A recent article from Social Media Today discusses how teenagers are starting to use Facebook less frequently. The average Facebook user has risen from 38 to 41 since 2010 and it seems that while teens are moving away from this social media platform, their moms are signing up. To further that, the number of active Facebook users in the U.S. has decreased by 7.37% in the last 6 months. These findings discovered that teenagers are beginning to prefer their phones and mobile apps over Facebook.
Such demographic numbers should be monitored by marketers so as to ensure correct targeting efforts on this platform. Many marketers assume teenagers are an easy target via Facebook, but recent data is showing this is not the truth. Overall, such statistics are extremely important and they cannot be overlooked.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
The Facebook Emoticon
Once again, Facebook has a new addition. The new Facebook Emoticon will take users statuses to a new level. Statuses will now ask users to express how they are feeling, what they are doing, eating or drinking using brands tags. While Facebook currently allows users to tag brands in their posts, this new addition will actually "guide" users to use the tagging feature.
This feature allows for less interruptive advertising and has clear implications for businesses. They should begin focusing on how to get users to talk about their brand so the tag will appear in more and more feeds.
Overall, this is just a new tool for marketers to learn more about consumer habits. Hopefully, it will not cause too much interruption for users and will instead be beneficial to everyone involved!
This feature allows for less interruptive advertising and has clear implications for businesses. They should begin focusing on how to get users to talk about their brand so the tag will appear in more and more feeds.
Overall, this is just a new tool for marketers to learn more about consumer habits. Hopefully, it will not cause too much interruption for users and will instead be beneficial to everyone involved!
Sunday, April 7, 2013
2013: The year of the video
An article posted recently on Socialmouths focuses on the growing significance of Youtube and claims that 2013 is "the year of the video." Youtube is often underestimated as a key search engine and social network, but in reality it is the #2 search engine and a valuable social network.
Video should be a part of businesses content strategy for many reasons. Not only is video easier to consume than the written word, but videos appear in Google search. They are also beneficial to humanize your brand while entertaining and educating your audience.
The numbers really say it all. At this time, there are over 800 million monthly unique vistors, over 72 hours of video uploaded per minute, more than 1 million partner program members and over 4 billion hours of video viewed each month. And these numbers are growing, making it critical for brands to see the importance of adding YouTube to their social media strategy.
Video should be a part of businesses content strategy for many reasons. Not only is video easier to consume than the written word, but videos appear in Google search. They are also beneficial to humanize your brand while entertaining and educating your audience.
The numbers really say it all. At this time, there are over 800 million monthly unique vistors, over 72 hours of video uploaded per minute, more than 1 million partner program members and over 4 billion hours of video viewed each month. And these numbers are growing, making it critical for brands to see the importance of adding YouTube to their social media strategy.
The importance of visual content
A recent post on Socialmouths discusses the shift to visual social media. Research shows that consumers are more drawn to visual content than words and there are many ways for brands to capitalize on this idea.
With that said, brands should use visuals to share their message instead of words whenever possible. This can be done using videos, photos, animations and the like but brands should strive to use original content that is emotional and shows a connection to the audience. It is also beneficial to crowdsource visual content by asking fans to create and share their own content. The key, however, is to mix it up by sharing different sources of visual content!
With that said, brands should use visuals to share their message instead of words whenever possible. This can be done using videos, photos, animations and the like but brands should strive to use original content that is emotional and shows a connection to the audience. It is also beneficial to crowdsource visual content by asking fans to create and share their own content. The key, however, is to mix it up by sharing different sources of visual content!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Facebook's Hashtag
Aaron Charlie's recent article on Social Media Today titled, "How Facebook Hashtags Will Affect Advertisers," discusses Facebook's newest addition to their site: the hashtag.
This new element to Facebook will most certainly have huge implications for advertisers. Using hashtags on Facebook, companies will now be able to promote happenings that will appear on users newsfeeds. This differs from the current system from paid promotion because clicking the hashtag will reveal anyone using it in conversation, providing businesses with a great tracking measure. The best part for brands is that they will be able to tap into a new market of consumers who may not like the brand or have friends that do.
With that said, businesses need to be aware that these promoted posts could lead users to become annoyed so planning and managing will be key to avoid a negative response. However, this holds true with any type of advertising on Facebook and such measures should always be considered.
This new element to Facebook will most certainly have huge implications for advertisers. Using hashtags on Facebook, companies will now be able to promote happenings that will appear on users newsfeeds. This differs from the current system from paid promotion because clicking the hashtag will reveal anyone using it in conversation, providing businesses with a great tracking measure. The best part for brands is that they will be able to tap into a new market of consumers who may not like the brand or have friends that do.
