Industry News

• A survey of 1,200 people in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, found that customers are using as many as six channels to obtain answers or resolve issues with a company and that when they get in touch with a contact center, 40% expect the representative to already know about their attempts to resolve issues on other channels.
• As you might expect, it's the emerging markets - Brazil, Russia and India - that are fueling Facebook user growth. Globally, Facebook users will go from 42.6% of internet users in 2013 to 54.7% in 2017.

• In an era when many newspapers and magazines are using typography and layout to make their apps look like their print product, Reuters — with no print edition to ape — is instead making its website look a lot like its new apps, building a consistent "river of news" experience across platforms.
• The increase of viewers and videos online in India has exploded in the last year.
• In the UK, 56% of customers say they would never again do business with a brand when faced with a negative customer service experience.

Content

• Some key things to keep in mind as content marketing is becoming more important than ever: add value, be human and ask your audience what they want to hear. See? That's not so difficult, is it?
• Check out how the mobile game Framed is taking interactive storytelling to a new height.

The Platforms

• In the U.S., YouTube Trends Map shows what the rest of the country is watching.
• Facebook is supposedly in the final stages of a deal to buy Waze, the social traffic and navigation app.
• Bing will show comments from Facebook relevant to your search in the sidebar, and from that search, users can like, comment or see the original post directly in Bing.
• Facebook will now let users rate movies, TV shows and books, meaning that the graph search function will be much more powerful and Amazon-like.
• It could be due to the integration or to the brevity, but Vine videos on Twitter are shared four times more than other online video.
• Twitter activity is highly concentrated among a small subset of heavy users. According to a recent study by the University of Illinois, 20% of tweets come from 1% of the users.
• Foursquare has released extra filters to allow users to find places by price range, specials, hours of operation and more.
• As of May 1st, 67 of the Interbrand 100 brands are on Instagram.
• Which social networks are growing the fastest? Facebook still holds the top spot, but Twitter and Google+ are gaining. And continue to keep an eye on China.

Legal/Regulatory

• Facebook's general counsel Ted Ullyot is leaving the company.

Metrics/Measurement/Big Data

• For Mastercard, diffusing social in the organization, ironically, meant centralizing it. Go inside MasterCard's social command center.
• Facebook is set to make a big data play - this is a story that's in the making, with recent acquisitions, advertising offerings, and the mountain of data on which Facebook currently sits.
• Twitter has acquired big data company Lucky Sort, a visualization and navigation service that allows users to look at trending news topics in a visual layout. It's official: Twitter is now a data company.

Bookmarks/Read-Watch-Listen Later

• If you have responsibility for marketing budgets, odds are you aren't reaching Millennials as effectively as you could. Why not? Because most don't dedicate digital to branding efforts, or if they do, the digital advertising points toward legacy brand websites that are not at all engaging for that target audience.
• DJ Waldo explains how email and social should go hand in hand, with email being worked into social activities and vice versa.
• Cisco is a technology giant that is also a leader in social media. Their social media Center of Excellence was responsible for putting together the people and tools behind how Cisco listens in social. Their custom digital displays in various areas of the company reflect what's being said about the company and are relevant to the business function in which they sit. Most recently they used social listening to revamp their video and other online media for a recently launched campaign.

Commentary

On the 30th April 2013 the WWW was officially twenty years old. We certainly owe a debt of gratitude to Sir Tim Berner’s Lee, not only for the invention, but also his dedication to keeping it open through his work with the The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other non-commercial organisations.

He talked animatedly at TED about his experiences and what he hopes the web will bring in the future.

Strategy and planning

• The evolving skills of the modern marketer – one of most popular posts this month shows in a visual way what success on today’s WWW requires, particularly with integrating with other channels of course.
• The visual below shows how marketers need to be both creative and scientific in their approach to the web, something Target Internet has been talking extensively about over the past few years and we have a training module covering our approach to content marketing.

• In fact all web creation is becoming more an art form than a simple set of rules and terms such as ‘responsive’ and ‘user centred design’ are now everywhere when looking at how we build platforms and share information. Mashable have heralded 2013 as the year of responsive web design.
• The latest inbound content marketing research Marked by the Fifth annual Hubspot report, Smart Insights have provided a useful summary of this 175 page report to see the tactics which are working and the challenges to be managed.
• Benchmarking content marketing – in this post from Smart Insights Dave summarises the state of managing content marketing from their informal poll and Lee Odden’s content marketing webcast.
• If you missed it, Target Internet recently posted a useful template and instructions for managing content creation and publication.

Social media marketing

• Twitter ad targeting was launched – Twitter becomes more Google Adwords-like with the ability to target by keyword, but it’s still not open to all businesses.

• Get your videos to stand out with our top tips for optimising video content.
• Facebook Promoted Pages – This tutorial from Marie Page covers the new feature which is gradually being rolled out to more marketers.
• If you’re still struggling to get to grips with G+, this great free tutorial from Daniel Rowles shows you how to get started.

Search marketing

• This post from Target Internet gives you a chance to see the slides presented during a recent webinar for the CIM on Pay Per Click Advertising. 
• 5 approaches to improve Google+ Smart Insight’s new commentator on the intersection of search and social marketing, Rhian Simms, shared examples of 5 approaches based on her learnings from Brighton SEO. If you’re involved in SEO, don’t miss the round-up of presentations at the end of this post if you couldn’t attend.
• A briefing on Rel=“me” – A tutorial on using Google+ to protect your brand using this new Google authorship technique.

User experience, analytics and conversion optimisation

• 3 new features in Google’s Realtime analytics – Dan Barker’s post reminds us when it useful to use real time reporting for site tracking and what these features add.
• If you’re new to Realtime, Google’s support area gives you the help you need to make the most of it. While it’s not yet available to all customers it will be soon.

• 2 new tools in Google Analytics Social Report – this alert is about a minor update, but reminds us of the insights available in Google’s Social Reports.
• Universal Analytics vs Google Analytics – This is a question every business should be asking in 2013 if they’re serious about actionable business insights. Read our summary post for the Pros and Cons and check out what others are doing.

