Even as a hypothetical, the mention of Facebook evokes many passionate responses. Facebook successfully acquired Instagram and with it a much needed younger demographic. Since then, Instagram hasn’t changed in the way people were dreading (mostly in terms of advertising). As always, privacy issues are one of the main concerns, but mostly Instagram has remained genuine user created content. Hopefully the same strategy would be applied to Tumblr, as opposed to replicating the advertising model Facebook now uses which some users find intrusive.

Speaking at Social Media Week NYC earlier this year, Tumblr CEO David Karp proudly explained that Tumblr is one of the few places on the web where users can make stuff, due to the platforms ability for “limitless expression.” Great brand content as native ads are some of the most well produced content that add to the platform as opposed to standing out as marketing – an overall ideal of social media marketing that isn’t always executed successfully.

Since no deal is official, conversations about this topic are hypothetical. However, as larger companies are thrown into the mix loyal and passionate users believe Tumblr will be forced to change ruining the unique form of expression it allows now.  If nothing else, this potential deal has made it clear that brands cannot wait to change their marketing strategies. They must move beyond the traditional advertising mindset, not simply apply it to social, in order to stay relevant in consumers’ lives.

To begin planning a social media strategy contact Wild Frog Studio.

Sources: Mashable, Gigaom, AdWeek. 

With more than one billion people using social media, in order to not only succeed, but to stand out, it is imperative that brands harness the information and power that already exists in the space. When the relationships are managed correctly, these already engaged users can promote and educate new audiences about the benefits of a product.

The idea of social influencers has always been a key point in strategy for marketers to acquire new consumers – in fact in a recent global survey 68% of marketers see influence marketing as a lead generation and customer acquisition policy, not a branding exercise. The tangible value in this kind of influencer based approach can make a larger impact for businesses, and recently new technologies and platforms have streamlined this process. Originally identifying influencers was a time consumer process, sorting through Google, twitter or various social directories. There are a significant number of new platforms built to identify influencers and experts based on keywords for a specific field which allows businesses to speed up the entire process and see results much sooner.

Being able to identify the influencers is half the battle but developing a relationship with these individuals and collaborating on a project in the future still requires genuine interaction. As opposed to social advocates who are willing to promote a product with no promise of perks, influencers are motivated to champion a business based on reciprocation. By nurturing these relationships, you can further leverage the power of an influencer by understanding what their followers enjoy, when they enjoy it, etc. Taking these insights and applying them to a business’s social campaign will prove incredibly valuable down the road.

It is well known that peer generated content engages users more than branded content. Establishing specific influencers of a business allows a company to streamline and amplify that content, reaching new consumers and developing advocates to act as the new sales force. With the high volume of social users, and the open nature of these platforms, businesses are primed to maximize their efforts in a transparent and effective way that will reach customers and motivate new leads.

To develop a social influencer and advocacy strategy for your business, contact Wild Frog Studio today.

Sources: Mashable, Sensei Marketing. 

True to form, these networks are constantly changing. Although not always to the delight of their users, frequent updates and improvements are made on both the back-end and business side of the platforms, but also to enhance the user experience. New platforms pop up daily, offering niche communities with focus based on a particular set of demographics. The creative nature of these networks give the brands that engage with them the opportunity to seamlessly blend into the everyday conversation of consumers lives – allowing consumers to establish their unique personality based on a brand more so than ever before.

The technology behind these networks has of course helped push the growth and progression seen in the industry in the past 5 years, as well as technology as a whole. The rise of high performance smart phones allows consumers to carry their networks with them wherever they go constantly able to access friends, family, and the brands they love.

Perhaps in the natural evolution of things, Facebook has announced the release of Facebook Home, a new Android experience that will be available April 12^th alongside the HTC First. As one reviewer put it, “Facebook Home isn’t a Facebook Phone, nor is it really “a bunch of apps,” or a new operating system. It’s an admission: Facebook means a lot to me, and is an interesting view of my life – and I want to look at it all the time, everywhere I go.”