With that said, businesses need to be aware that these promoted posts could lead users to become annoyed so planning and managing will be key to avoid a negative response. However, this holds true with any type of advertising on Facebook and such measures should always be considered.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
In a recent blog post titled, "Humanize Your Business for Success in the Digital Age," Kaleef Lloyd speaks of the importance of brands engaging with their audience through social media. In order to best do this, he suggests throwing away the business speak and instead communicating to them on a person to person level. According to Lloyd, humanizing your company and engaging consumers is something that should be a top priority for businesses.
Companies can begin to humanize their brand by creating a social culture. By encouraging employees to utilize their social media throughout their day, they become brand influencers and grow a following that ultimately leads to increased business success.
Next, it is extremely important to focus on the customers and always reply to their posts and comments in a timely manner. This will certainly help show the human side of a brand. To go along with this, consumer relationships should be the goal of all interactions. When relationships are formed, consumers will help build your brand by becoming ambassadors.
When customers feel a brand truly cares about them, they are much more likely to respond positively. This is why engagement is so critical when brands use social media. However, this is not something that should be too difficult to do because at the end of the day, everyone behind the various social media channels is human and therefore knows how to act like one.
Companies can begin to humanize their brand by creating a social culture. By encouraging employees to utilize their social media throughout their day, they become brand influencers and grow a following that ultimately leads to increased business success.
Next, it is extremely important to focus on the customers and always reply to their posts and comments in a timely manner. This will certainly help show the human side of a brand. To go along with this, consumer relationships should be the goal of all interactions. When relationships are formed, consumers will help build your brand by becoming ambassadors.
When customers feel a brand truly cares about them, they are much more likely to respond positively. This is why engagement is so critical when brands use social media. However, this is not something that should be too difficult to do because at the end of the day, everyone behind the various social media channels is human and therefore knows how to act like one.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Will New Twitter Filter Hurt Small Businesses?
Samantha Rupert recently posted an article on Social Media Today that discusses Twitter's new filter that will take effect on February 20th. Twitter will now sort tweets based on its' value and those of more importance will be placed higher in feeds. While it has not been revealed as to how tweets will be ranked, it will most likely take into account the number of followers of a given brand. This will greatly change the nature of Twitter and wil have many implications especially for small businesses who do not have a large following.
The new addition will change how small businesses use Twitter because their content will no longer be marketed to an endless pool of consumers. Instead, they will have to change their strategy in order to keep their followers engaged.
Unlike before, users will see a lot more advertising from large brands. Hopefully this change will not take away the appeal of Twitter because it has worked as a great tool for marketers of all sorts of brands. While I understand Twitter's desire to make more money, I hope that small and large businesses alike will continue to be able to reap the benefits from the marketing side.
The new addition will change how small businesses use Twitter because their content will no longer be marketed to an endless pool of consumers. Instead, they will have to change their strategy in order to keep their followers engaged.
Unlike before, users will see a lot more advertising from large brands. Hopefully this change will not take away the appeal of Twitter because it has worked as a great tool for marketers of all sorts of brands. While I understand Twitter's desire to make more money, I hope that small and large businesses alike will continue to be able to reap the benefits from the marketing side.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Did You Know? A Giveaway of the Top Seven Must-See Words in Headlines
In a recent post on Social Media Today titled, "Did You Know? A Giveaway of the Top Seven Must-See Words in Headlines," Rebecca Benison shares tips that can help marketers push their audience to read their posts. This, of course, is the goal and there are certain easy ways to make marketing efforts more successful. By using headlines that are immediately engaging, your messages are less likely to get lost in the mix and will entice the audience to want to read more.
According to Benison, the most attention-getting headlines use the words, "chance," "see," "must," "how to," "why," "did you know?" and "giveaway" because by relating emotionally to your consumers, they are more likely to click through and read on. However, the most important part is not letting the reader down. Marketers must post content that is worthy of the hype of such headlines and the information must be of value or else consumers will be disappointed.
With so much information being thrown into consumers faces, it's becoming more and more important to make your content stand out above the rest and using these tips can definitely help.
According to Benison, the most attention-getting headlines use the words, "chance," "see," "must," "how to," "why," "did you know?" and "giveaway" because by relating emotionally to your consumers, they are more likely to click through and read on. However, the most important part is not letting the reader down. Marketers must post content that is worthy of the hype of such headlines and the information must be of value or else consumers will be disappointed.