Email marketing and CRM

• Proving the ROI of Email marketing – Mark Brownlow’s summary shows that email marketing is second only to organic SEO for ROI. This is the approximate £ return for every £ spent according to the UK DMA.

• Email campaign tracking with Google Analytics – not a new technique, but it seemed popular as a refresher since this doesn’t happen by default so is often missed on many sites I review.

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Post tags: analytics, best practice, google, marketing, planning, Social Media

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Industry News

• Content is always challenging to develop for social media, but what about the efforts you're undertaking for engaging fans? Here are 7 ways to improve your social media engagement.
• Salesforce has unveiled a Communities solution for the enterprise, which leverages its Chatter platform and other products to create portals that will allow external conversations to be brought into the company more seamlessly.
• The most popular video ads shared online are entertainment, fast-moving consumer packaged goods (FMCG) and technology, with automotive a distant third. For autos, even the Super Bowl didn't help, as social sharing around that content fell flat in Q1 2013.

• In the automotive space, online reviews are just as influential as professional opinions for buyers.
• Being a community manager is more than just posting to social networks on behalf of brands. Here are eight different roles that community managers must play on any given day.
• American Airlines has introduced a Klout perks program, giving a one-day pass to their Admirals Club to anyone with a Klout score of 55 or higher.
• U.S. retailer Target is teaming up with Facebook for Cartwheel, part of a digital savings program that gives consumers a chance to select and share deals in an effort to drive more foot traffic to stores.

Content

• Here's a test: replace "content" with "stories" every time you reference content marketing. Do you really have a good story to tell?

• Why does your brand need a content studio? Because, chicken.

• One of the things that Oreo achieved with its Daily Twist campaign was muscle memory that allowed them to produce high quality content that could be quickly approved.
• Lessons from the Bayer Potato Planner yield five steps to create compelling content.
• How to succeed at content: focus on defining what quality content is, its business purpose and the ease of discovering it.
• Guess what? If you want to be in the real-time content creation game, you need to consume real-time content. Directing from the sidelines just isn't going to cut it any longer.

The Platforms

• Facebook has said that 30% of its revenue is derived from mobile advertising, and it's a good thing, as 1 in 6 users access Facebook only via a mobile device.
• But is there a downside to it? As Facebook integrates the web, mobile and even offline experience, the mountain of data on which it sits is mind-boggling and risky.
• Facebook has published a guide for journalists and media companies to better engage readers. The 12 best practices also include links to a developer site for media and best practices for Pages in general and for journalists.
• Big brands have been approaching Facebook about ads on Instagram, but currently there are no plans to start offering advertising. Looks like brands will have to stick to telling compelling stories with images that earn attention.
• Instagram introduced the ability to tag photos, effectively giving brands a new way for people to explore photos of their business.
• Three weeks after its acquisition, Pulse is introducing sharing functionalities to LinkedIn.
• Warren Buffett started a Twitter account last week. His first tweet from his verified account: "Warren is in the house."
• Between TrueView metrics and planned monthly subscription fees, keep your eye on YouTube.
• Here is a comprehensive set of statistics on how many users are on various social media apps, services and platforms.

Measurement/Big Data

• Data can (and should) fuel storytelling. Here's how.
• The role of the CIO is changing, and according to the Harvard Business Review, the CIO will intersect with things like the socially-enabled enterprise, digital business ecosystem and innovation as competitive advantage.

Legal/Regulatory

• The White House has created a chief privacy officer position and Twitter's legal director has been named to fill it.

Bookmarks/Read-Watch-Listen Later

• Kara Swisher has a feature in Vanity Fair on how the Facebook-Instagram came to be, including the nugget that negotiations were delayed because Mark Zuckerberg was watching Game of Thrones.
• If Emily Post were to provide tips for social media, she'd write The Marketer's Guide to Proper Social Media Etiquette. Please mind your manners.
• What's next for social? Well, once you've caught your breath with everything that's been going on from the last 5 years or so, wrap your head around the collaborative economy, where brands use their goods and services for trade.

Commentary

With more than 10 million UK members and more than 200 million globally – LinkedIn is a significant resource for people to be tapping into.

Whilst the platform is still vitally useful for those looking for employment, or finding new talent – it is increasingly used by organisations or decision makers as a first port of call when looking to reach out for new suppliers too.

Unlike, Twitter or Facebook where you may visit for ‘entertainment’ value as well as for business – LinkedIn is the serious business to business network.  Whether you are looking for employment, talent, business development opportunities or looking for new suppliers – LinkedIn is the social network people visit to ‘do business’.

In the latter part of 2012, LinkedIn made a number of revamps to the look and feel and functionality of the platform. Removing some assets such as, LinkedIn Events (still not clear why that useful element was removed, perhaps  to become a paid for option in the near future), LinkedIn Answers – and LinkedIn Applications – to name a few.

However, whilst many of these elements changed, it’s not all doom and gloom. The new look and feel platform offers individuals the opportunity to develop a more ‘media rich’ profile experience. Also , the profile look is simpler and looks cleaner and definitely more 2013 – and the changes to the Company Profile, offers companies the opportunity to recreate keyword targeted, media rich landing pages to create a valuable and well optimised LinkedIn Company Profile.

LinkedIn – A Big Database

If you think about it – LinkedIn is a huge database, one which is increasing daily (stats reveal that 2 people sign up to LinkedIn every second!).  Therefore, the task of getting your profile visible to people who are searching is becoming increasingly difficult.

As with all huge databases, the ability to search for what you require and have relevant results delivered is critical. LinkedIn has search algorithms in place to help users find what they are looking for.

Understanding how to stand out and ensure that these algorithms can view and sort your Profile is key.  There are things that you can do to optimise your LinkedIn Profile for search and visibility – so let’s take a look at 5 Key Ways to Boost Your LinkedIn Profile’s visibility.

1              Getting to ‘All Star’ (previously 100% Complete) Pre the LinkedIn changes back in late 2012 – you may recall that when you created your profile you were presented with a ‘completeness score’.  Effectively, this ‘score’ – provided you with a gauge as to how ‘complete’ your LinkedIn Profile was – eg: Your Profile is 15% complete or Your Profile is 55% complete.