For the loyal Facebook user, this is a wonderful addition to their mobile experience; however, as many critics are pointing out, that number may be decreasing. Facebook is still far and away the leading social networking platform used by two thirds of Americans. However, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 28% of users say the site has become less important to them in the past year. Furthermore 34% said that the amount of time they spent on the social network has decreased in the past year.

Although the goal of Facebook home is to bring some order to the mobile experience for users by focusing on the social media giant, it may not be as popular in practice. Most telling is the common trend reviewers of the product are seeing – the traffic and comments on these pieces are low, not just for a product launch but for an article, period. This is part of a bigger problem as John Herrman points out; “People can’t get excited about Facebook. Sure, people use [Facebook] a lot, and many may find it valuable. But what people like about Facebook is the information that’s on it, not the service itself…You don’t see ConEd touting increases in electricity usage as evidence that people just adore ConEd.”

So what is the best next step for social networks to take? As we have seen more and more recently, brands and businesses have tremendously increased the creativity behind their social campaigns, maintaining their place in the conversations fans and followers have daily. Users are interested in the networks and the ability it gives them to connect with others even more so with this level of innovation. Maybe the networks themselves need to take a queue from the brands that use their platforms and find a way to stay relevant and exciting, as opposed to maintaining a level of convenience. Combined with the support of solid technology, that kind of social phone would most likely interest and excite users.

Sources: Business Insider, TechCrunch, Buzzfeed.

Big ideas, as they always have been, are especially important in social media. As is evident by certain brands that are excelling in the space a clear cut and thought out strategy and identity is the best way to make a difference and get noticed by the consumers. Oreo, for example, continues to prove dominant across social networks. The impact began with the “Make a Twist” campaign and was further solidified during the 2013 Super Bowl. In a recent exchange with Kit Kat shown below, the organization was able to maintain their playful demeanor while staying one step ahead of the competition.

The fight for @laura_ellenxx‘s affections is on. @oreo your move #haveabreak twitpic.com/cb1g84

— Kit Kat (@KITKAT) March 13, 2013

Sorry, @kitkat we couldn’t resist … #GiveOreoABreak twitter.com/Oreo/status/31…

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) March 13, 2013

The point behind these actions is to put the business, product or brand in the daily conversation of consumers’ lives. In order to do that successfully, organizations must understand the changing nature of social networks and be willing to adapt and react just as quickly (if not sooner) than their consumers and competitors.

At the moment, Twitter is the most popular social network for real time discussions due largely to hashtags and the ease with which they allow users to follow specific conversations (it can be argued that Facebook will become more prominent in this manor once Facebook hashtags are launched, but that waits to be seen). In order to take advantage of these platforms on a more basic level Fusework Studios created an infographic to maximize tweets. The infographic points out that tweets less than 100 characters see 17% more engagement than longer tweets, and Wednesday and Thursday are the days of the week with the lowest engagement rates. For more information take a look at the infographic below.

Sources: Ragan, The Wall Street Journal. 

In 2012, 20% of all people waited until 48 hours before the holiday to consider a gift or gesture and half of Valentine’s Day sales were influenced by the web. Considering 13.19 billion dollars are spent in the US alone to celebrate the holiday, that’s an important statistic for businesses to take note of. Although it’s important to maintain momentum leading up to the actual day, something that grabs consumer attention in the final days can make a big difference.

Although not all industries directly benefit from Valentine’s Day, there is enough traffic to leverage the time of year for many brands. According to research 53% of women break up over an unhappy Valentine’s, so promoting unusual and unique potential gift ideas is a great way for brands to maximize their opportunity. Old standbys do well of course, which is clear since searches for jewelry and flowers increase by 42% and 18% respectively around Valentine’s Day.

The web is a go to source for ideas in this social media environment – consumers look to friends, trusted influencers, and media for ideas in order to be successful and this holiday is no different. Between February 7^th and February 14^th searches for restaurants increased over 350% on mobile and more than 100% on desktops and tablets. In order to take advantage of this, brands can integrate mobile and in-store promotions.