With so much information being thrown into consumers faces, it's becoming more and more important to make your content stand out above the rest and using these tips can definitely help.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
The Three Worst Ways to Use Social Media to Grow Your Business (And What You Should Do Instead)
In a recent post on Social Media Today, titled "The Three Worst Ways to Use Social Media to Grow Your Business (And What You Should Do Instead)" discusses how interactions and communications have changed because of new media.
The first bad strategy discussed is when brands create too many social networks. The problem with this approach is that it becomes more difficult to manage as the number of social media accounts increases. Instead, they suggest investing more into accounts that are top performing and only use those that reach your target market.
The next bad strategy mentioned is relying on others to share for you. While this is ideal, it cannot be the only means of spreading information. Instead, it's more effective to have specific offers that are of importance to your audience and direct users straight to them.
Lastly, the article argues that focusing on easy, ineffective tactics is a poor approach and instead they emphasize the importance of engaging with your audience. To do this, it is best to appeal to topics that the target audience cares about such as nonprofits, so as to best position the brand.
If businesses follow these tips, I definitely feel they will see improvements in their efforts online. However, above all, I feel it is most important for brands to understand their target market and focus everything they do to what they desire. The key is giving the audience what they want.
The first bad strategy discussed is when brands create too many social networks. The problem with this approach is that it becomes more difficult to manage as the number of social media accounts increases. Instead, they suggest investing more into accounts that are top performing and only use those that reach your target market.
The next bad strategy mentioned is relying on others to share for you. While this is ideal, it cannot be the only means of spreading information. Instead, it's more effective to have specific offers that are of importance to your audience and direct users straight to them.
Lastly, the article argues that focusing on easy, ineffective tactics is a poor approach and instead they emphasize the importance of engaging with your audience. To do this, it is best to appeal to topics that the target audience cares about such as nonprofits, so as to best position the brand.
If businesses follow these tips, I definitely feel they will see improvements in their efforts online. However, above all, I feel it is most important for brands to understand their target market and focus everything they do to what they desire. The key is giving the audience what they want.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Facebook's Graph Search
As the old saying goes, "the only thing constant in this world is change." This idea is certainly the case when it comes to technology and more specifically, within Facebook and its ever changing platforms.
A few days ago, Facebook announced the addition of a search engine, Graph Search, to their site. This new feature will allow users to search within the site and see recommendations or information from friends as well as friends of friends. For instance, this would be useful while traveling and searching for a restaurant; you could use Graph Search to see ratings of different options from your Facebook connections. You can also use it as a way of finding people with certain interests; you will be able to see others who like a certain band, tv show, or even both.
This clearly has many implications, especially for small businesses, as it sheds a new light giving more meaning to "liking" something on Facebook. Users will begin to take liking something more seriously because the once simple act is now an influential factor to others decision making. For businesses, this means they will need to provide consistently good quality and service in order to gain and keep likes or fans. Users will no longer like a business for a one time incentive or perk and when this is the case, they will be quick to "unlike." In other words, this will force a shift in the social media marketing strategies for many businesses.
Like past Facebook changes, Graph Search has seen much initial criticism and skepticism. On the other hand, many proponents are talking about its great potential and have even mentioned it surpassing Google and becoming the new go-to search engine. While I do feel this can be a successful addition to Facebook, its usefulness is something that will certainly take time, as more information is accumulated and more users participate.
A few days ago, Facebook announced the addition of a search engine, Graph Search, to their site. This new feature will allow users to search within the site and see recommendations or information from friends as well as friends of friends. For instance, this would be useful while traveling and searching for a restaurant; you could use Graph Search to see ratings of different options from your Facebook connections. You can also use it as a way of finding people with certain interests; you will be able to see others who like a certain band, tv show, or even both.
This clearly has many implications, especially for small businesses, as it sheds a new light giving more meaning to "liking" something on Facebook. Users will begin to take liking something more seriously because the once simple act is now an influential factor to others decision making. For businesses, this means they will need to provide consistently good quality and service in order to gain and keep likes or fans. Users will no longer like a business for a one time incentive or perk and when this is the case, they will be quick to "unlike." In other words, this will force a shift in the social media marketing strategies for many businesses.
Like past Facebook changes, Graph Search has seen much initial criticism and skepticism. On the other hand, many proponents are talking about its great potential and have even mentioned it surpassing Google and becoming the new go-to search engine. While I do feel this can be a successful addition to Facebook, its usefulness is something that will certainly take time, as more information is accumulated and more users participate.
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