There are a number of facets within your Profile to complete before you reached the ultimate  100%.  Now with the new look and feel LinkedIn Profile – the same concept remains, however, the facets you need to complete to get your profile as complete as possible has changed slightly – and is now made up of the following:

• Your industry and location
• An up-to-date current position with description (please note that if you want your current position to align with the Company LinkedIn Profile that may already exist – be sure that you use the correct wording for the company name you work with – and to hyperlink your profile directly across to the LinkedIn Company Page – be sure to have ticked the ‘current position’ box.
• Two past positions
• Your education (again, this is what you choose to insert – you don’t have to give a running commentary from age 11).
• Your skills (min of 3)
• Profile photo (not the one of you over on Facebook enjoying a glass of wine with friends – but instead, your business persona).
• At least 50 connections.

The other change is the terminology. The words have changed from the easily understood, ‘100% Complete’ to ‘All Star’.  Not sure why they decided to change the terminology – and the new terms certainly remind us that the platform was founded in the US – however, we are where we are – and the new terminology applies.

To summarise – the % of completeness of your LinkedIn Profile sends a signal to the algorithms to favour your profile above those profiles which are less complete than yours.

So, the message is to ensure that you have completed the facets as outlined above – to get your LinkedIn Profile to ‘All Star’ status.

2              Connect to All Stars  - There is cause to believe that the ‘completeness theme’ continues with those that you connect with.  Our networks play a big influence on how visible we are on LinkedIn – and research has identified that when people are connected to other ‘All Stars’ – that this plays a part in influencing your own visibility.  So, spread the good word – and ensure that your colleagues and the contacts that you are connected with are all up to ‘All Star’ status – as this will help all of you.  This may influence who you connect with.

3              Connections - As I alluded to in point 2 above – our networks play a big part in our own visibility on LinkedIn.   To get to All Star status – you need to have at least 50 connections. However, research has shown that those with more connections gain more visibility.  Is it a case of connecting with all and everyone? One would hope that LinkedIn’s search algorithms were more intelligent than simply just working on a network reach perspective – however, at this time of writing – then there isn’t any evidence to show that being more targeted in who you connect with provides you with any search Brownie Points.  Of course, whilst the person you initially connect with may not seem to be directly relevant to you – remember they will have a large network – and many of those within their network could be really useful.

However,  I would suggest that you do keep in mind why you are on LinkedIn in the first place – and be as targeted as possible in who you connect with – but just ensure that you connect with a lot of people.  After all – the 1,2,3 layers of connection – very quickly get you into millions of peoples networks.  Therefore – if visibility is your aim – then currently, growing your connections is a key tactic to employ.

4              Keywords - As with any database searching – the search results returned do their best to match the search queries you are looking for.  Therefore, being a big database, the same applies with LinkedIn.

As with all ‘search’ principles, as users, we utilise ‘keywords’ when searching. Think about your own search habits. If you are looking for someone to provide a cat grooming service to your non pampered moggie – then you are likely to visit the mighty Google and type in just a few keyword terms such as, cat groomer, or even, cat groomer Guildford (adding a location).

Our search habits extend to social networks – and when searching on LinkedIn, again, we’ll utilise just a few keywords to find who or what we are looking for.

Of course, in order for your LinkedIn Profile to be returned in search results, you need to optimise your profile with relevant keywords.

Where to insert your keywords

Your LinkedIn Profile is limited to the amount of characters you can use in each section.  And whilst first and foremost you are writing to appeal and make sense to human beings reading your profile – be mindful that they won’t be able to find you if you don’t optimise your profile to become as visible as possible.

• Header   
  • The Header section is limited to 120 characters. This is one of the key areas to optimise as it’s the headline asset of your personal LinkedIn Profile. Currently, my profile is optimised around social media consultancy, training and author. I could optimise my profile for other areas of expertise, such as marketing consultancy, internal communication programs, business transformation programs etc – however, rather than my Headline trying to showcase everything I have done in my career – I am optimising to be found for what I want to be found for right now.  Be mindful that what you want to be found for may change – so do ensure your profile is working towards achieving your current objectives.
  • Summary
    • Here you get  2,000 characters to tell your story, which of course presents you with significant room to include relevant keywords when sharing your accomplishments.
    • Experience/Position Title
      • 100 characters to sum up your official title, and of course opportunity to share something more creative and include those relevant keywords.
      • Experience/Position Description
        • 2,000 characters to use keywords to sum up your role and your key accomplishments. Remember, you may wish to create your content in ‘word’ so that you can format it a little more than you can within LinkedIn. This way, it makes long pieces of text easier to scan and read online.
        • Skills & Expertise
          • You can list up to 50 areas of skills and expertise. And within each one you get to use 61 characters. Again, think about those all important keywords.
          • Status updates
            • You can include 700 characters within each status update – and there is currently no limit on how often you make an update.  However,  LinkedIn is nowhere near as fluid as a platform like Twitter, and so status updates stay around a lot longer. Therefore, be mindful of this. You may want to consider just one or two updates per day.  And remember, if you need to say more, you can add a hyperlink to a blog or article to continue the conversation.
            • Groups
              •  You are limited to joining 50 groups.  More on Groups in point 5 below.
              • Education/Degree
                • You have 100 characters to explain your degree and again, another opportunity to include relevant keyword phrases.
                • Education/Activities & Societies
                  • 500 characters to give an overview that can tie into your career.
                  • Education Description
                    • 1,000 characters where you can share an overview of what you have  studied and how your education is relevant to your career.
                    • Additional Info/Interests
                      • 1,000 characters where you can add more information about yourself – projects you’ve participated in etc. Again, keep it keyword relevant.
                      • Honours & Awards
                        •  1,000 characters to share any awards or achievements. It could be an award for best salesperson of the year, or customer service, or voted best blogger etc.

As you can ascertain from the above, there is quite a lot of equity within your LinkedIn Profile for you to showcase exactly what you want people to know about you. Remember, you are in control of the data you insert into your profile – and you can make it as keyword relevant as you require, dependent upon your specific objectives at the time. Of course, your objectives will change – and so you can tailor your profile accordingly.  You are in total control.

