Tag Archives: Twitter

Social Media – The Year that Was (2013)

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Social Media certainly had an interesting year in 2013. From several high-profile announcements to acquisitions, some stories really caught us by surprise. Here is my take on some key announcements and my expectations for 2014.

1. Twitter went public

The “global town square”, Twitter has time and time again showcased the power of 140 characters to spread the word, shape public opinion, and literally change lives. The Obama presidential campaign, Arab Springs and the recent shaming of Justine Sacco are just a few examples.

Hashtags and twitter trending topics is how most of learn about whats happening around the globe. So it was not that surprising that Twitter is now a publicly traded company expected to return value to shareholders. In my opinion, Twitter IPO was handled  much better than that of Facebook. Yet they have to make a number of improvements and enhance their advertising solutions  before they start reaping the rewards.

2. Yahoo acquired Tumblr

To everyone’s surprise Yahoo acquired Tumblr in May for $1.1Bn. Thus far Mayer is yet to make any remarkable changes to the site, other than a few ads on the personal blogging site. Continue reading →

Worst Social Media Campaigns of 2011

17 February 2012

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Two days ago I attended the Suxorz awards at the Gershwin Hotel in NYC. It was perhaps the most fun I have had learning and sharing about Social Media Faux Pas is a while. So here is a run down of the best of the worst presented by the panel comprising: David Berkowitz – Vice President of Emerging Media, 360i; Brian Morrissey, Editor-in-Chief, Digiday; BL Ochman  – Senior Creative Technologist, AFS Intercultural Programs; and Twanna A Hines – Author.

While, the panel had their own way of segmenting campaigns, I am using a different method. So the campaigns will be labelled under – Corporate Mishaps, Political Failings, What were they thinking, and Fighting Back.

Here we go. Try not to punch the screen, some of these brands and personalities totally lost focus.

 

Continue reading →

Google “Search Plus Your World” – Opportunistic or Monopolistic?

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I smell a lawsuit or at the very least a lot of hullabaloo. Google announced the next step towards Social Search with “Search, plus your world” . Whereby it will personalize Google search results by integrating social data from Google+. According to Google’s official blog post, here is a brief description of the service:

“We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships. We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step in this direction by introducing three new features:

  1. Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
  2. Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and,
  3. People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community. Continue reading →
Twitter, Social Media and India

Social Media and India

18 August 2011

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I have been in India for less than 24 hours and I can see the tentacles of social media spreading across the media and the country. Whether it is press coverage, social activism or articles in print media, its impossible to go through your day without seeing a mention of Facebook or Twitter or an @ or # flashing on the screen.

It was interesting to see TV channels like Headlines Today prominently feature a Twitter ribbon on the screen, as well as prominently displaying the Twitter handle of its anchor. As far as I can remember, Twitter did not play such a prominent role six months ago, when I was last in the country.

Presently, the Anna Hazare led Anti-Corruption movement has taken hold of the country, and social media has played a vital role in drumming up support. The 74 year old social activist has spawned a new age in Indian activism. Anna has  4270 friends onFacebook, and his Twitter handle – Janlokpal – has 47,000+ followers and sends out a minimum of three tweets per minute, and Anna’s YouTube videos have been viewed over 100,000. I was keeping a close tab on the Twitter stream on Headlines Today yesterday and  saw the same tweets being repeated over and over again. This seemed a bit odd and made me wonder if a select group of tweets were picked to sensationalize the story. Continue reading →

Social Networking and its role in Marketing Strategies – a look at some platforms

20 May 2011

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Social networking sites present an increasingly attractive way for companies to establish direct contact with a proportion of their customer base, market themselves, and build brand awareness. This post analyses four social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, My Space, and LinkedIn – and discuss their potential as a marketing tool.

Facebook (FB) – With more than 500 million active users, and  550,000,000 estimated unique monthly visitors in May 2011. FB is the largest social networking site in the world. According to statistics released by the company, half of its active users log in on any given day, spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook and connect to 80 community pages, groups and events.

FB also caters to a range of demographics including 18-24, and over 55, indicating the potential to use FB as a marketing tool. Companies or fans can create a product or brand specific page, and users can sign-up with the click of a button. Some of the elements that can be integrated on the page include engaging fans/members using regular updates and polls, posting pictures, designing special applications, featuring new product/brand and receiving feedback, running contests and giving out coupons, answering questions via the discussion forum, and by posting pictures and videos. FB users can also send each other gifts featuring a company’s product and/or brand prominently on their own page and these shows up in their status updates. Given the diversity of applications, there are few barriers for companies to leverage the site irrespective of industry. The key is to keep the fan base interested and involved, with continued activity on the profile, ensure a distinct, coherent, and consistent message, and not force the conversation in any one direction.

Twitter – Twitter is a ‘micro-blogging’ site. It is now the second most popular social networking site and had 95,800,000 estimated unique monthly visitors in May 2011. As compared to other sites such as FB and MySpace, some feel Twitter lacks dynamism, but there are benefits to this medium. Twitter is a good method to track the popularity of a company’s brand or product and stay part of the conversation. Zappos was the first company to use a Twitter aggregator that pulls in all mentions of the company on a page created on its site. This is also a way to promote the brand, people mentioning the brand, and display their experience. Twitter is also a good place to interact with customers, provide regular news, provide customer service, highlight offers, and provide new product information. In order to capitalize on Twitter, company representatives should establish a twitter account and begin to post regular updates on the site. It is also necessary to post engaging material to increase interaction with followers. Companies can track their followers, gain insight into their behavior. When using Twitter it is important to be responsive to tweets.
MySpace – The third most popular social networking site, had 80,500,000 estimated unique monthly visitors in May 2011 . The site is skewed towards a younger demographic, and focuses on music and video content. Aquafina uses its profile to provide customers with entertainment and supports the independent film community – its profile features short film and it provides film festival updates, and had 8732 friends as of May 20,2011. By focusing on this targeted community, Aquafina has been able to generate intense brand loyalty and word of mouth. However, MySpace might not suitable for every business, and has up until recently seen a drop in popularity. In order to tap the site, it would be necessary to find an interest community such as musicians, gamers, filmmakers, or photographers and find a way to interact with them and build a loyal fan base. It is important to ensure minimal clutter on the MySpace page, as that is a common issue with the site, and acts as a distracting element.
LinkedIn – The fourth most popular social networking site, LinkedIn had 50,000,000 estimated unique monthly visitors in May 2011. As compared to the other sites critiqued in this paper, marketing opportunities for companies using LinkedIn is slightly limited. The site is primarily used by professionals  for recruitment, business development, and relationship development/networking purposes. All Fortune 500 companies have a profile on the site and represented by a variety of employees ranging from the CEOs to junior staff. The site is best suited for small businesses, which can use the “Full View” option to promote their organizations. Google prominently displays LinkedIn in searches and this can be very beneficial for small businesses, allowing interested parties to view a company’s profile. LinkedIn provides the ability to connect with sites such as the company’s blog, twitter account, and display company presentations.

My perspective: Social networks provide companies with an interactive forum and depending on the marketing strategy, a host of social networking sites can be used to spread the company’s message. It is good practice to have a consistent message, and link various sites to the company’s home page and among each other to direct fans/users to content. Establishing guidelines is another very important task, and employees assigned to the task need to approach aspects such as posting comments, and links in a consistent manner.