Mobile technology has become an ingrained part of everyday life and more consumers make buying decisions on these devices. In high pressure scenarios, which admittedly Valentine’s Day can be, having answers easily accessible is crucial for companies to make the most of their marketing and sales.

The following infographic was created by Mobistealth:

Source: Retail Touchpoints

From Twitter’s official blog and recap of the game, there were “24.1 million Tweets about the game and halftme show (this leaves aside the ads…). By the beginning of the second half, the volume of Tweets had already surpassed last year’s Tweet total.” The most popular mentions on Twitter were about Beyonce’s halftime performance and the blackout with 268,000 and 231,500 Tweets per minute respectively.

During the 33:55 power outage anticipation and confusion built while the game was stopped. Many people took to social networks to make jokes or comments and some brands did an excellent job capitalizing on the moment. Oreo took advantage of the down time by news-jacking the blackout, as shown below, while Calvin Klein released 6 seconds of abs on Vine (a hot new service that some say will be the Instagram of video). According to the official blog, “…it took just four minutes for the first Promoted Tweet to appear against searches for [power outage] on Twitter.”

Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

As for the ads, it was hard not to notice the increase in social media mentions at the end of most commercials. As opposed to directing viewers to a website the brands instructed them to visit a Facebook page or join a conversation on Twitter using a hashtag. According to Bluefin, “All of this year’s Super Bowl commercials tallied a combined 3.9 social-media comments across Twitter and public Facebook. That’s a 225% increase from last year.”

This isn’t to say good ads received more tweets – as is usually the case, some ads got recognition for how much people did not enjoy them.  Based on data collected by Bluefin, Go Daddy’s “Big Kiss” commercial received 15% positive feedback, 51% neutral feedback, and 34% negative feedback, the most negative feedback given to the top discussed commercials.

As business executives look ahead to the future of advertising, the power of social media and social networks has become more apparent with the rise in use this past Super Bowl. Commercials are given a much longer lifespan, released as much as a few weeks before the actual air date and they are viewed repeatedly on social networks after. When a brand connects with viewers on an emotional level, that emotion can now be leveraged more effectively than ever before. Coca-Colafor example worked very hard to build excitement around their coke chase social game; however those commercials didn’t seem to make as much of an impact on game day as one might have expected. The increase of social media integration with large events and advertisements in general will call for creativity that will soon weed out those businesses that fail to adapt.

Sources: AdAge, Mashable, Twitter. 

Contact Wild Frog Studio to begin planning your social media strategy.

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The most recent of these changes came Thursday (January 31^st) when Facebook announced the arrival of the Facebook Card – a gift card that allows friends to send a receive a physical Facebook Card to use on Facebook commerce stores. The Facebook Card can hold many different gift cards and manages the balances from the various stores. Users can also manage their Facebook Card accounts from the web or from the mobile app.

The cards are reusable as Facebook explains: “After you’ve received a card, the next time you get a Facebook Card gift, it will instantly be added to your existing card.” The cards will “roll out gradually to people in the US” but Facebook gives no clear date of release.

In combination with the recentgraph search Facebook announced, the Facebook Card shows the trend that the company is following to make the platform more profitable for the businesses and brands that use it. A few months ago, brand and businesses were loosing faith in Facebook advertisements seeing no real results from spending money.

With the addition of these new tools that have been built into the social media giant, businesses have much more to gain fro the platform.  Users can search the social network to find products and brands that friends and family have used with the graph search – a tool that is especially important since users are more likely to buy from a company that a friend has recommended. Facebook Cards will create an easy way for these social recommendations to turn into sales.

Integrating this new commerce platform on Facebook gives huge potential to businesses. The brand loyalty and engagement that so many companies have been building on social platforms can now translate to – what is hopefully easy to use – social commerce. Once the product is officially available to Facebook users, it will be interesting to see how they react to it. Since users can manage gift cards to so many different stores, Facebook Cards have potential to usurp space from traditional gift cards. Depending on how businesses work with the social network and what offers they allow to their users, Facebook may have taken a huge step in clearly proving value for businesses on their platform.

Sources: Facebook, Mashable.