5              Groups - So, we mentioned that you can become a member of 50 Groups on LinkedIn – and you can also create your own Groups too.  Group are a great way of connecting with like-minded people in your industry – and you can leverage Groups to showcase your expertise and knowledge – becoming a ‘thought leader’ in your space.

The challenge with Groups is that there are just so many of them.   So which ones are the right ones for you?

Our advice is to first do your research. Search for Groups that you think you would be interested in – or indeed, look at your influential connections and you can see which Groups they are members of.

When you search Groups you will see that there are indications as to how active a Group is – eg: Very Active – or Active.  Plus, you will see that it provides you with some information about how many of your network are within the Group you are looking at.

And of course, LinkedIn will recommend Groups you may be interested in – based on the Groups you are in and the people you are connected to.

Research shows that the more Groups you belong to the more that boosts your visibility – however, you do need to be realistic about what is and isn’t manageable from a contribution perspective.

Creating your own Group

If you think there’s a gap that needs filling – or that it would be beneficial to start your own Group – then you can easily Create a Group – and decide whether that Group is open to all  on LinkedIn or is a closed group, by invitation only.

The objective as to why you are creating the Group in the first place will determine whether it’s open or closed – (it could be that you are creating a Group to manage an internal project for example – and therefore, you wouldn’t want that Group open to all on LinkedIn). Or it may be that you are developing a Group to attract leading lights in a particular field – and so you would want it to be open so that others could join the Group.

Fish Where the Fish Are

Of course, with Groups, we automatically think of the Groups that we should belong to – and align ourselves to Groups packed with people just like us.

If you are utilising LinkedIn for business development, generating leads and opening direct conversations with people – then you should definitely be considering the Groups where your potential target audience reside.  Where are they conversing?  You also need to be thinking about their needs and what you can bring to the conversation to engage with them – and get them to know you, like you trust – and ultimately think about doing business with you.

Within Groups – you can have direct discussions with other Group members. However, do be careful not to come across as too ‘spammy’ – Groups are moderated and usually have Group Rules to abide by. People don’t want to be ‘sold to consistently’ – within Groups – so instead, remember that you are part of a network – albeit a social one – and the rules of networking apply.  Build relationships first, be useful and purposeful, grow trust and then the referrals and opportunities will come.

So that’s just 5 ways you can be boosting your visibility on LinkedIn. 

Keep us posted on your stories with LinkedIn – how it’s working for you and any tips you’d can share with others.  After all – it’s networking!

Michelle Carvill is Founder and  Director of Carvill Creative, Online Visibility agency – covering social media, web optimisation and online marketing.  Co-author of social media book of the year – The Business of Being Social – A Practical Guide to Harnessing the Power of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube for Business.

With social media being an incredibly fast paced industry, having Michelle out there on a regular basis, talking to social media users, is of great value to us – the community mangers back in the Carvill Creative office. With Michelle reporting back to us on a weekly basis about her sessions, it helps us to keep our finger on the pulse and have an up to date understanding of the questions at large when it comes to social media.

This week we thought we’d give you the answers to the top 5 questions, posed to Michelle this month by the BTMS candidates.

If you have any questions you’d like to ask Michelle or our team of community managers – then get tweeting @carvillcreative or post on our Facebook timeline and we’ll get back to you ASAP. If you’re feeling generous you could give even give us a like as well!

Q – As a Facebook Page if someone posts to you – the post goes into a little box – rather than going directly onto your Facebook Wall / Feed.  Can you create settings so that anyone can post directly to your Facebook Wall / Feed?

A – Facebook only allows for posts to appear on Facebook Business timelines AFTER the page admin has approved the comment and made it visible. As a business page owner, you can make a post go live on your page by choosing from a number of settings. These settings can be found in your ‘Edit Page’ tab at the top of your screen, then into your ‘Activity Log’ tab and then once in there – look to your left hand navigation – there is a tab that says ‘posts by others’. Now choose your posts settings.

• Default allowed
• Highlighted on page
• Allowed on page
• Hidden from page

This is an interesting question and one that often comes up with clients when discussing privacy issues on a Facebook Business Page.

From a business perspective, many will be pleased to hear that they can effectively monitor what goes public on their timeline. However, what we’re still puzzled by – is that this makes little difference. Users are able to write whatever they like in a comment box that appears underneath any post made by the page itself. Whatever is written in the comment box goes live instantaneously – so why not have the same option with direct posting to the timeline?

What do you think? Should all comments and wall posts have the option to be monitored by a business page owner OR is that defeating the idea of Facebook – should people able to post freely and honestly about a brand? Tweet or Facebook us your opinion

Q. Recommendations on Facebook. Does this feature still exist and if so – how do you get them and encourage people to recommend?

A – Recommendations have changed slightly on Facebook. The old recommendation system used to allow users to basically review businesses and their products in a ‘trip advisor’ style. This was quite a useful function, living in a recommendation era it’s great for brands to be publically praised – and useful for consumers to see what others say about a service.

The new recommendation, works as a social plug-in within Facebook. Click here to view and install.

The plug-in helps people to find articles based on what their friends have liked on Facebook and shared on their timeline. When a Facebook user reads an article, a small pop-up shows up at the bottom of their screen, displaying the recommended articles and asking them to like your page. Recommendations are only based on content that friends have physically liked and shared in your app or on your website.

Just how the ‘Like’ button works now, when a person likes an article using the Recommendations Bar, a story is published back to their timeline into their recent activity and friends will see their recommendation in their news feed.

So in order to encourage people to recommend you – it’s pretty simple really, share good content!

Q. Facebook Cover shot – can you use animated gifs for the Facebook cover shot?

A - With the rollout of the new timeline from Facebook – we gained the impressive ‘cover shot’ feature. However there are some strict guidelines when it comes to what you can and can’t have in your cover shot – you can see the rules here*. In regards to animated gifs being permitted, we’re sorry to report that you can’t include them. If you try to upload a GIF to Facebook, a still image of the first frame will appear.

