites such as Yahoo Answers, Quora and LocalMind, or to create a novel social media strategy.
Over at Mashable.com, Ben Grossman, communication strategist for Oxford Communications broke down the key differences between the sites’ functionality.
While Facebook Questions falls into roughly the same category as the aforementioned sites, there are two major differences; answers to questions are not free-form; users are limited to multiple-choice responses; questions (and their answers) are not yet catalogued by search engines, he explained.
The upshot is that for now, public Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers and Quora will remain important for public-facing customer support and inquiries. More »
Branded content is helping to fuel the growth of social media for business, especially when it comes to shopping activity.
Writing for Clickz.com, interactive media expert Heidi Cohen has mapped out how social media complements consumer needs for different types of content right along the shopping process.
With its multi-format content and connected consumers willing to share feedback and reviews, social media is an important part of the initial research phase. Even though consumers will ask around their social network for advice, it is vital to offer information about your products and company online.
The next stage sees consumers drilling down into specifics and finalising their decisions. They’re still likely to turn to their online peers at this point. Offering detailed product images and customer reviews, as Banana Republic does, will strengthen your position.
At the next step a prospect becomes a customer – but only if they purchase your product. Supplying content which covers delivery, shipping costs, directions, and best prices can help seal the deal. Increasing numbers of people are actually purchasing via social networks, so it’s worth considering setting up a fully functioning Facebook store, as 1-800-Flowers.com has done to great success. More »
The news that social networks have overtaken entertainment sites, including BBC’s iPlayer, as Brits’ preferred online activity marks a milestone in social media’s history.
While its results come as little surprise to us, Experian Hitwise’s report is yet another reminder that a smart social media strategy is no longer a luxury – it is a necessity.
The study, entitled Carpe Diem: Seizing the Moment in Social Media, finds that social networks including Facebook and Twitter have toppled entertainment sites into second place, with social media use accounting for 12.4% of all UK internet visits during January.
It is not only frequency of visits driving this sea change, but the way in which people are engaging with social media. Firstly, once logged in to sites like Facebook, users tend to spend an average of 22 minutes there. The second trend is connectivity – one in eight visitors to social networks are likely to visit another one straight after leaving their first destination.
According to Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise, this phenomenon is “encouraged by the connections that exist between the networks. More »
For brands seeking to create that all-important buzz, viral video has the potential to spread like wildfire and build instant awareness.
When Wired.co.uk attended an event run by MusicTank, titled “It Started With a Click: How to Spawn a Viral Hit”, the site reported back with the best ways for musical artists to raise their profile using online video.
Scanning the list, we reckon there’s plenty there that applies to any brand or company looking to achieve viral success.
Here is a summary of the key advice from the event:
Have a strong creative idea
Irresistible entertainment is the key to a successful viral video. After all, you’re competing online with other brands, not to mention laughing babies, cute kittens and Charlie Sheen.
Wired.co.uk advises forgetting about focus groups or your core demographic. Just come up with a brilliant piece of content. Make it fun and something that people will actively want to share.
Make it as accessible as possible
Use the most-popular technology that’s available to upload your video, or in other words, use YouTube. It might not be as artsy as Vimeo or Muzu, but it has the broadest reach. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t also upload it to those other sites, if they complement your digital strategy. Ironically, sometimes being taken down from YouTube due to complaints (as happened with M.I.A.’s Born Free video about the targeted massacre of people with red hair) can boost a video’s viral spread. More »