Contact Wild Frog Studio to develop a successful social media marketing strategy.

Not too long ago Super Bowl commercials were relegated to the actual game day; however with the rise of social media and various social networks, early releases of these commercials have proven very important. Unfortunately for some companies, the commercials are met with a wave of criticism and hopes that something will be changed in time for the actual commercial. This year, the Mercedes Benz Kate Upton commercial, for example, has received criticism that runs the gamut from tack and over sexualized to too boring.

The goal of these commercials however, is to build a certain excitement around the company and the product being advertised. Coca-Cola annually has Super Bowl commercials and the company has proven to be an innovator in terms of social media integration and progression. This year proves to be no different, and Coca-Cola has introduced a social game to run during the Super Bowl.

On Monday the 21^st, the company unveiled “Coke Chase” and pits three teams against each other (Cowboys, Mad Max style men, and showgirls) and lets fans determine which of the teams will be featured in a post-game ad.  Users can then go to cokechase.com to vote for the team they like best. The commercial will run during the Super Bowl and the winning team ad will run directly after the game, chosen in real time.

Coke has been taking advantage of real-time potential for brands to connect with consumers in the past two years. Last year, the company showed their iconic polar bears on dueling sides of the game and played ads based on the actual results and score. Their efforts paid off and Coke later reported that 9 million people across various platforms tuned in to see the polar bears.

Pio Schunker, SVP of integrated marketing at Coke explained “People aren’t going to necessarily interact with your product unless you tell a compelling story…This is the most engaging and compelling way in to talk about [Coke] as the ultimate thirst quencher.” Coke is maximizing the effects of both the game day commercial and the power of social media through sponsored stories on Facebook to promote the game. Given the amount of money Super Bowl ads cost to run, hopefully more companies will follow suit in order to make these commercials more creative and interactive in the future.

Source: Mashable. 

Contact Wild Frog Studio to develop an innovative social media strategy for your business.

Social networks and the tools available to use with them are constantly evolving and the potential for organizations to succeed evolves with them. By keeping these 5 rules in mind business can easily avoid mistakes.

1. Create Standout Content: One of the biggest changes in the social media industry as 2013 approaches is the focus on content marketing. Basic social updates and interaction are no longer receiving interest among users. Certain social networks are even taking actions to ensure brands have to put more creativity into their efforts. On Facebook, posts including a photo album, a picture or a video generate about 180%, 120%, and 100% more engagement than the average post, respectively. Creative and interesting content can educate new audiences about a business with the possibility of going viral.
2. Optimize and Integrate Content: This is a hugely important aspect of all social media execution. Including the right tags and keyword rich descriptions when possible are not only necessary for proper indexing by search engines, but help consumers more easily find a businesses information. Furthermore, integrating social media efforts and content across all platforms is crucial. As a recent study found “by 2013, lead management campaigns integrating 4 or more digital channels are expected to outperform single- or dual-channel campaigns by 300%.” Great content is the first step and proper optimization and integration means more potential consumers view it.
3. Don’t Over Sell: Social media is social first and foremost. Yes, social networks are a powerful source for businesses to connect with their audience, but it needs to be done in an inherently social way. Constantly pushing sales material on users will drive them away from a brand’s content. That’s not to say sales are not part of the equation – not having easy access for users to purchase is a huge social media transgression. However social media is about connecting the product and business to a larger moral and story.
4. Always Listen and Respond: No one likes to be ignored and making negative opinions known has never been easier than it is today. With the wealth of information available, reaching out to speak directly to a business or brand has become a last resort in many cases. This makes especially important for brands to be aware of these conversations and engage. Engagement is a two way street and organizations that address the concerns of their consumers increase brand loyalty.
5. Be Genuine: One of the most effective yet overlooked aspects of social media marketing. Unless a business is using social media only as a way to distribute content (which is not a great idea for most businesses) there should be a human aspect to the account. This includes listening to users and taking their opinions into account. As Rob Faris explained, “”If businesses can be transparent, be authentic — in the right context — then the brand and the brand story can be conversational and influential.” Social media is about collaboration and co-creation and using social networks as an avenue to achieve this is the best practice for businesses and brands.