(*At the time of writing it appears that many cover shots break the guidelines. Many include telephone numbers, urls, direct call to actions – all which goes against the Facebook Covershot Guidelines – we haven’t seen any evidence that Facebook police this).

If you have a GIF image that is non-moving, you should have no problem uploading it to Facebook, although the quality may not be as good.

According to the Facebook Developers page, GIFs are one of many file types allowed for uploading to the platform. Other supported image file types include JPG, PNG, PSD, TIFF, JP2, IFF, WBMP and XBM images.

Q. Twitter – if you block someone – can they still see your profile but simply just not interact with you?

Answer -

• They cannot add your Twitter account to their lists.
• They cannot have their @replies or mentions show in your mentions tab (although these Tweets may still appear in search).
• They cannot follow you.
• They cannot see your profile picture on their profile page or in their timeline.

They will still be able to see your tweets if they navigate to your profile page (this includes tweets in lists). This is if your profile is public, the only way to stop this is to make your account protected!

We hope this has cleared up some social media queries – our blog is updated regularly with heaps of ‘how to’ social media advice. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and Tweets in order to get daily tips and advice on everything social!

Industry News

• What the killer app for mobile? Easy: messaging. With more teens using text messaging (63%) than any other form of communication, including phone calls (39%), it's clear that's where the opportunity lies. The challenge is how to build a platform around it.
• Much has been made of personal brands in the last few years, but this Forbes article suggests that it shouldn't be viewed as self-promotion but rather as a requirement for leadership.
• Here's a fascinating look at the future of narrative, as seen through data visualization.
• While LinkedIn is pushing to become more of a content provider (see below), it's also clear that Flipboard is continuing to shake up the traditional media business. Recently, Flipboard began to allow users to create their own custom "magazines" and the app has seen more than 500,000 magazines created by users in just two weeks.
• Speaking of changing media models, MWW News Discovery Report found that 44% of people get their morning news from Facebook and 29% from Twitter.
• Just who uses social media? Using data from the Pew Research Center's study on social media demographics, DocStoc produced an infographic that breaks it down by gender, age, income, population density, education level, race and platform.
• Good and bad customer service interactions affect brand loyalty (as we've long known); disaffected customers will be more vocal about their experiences than those with good experiences.
• How does Raytheon handle content marketing? They hired brand journalists rather than copyrighters to help them with the content on their sites.
• The answer to the collision of journalism and advertising is in an algorithm. And BuzzFeed thinks they have it.
• Who are the "global digital elite"? The world's most valuable audience has been identified and they're into a wide variety of media such as Family Guy, Elle, NPR; they have income over $76K, see 24X as many ads as average consumers, and command a 100% premium to reach on social channels.

The Platforms

• Long recognized as the most professional of all of the social networks, it should be no surprise that LinkedIn is preferred by executives.
• LinkedIn is continuing to push toward being a content provider. In addition to creating the section of thought leaders to follow, LinkedIn has just acquired the newsreader startup Pulse for $90 million. This may have reverberations through the content curation enablers such as Flipboard and Google's Currents.
• While it may have a low penetration in Mexico, LinkedIn is used quite a bit by job seekers there. Other statistics about the leading social networks in Mexico were provided by the Interactive Advertising Bureau México (IAB México)  in their report "Estudio de consumo de medios entre internautas mexicanos."

• Instagram is certainly a significant player (@Ford and @LincolnMotorCo both have accounts - are you following?) but here are 25 of Asia's top photo apps that compete with Instagram.
• Foursquare is working on a model in which it will offer check-in data about its users to other platforms for ad targeting.
• Twitter announced its acquisition of We Are Hunted and is prepping for the launch of a music service.
• Twitter is working with Viacom and NBC to bring more high-quality video content and advertising to its site.
• Facebook's algorithm for sorting your News Feed is perennially misunderstood. Here's an infographic from AllFacebook to help you understand Facebook's Edgerank algorithm.
• It's still early, but some Android users don't seem particularly satisfied with the new Facebook Home on their phones; 44% have rated Facebook Home with one star on Google Play.

• Detractors say that it is "Not an intuitive app," "kills my battery," and "If I wanted a single company to take over my homescreen appearance, I could use an iPhone."

• Supporters say "Takes some getting used to - like anything else, you need to play with it," "fast access to friends on Facebook," and "I'm glad I stuck through the initial learning curve and am now using it daily and loving it."

• Facebook is talking to Apple about an iOS version of its Home software.
• Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg says that the smartphone may be more important than TV for advertising, noting that it is the company's role to increase the usefulness of ads to users.
• The new in-line commenting system is in full effect in Facebook, allowing brands and users to reply to specific comments. Here's a rundown of what you need to know.

Legal/Regulatory

• Have you heard of Lawser? Of course you haven't (unless you’re one of the few lawyers reading this site); it's a social network for lawyers. It will be interesting to see how the legal profession uses such a specialized social network.
• Even after the SEC has shown willingness to allow social as an additional (not replacement) communications platform, Australia's ASIC and ASX are clinging to their ultra-conservative and fearful doubts.

Measurement/Big Data

• Why predictions suck: a view from KD Paine as to why the multitude of reports, data and the rest aren't panning out. Hint: we need updated standards.

Bookmarks/Read-Watch-Listen Later

• Please stop and spend 28 minutes of your time with Charlie Rose and David Carr of the New York Times, who discuss the future of television and journalism. This is an important piece.
• Carr also wrote about cracks that are beginning to show in TV profits that could have wider implications in the long term: what happens when there's no bundling, no cable and no advertisements?

Commentary

Chances are, if you’re interested in generating website traffic and awareness – then it probably is!

So let’s take a closer look at Pinterest…(the tool for collecting and organising the things you love).

When it comes to reading content online, most of us tend to glaze over and switch off when confronted with big chunks of text; however, the same doesn’t apply to images – nothing grabs are our attention more quickly than an image or picture.

And Pinterest is very simply all about sharing visual content.  When Pinterest started gaining momentum – (a good couple of years ago now), their focus was around ‘collecting and organising things you love’ – and of course, as with all mass communication networks, businesses and brands have appropriated the platform – so that they too can share their stories, views and service offerings in a visually appealing way.

How does Pinterest work?

Once you’ve set up an account, (more on that later on in the post), then you can start creating your own ‘pin boards’ – so that you can collect images, visuals, videos etc – and literally, ‘pin them’ – to your board.

There doesn’t appear to be any limit to the amount of ‘pin boards’ you can create – so at Carvill Creative, we have a board for our blogs, things you may hear us say, books we enjoy etc – your boards can literally be about anything you want to collect and organise.

So, moving on from ‘collecting and organisation the things you love ‘– how can Pinterest help you from a business perspective? 

• Encourages Traffic – One of the main and most important advantages of Pinterest is Traffic! If you have any blogs that you want to get more eyeballs to, then this is the great way to get the ball rolling.

You can showcase anything you want from new products to your latest blog, but in order to get the best reaction make sure you know what it is your audience are interested in!

Key tip is that whenever possible – include links back to your website and feature landing pages within your pins, in order to drive traffic back to your website.

• Advertise your business – by using the ‘follow’ or ‘pin it’ button – you are encouraging your customers and fans to use and ‘pin’ your products on their Pinterest boards.  Again, this opens up your products and services to new audiences.  If someone ‘pins’ your blog post – or latest news letter – then effectively they are supporting your ‘pin’ and the content that you’re sharing.

This is the perfect way for brands to showcase their products and services and therefore get the word out in a different way – where they are able to visually express (pin) things they enjoy and share them with others.

• Showcase your business’ personality

 Pinterest is a great opportunity to give people a sneak peek into your business/brand’s personality.

You can make the most out of your ‘pin board’ to showcase your employees and even life in the office – this gives your audience a great picture as to what you’re about. Letting people in behind the scenes also makes you appear more personable – it will encourage credibility and people will feel like they know and trust you that little bit more.

• Build a following

Pinterest is also a great way to build a targeted community – however, be aware that it may take more time than on other social media sites, even if you are very active.

As with anything online – ‘Content Is King’ – if you create compelling content and in this case, compelling images, you’ll find that people want to follow you. They’ll tell their friends and colleagues about you and in return, your following will grow.

• Customer competitions

Competitions are a great way to encourage engagement on any social media platform. With Pinterest – you can create picture competitions. Let your fans know what the prize is and ask them to take a picture and share it to win the competition.

Ask your fans to pin the pictures onto their pinboards, they can then send you the link to their picture, and then all you have to do is come up with a means of deciding the best picture. This tactic is a great way to encourage interaction to your ‘pinboard’ and interaction with your fans!

Setting up your Pinterest account and Boards

If you’re interested in setting up an account then you’ll want to get started as soon as possible! It wasn’t until recently that Pinterest introduced ‘Business Accounts’, there are 2 ways to set this up: 1) If you have already been using Pinterest on a personal account, you can easily convert your account to a business one or 2) You can create a completely new account.

Changing your Pinterest page from a personal account to a business account is simple:

• Visit pinterest.com/business/convert to start. You’ll need to be logged into your existing personal account.

• Fill out all the details and profile information for your business page – the beauty of converting to a business account is that business accounts display a verification badge, and enable you to add buttons and widgets to your website. Do note – Pinterest also advises you of their set of terms of service.

• Last but not least, you will have to agree to the Business Terms of Service agreement and privacy policy.

• Once you done the form filling, simply click ‘convert’ and Pinterest will do the rest for you!

To create a new business account from scratch: you can sign up for a new business account by clicking here http://business.pinterest.com/

Simply click the button ‘Join as a Business’ and you will go through a similar process except this time, you will get the chance to choose a new username!

Your next big task is setting up your ‘Pinboard’

A person’s Pinterest board can be as varied as the individual who populates them. The more you use Pinterest, the more things you’ll find to pin, and that often means creating new boards.

These ‘pinboards’ are the categories for which the content you share will be located. For a business, consider the key things your customers are looking for, whether it is product-based, useful websites, technology, and so on. Once you’ve figured that out you can then go on to creating your ‘pinboard.’ Here’s how:

• Sign in to your Pinterest account and click the ‘Create a Board’ option in the top right hand corner.

• When prompted, you will need to enter to basic info about your board such as name, category, and who can pin on this board – then click ‘Create Board.’

• Next you will need to Name your board – the trick is to get the balance between both clever and clear – so people understand what they can find on the board, whilst also encouraging engagement!

• Then you’ll need to choose your Pinterest Category – this is what people use to browse so be sure to choose a category that accurately describes your board – if you’re not happy with the name remember you can always come back and change this later.

How to Pin- It!

A pin starts with an image or video that you choose to add to Pinterest. You can add a pin from a website using the ‘Pin it’ bookmarklet or upload an image from your computer. Any pin on Pinterest can be repinned, and all pins link back to their source.

Here’s how to use and get the ‘Pin It’ button:

The ‘Pin it’ button should appear in the Pinterest toolbar and is used as an easy way to pin images directly to your Pinterest boards in just a few seconds. It lets you grab the image directly from a website and straight to your Pinterest board without having to sign in! Here’s how you go about getting ‘pinning’ enabled:

• In order to download the toolbar you need to firstly log into your Pinterest account as usual and find the “About” menu section in the upper right hand corner of the page.

• Select the ‘Pin it’ button on the second row – this will then take you to a new page.

• Scroll down and then simply click ‘Install Now’ to add it to your bookmarks bar above—then click the bookmarklet whenever you see an image or video you want to pin!

• The Pin It Button for Chrome lets you pin things from around the web.

• Once installed, you can use the ‘pin It’ button to pin almost any photo / blog you come across while surfing the Internet in just a matter of seconds. And away you go! You also have the option of uploading a picture from your computer where you can pin a JPG, PNG or GIF image files. You can also pin high resolution images and videos.

Pinning on the go

One of the most popular ways to ‘pin’ is through a mobile or handheld device, available for your Android smartphone and tablet. In order to get Pinterest on your mobile you need to firstly download the app. Once you’ve done that you can then get started with creating pins on your mobile. Here’s how:

• Pins can be created directly from your mobile or tablet. All you need do is click on ‘create pin’ from the main screen of the Pinterest App.

• Alternatively – If you want to create a pin directly from the web, then you must tap on your browsers share button and then select ‘create pin.’

• Next – select the photo you wish to pin and choose its details and its description – along with the board you want it to be in.

• When it comes to viewing boards and pins with the Pinterest app – all you need to do is simply tap on the pin to view its details – you are then given the option to re-pin it, like it or leave a comment.

Pinterest is great when you’re pinning in the right way! Keep in mind the following tips whilst actively pinning, in order to get the most of this clever new platform.

• Know your audience- This is most important as you need to know what best attracts your audience to your pin board and what they like to share – keeping up the engagement and continually driving traffic to your page.

• Be yourself – it’s good to pin things that express who you are and what your business is about, this is more important than the number of followers you have!

• Be current- social sharing is an extremely fast moving medium. Topics and fashions come into and go out of popularity very quickly. Therefore make sure that your images and videos posted reflect what your business’s potential customers are talking about.

Encouraging Pinterest users to get ‘pinning’ your content.

Now that you’ve done some pinning yourself and shared content belonging to other businesses, blogs and websites – you should start focusing  your energy on making sure that your own content is getting pinned – encouraging people to share your images, blogs and videos as much as possible.

Why?

Because the more people that pin and share your content, the more exposure, traffic and advertising your business gets.

If people don’t know that you have a presence on Pinterest, they are unlikely to share your content.

The most straightforward way to encourage people to pin your content to their own Pinterest boards is to:

• Ensure that all your content is ‘pinnable.’

Sounds simple enough!

The best way to do this is feature a ‘pin it’ button on your site – make sure it features next to blog posts and images that you want people to share. This blog post from Hubspot should give you some instructions on how to get Pinterest widgets and buttons directly onto your website.

Keep in mind – Pinterest is about the image being shared. The images that get pinned need to be good, as your brand is reflected by the quality of the images that you have put up. Make sure photos are clearly illustrated and on brand.

Shhh… Be aware that private pin boards are available on Pinterest. These differ from the original pin boards that we have been discussing throughout the blog post. Firstly you are only allowed up to THREE private pin boards at any one time, whereas as you may have an UNLIMITED amount of  original pinboards (as noted above). These private boards will not show up anywhere on Pinterest – they can be used for adding pins that you wish to be invisible within category sections.

*Note If you are lucky enough to get invited to someone else’s secret board then the rules are different – feel free to accept as many invites as you like because these do NOT count towards your three board limit.

Remember pinteresters (we may have made that word up) – ‘A picture can be worth 1000 words’.

Perhaps it’s time for your business to show some interest in Pinterest!

Happy Pinning!

Liked this blog? Join in the conversation on Twitter and stay updated with our tips and how to advice on our Facebook Page. You can follow us on LinkedIn too.

Industry News

• More than half of surveyed marketers feel that they're missing key data points to inform them about their customers, according to a recent CMO Council survey. 57% feel that they're missing data and 30% think they probably are, but aren't sure what's missing.
• Oscar Wilde once said of the US and UK, "we are two nations separated by a common language." It would seem that extends to social networking as well. While the English language may be the same, habits are different. For example, in the US, self-promotion is common while in the UK it is taboo.
• Internet use in the Middle East and Africa still lags behind other areas of the world.
• The PEW Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism brings good news for brand publishers, noting that traditional sites like Forbes and The Atlantic have used native advertising to help grow revenues.
• But as native advertising becomes more pervasive, the lines between paid and earned media are blurring - sometimes to an indiscernible degree. Sites like BuzzFeed, Mashable, the Huffington Post, Business Insider and more are using these tactics and some question whether readers understand the difference between an article and a sponsored post.
• We live in a multitasking world: social platforms such as Facebook (83.7%) and Twitter (66.9%) are accessed while watching TV; and 40% of mobile searches are done while watching TV.
• The number of TV cord-cutters is increasing faster than expected, at over 1.08 million last year; and yet - despite the continued lack of accountability in metrics - TV advertising spending keeps increasing.

  

The Platforms

• Facebook unveiled its deal with the four Android-based phones to create Facebook Home, where Facebook will have a presence across the device, including the home screen (called "Cover Feed").
• Ads are not included on the first rollout of Facebook Home, but it's clear that there will be advertising in Facebook Home's Cover Feed (Home page takeover ads anyone? We'll see how long users put up with that).
• Facebook has announced ad targeting partnerships with Axciom, Epsilon and Datalogix that will result in better targeted ads, thanks to tracking user activity outside of Facebook, including location, browsing history and purchases made.
• 18-24 year-olds on Facebook now have an average of 510 friends.
• Facebook has given advertisers new opportunities to run more relevant ads and test their creative in News Feed by allowing them to create “unpublished posts” that intentionally do not appear to all fans of their page.
• Facebook is seeing more teen users flock to other platforms. But where are they going? Mostly mobile messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, Kik and Snapchat.
• But they're also going to Twitter - a fact that is backed up by Piper Jaffray's Taking Stock with Teens survey, which also looks at their spending and consumption habits.
• Related: Twitter's Vine app is now the #1 downloaded app in the U.S. 
• Vine has turned on the ability to embed videos on websites. Here’s a great infographic on why Twitter's Vine is the next big thing for brands. 
• LinkedIn has added Facebook-like mentions of people and companies in status updates and home page comments. 
• Here are five emerging platforms that marketing and communications pros should know. Included is Sina Weibo, which has more than double the number of users of Twitter.
• ExactTarget has produced an executive summary of its 2013 global research report on Subscribers, Fans and Followers. Lots of great info there about how fans interact with brands in different countries, where they spend their time and what they want on different channels.

Legal/Regulatory

• Bloomberg adds Twitter feeds to its site, response to SEC ruling

Measurement/Big Data

• Held to a higher standard than the difficult to measure television advertising (where scads of money are still being spent), digital media is still struggling with measurement.
• The secret to great infographics? It's not to dumb things down. Data visualization is all about giving people something to really think about.
• What do marketers want from big data? A CMO Council survey finds that the opportunity is there, but there's still more progress to be made before truly harnessing it. At this point, its primary use is for leads.

Bookmarks/Read-Watch-Listen Later

• How valuable are stunts to brands? You might be surprised.
• Edelman Chief Content Strategist Steve Rubel is interviewed on FIR and shares his thoughts on the necessity of creating a "newsroom culture" at brands and how some ar e choosing to work directly with media companies in the process. Lots of great conversation here as many media companies are struggling with ad revenue and how to fill the gap. This is where journalism comes in, and the inevitable discussion of the separation of "church and state" (paid vs. earned) is part of that discussion. A fascinating listen (39 minutes).
• As always, all of the links above are available on Delicious and This Week in Social Media Magazine on Flipboard.

Commentary

“That’s a Culturematic” said Grant, holding the cards.

Having not read the book, I didn’t get what he meant, really.

I probably did that slightly gormless nod, smile, mumble and shuffle though.

…as an aside, I’m a terrible reader at the moment.  The social web is breaking my ability to get through books, it seems.  More on that another day…

Now, sitting here having read the first third of the book, I’m getting a grip of what Grant means by “Culturematics”.

Which means I’m beginning to understand the interesting/worrying implications that has if I’ve made one inadvertently.

What is a Culturematic?

In Grant’s words, it’s “a little machine for making culture.  It is designed to do three things: test the world, discover meaning, and unleash value”.

I interpret it as this; you find a problem, a problem that bothers you.

You could spend ages trying to solve it, and solve it well.

It could turn into another project that sits on a box on a shelf for months whilst you try and get it right, turning to it in spare moments with a lessening frequency over the years.

Or you could glue some little legs onto the first version, and send it off into the world to meet people, who’ll help it become a solution to the problem.

Or they’ll point it in the direction of new problems, and use it to solve those instead.

Now, there are nine features that Culturematics have that Grant Identifies…

Culturematics Start Playing In Our Heads Immediately
Culturematics Make The World Manageable
Culturematics Are Something We Want To Try
Culturematics Are Both Playful And Deadly Serious
Culturematics Work From Naive Curiousity
Culturematics Like Order Out Of Accident
Culturematics Aim To Change The Contents Of Our Heads
Culturematics Find Value Invisible To Others
Culturematics Make Scientists, Social Chemists And Adventurers Of Us All

Without going in to death-defying detail (which I may do another day, heaven help you), I can go through each of them and go “ah-ha”, spotting parts of the development journey as I go.

So…

If the Artefact Cards are a Culturematic, which they might well be, then I’ve done a really, really daft thing with the new website.

I’ve made a website for normal products.

It’s clean, simple, works across any device beautifully.  And it’s probably an excellent template for a website if you’re selling shirts, or bicycle bells, or anything else that people clearly understand what it is.

It has short, simple descriptions of each product.  It has customer quotes saying why people like them.  It has all the stuff you have on a normal website.

But I don’t need a normal website.

I probably want a website for a Culturematic, with lots of weirdness and rabbit holes, that’s quite hard to find what you want on, and more long, rambling product descriptions like there used to be.

The website for a Culturematic probably needs to be a Culturematic in its own right…

Are you launching a new product or maybe it’s just a gleam in your eye at the moment and you’re hoping to Kickstarter it into reality? Well guess what, projects with videos succeed at a much higher rate on Kickstarter than those without (50% vs. 30%), and this correlation extends beyond the crowdfunding site.

In this second-or-even-third-screen culture, videos are pure eye candy. Notice how nothing shuts a room full of people up faster than a nice video and a reduction in ambient lighting? It’s a great way of holding someone’s attention long enough to communicate all of the features of your product – provided you get the delivery right.

“Creating an effective tech video is all about narrative, “ says video specialist Michael Krauss. Telling a compelling story will not only draw the viewer in, it will also help the viewer to remember exactly what your product was all about, and why they would benefit from using it. Simply put, it’s more likely to stay in their mind after they’ve finished watching. In a competitive marketplace, great storytelling will make your video stand out and give people a firm understanding of your product.”

So what makes for an top tech video? Let’s take a look at three recent videos from three of the biggest names in tech: Apple, Google and Facebook, and a look at what made these videos so successful (or not).

1. Google: How it feels (through glass)

Type of video: Product video, live action, user-focused
Number of views on YouTube: Over 18 million

Google’s compelling Glass video uses a first-person perspective and emulates home movies to show how the product can enhance the special moments in our lives.

2. Facebook: The Things That Connect Us

Type of video: Conceptual, brand building, cinematic
Number of views on YouTube: Over 2 million

Facebook was widely ridiculed for this video comparing Facebook to chairs, prompting numerous parody videos. It tries way too hard to be profound, coming off as overblown and severely lacking in self-awareness.

3. Apple: iPhone 5 – Discover

Type of video: Slick, fast paced, product-focused with typographical elements
Number of YouTube views: Over 400,000 (also a TV ad)

Absolutely what you’d expect from Apple, although they do it well. They let the phone do the talking, showing the product in action against a white background, really pushing the on-screen capabilities to the fore.

Video is great because it appeals to both visual and auditory learners.Of course, you should be telling the story of your product or company in multiple ways in order to appeal to different learning styles. You can use video in combination with other tactics such as blog posts or webinars in order to appeal to multiple learning types, but the important thing is to use video. It’s a great content driver for social media campaigns, a short explanation video on your website can draw in casual visitors and give them a reason to keep viewing, It sets you up as the expert, and what better place is there to be. If your own video strategy leaves you wanting, then head to blur Marketing to brief your video project and get marketing experts to provide you with anything from a video to the right marketing campaign to support it.

Holly Knowlman is a tea-loving Brit living in Toronto. She’s a writer, event inventor and digital communications professional. She enjoys many things including: noisy nights out, technology, contemporary art, adventures, her bike, soup, cider and trashy celebrity culture. Follow Holly on Twitter @HollyKnowlman or check out her blog.

 Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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