There are always issues that can arise in business and social media allows the word to spread faster. The best way to avoid these problems is to do proper research and planning in order to develop a universal tone and strategy that integrates all traditional marketing methods.

Sources: Forbes, DSX Group. 

Contact Wild Frog Studio to begin planning your social media strategy.

This year’s Black Friday showed increased participation from consumers yet again; however, the real story to watch is the increase of e-commerce. Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman said “Despite the frenzy of media coverage surrounding the importance of Black Friday in the brick-and-mortar world, we continue to see this shopping day become more and more prominent in the e-commerce channel – particularly among those who prefer to avoid crowds at the stores. With Black Friday online sales up 26% and surpassing $1 billion for the first time, coupled with early reports indicating that Black Friday sales in retail stores were down 1.8%, we can now confidently call it a multi-channel marketing phenomenon.”

The trends that took black on Black Friday were in fact indicative of Cyber Monday events – IBM’s Digital Analytics Benchmark showed a 25.6 percent jump in online sales from this same time period over Cyber Monday 2011. Specifically, this year mobile shopping saw a large increase with 20.4 percent of consumers visiting a retailer’s site via mobile device at 10.1% completing a purchase. As shown in the chart below, the highest shopping momentum was around 11:30 am with another surge after work when consumers had more time.

In statistics released by PayPal, the company saw 196 percent more mobile payment volume in 2012 than in 2011. Since retailers increased holiday online promotions and made them available earlier, combined with the mania surrounding in store sales, Cyber Monday and mobile payments will most likely increase again next year.

Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, social sales contributed barely anything to Black Friday and Cyber Monday (some reports show less than 1% of sales took place on social networks). The disparity between mobile and social sales could be due to the lack of seamless integration on social networks. With smartphones and tablets, consumers most likely find it easier to shop directly from a retailer’s website.

However, as Tricia Duryee pointed out, “In contrast, social commerce is more complicated [than mobile or e-commerce]. Consumers may discover new products through friends, or get advice via Facebook or Twitter, but being able to track those referrals back to where they came from is not always easy.” This points out the discrepancy in social analytics that businesses and marketers alike are stuck with, for now.

For businesses, it seems the coming year will be heavily focused on mobile sales efforts. Nevertheless, the value of social media marketing cannot and should not be ignored. Although it is difficult to track at the moment, the word of mouth advertising that occurs socially is invaluable for businesses. Fortunately with so many new analytics tools in development, and this issue such a pressing matter for accurate results measurement, there should be a solution in 2013.

Sources: Mashable, TechCrunch, AllThingsD.

Contact Wild Frog Studio for your holiday promotions at 914.428.4645 or via email.

Since the algorithm changes that occurred September 20^th this year, organic impressions have decreased. This means that businesses potentially saw less engagement and reach with their fans and needed to supplement those changes with paid and viral impressions.

Although many businesses that saw a decrease in reach have been vocal, the new algorithm is meant to show a more realistic version of the interactions and engagement that occur on the social network. In other words “because most fans of a page are inactive, and have been for awhile, Facebook has stopped showing them the content in their news feeds. It has been deemed irrelevant. Which means that the total fan count was never as significant as many thought it was.”

Interactions for brands have remained (roughly) at 1% so the Facebook’s EdgeRank brings a well-known issue to the forefront of social media marketing: what are the most meaningful metrics? Of course, many organizations are disappointed in the algorithm and have taken their advertising money elsewhere – the Dallas Mavericks amongst those upset.

If businesses choose to pay for promoted posts, more people will see the information. This is all dependent, however, on the number of total fans a page has, so fan quantity is still an important aspect of social media marketing strategy. Promoted posts have seen significant adoption among small businesses according to Facebook, and several hundred thousands have used it.

In order to counteract these changes, businesses need to rework their strategy and include content that has the potential to become viral with their users. “Visual content drives the most Likes, comments and shares. Graphic design and even light production support can enhance the quality of the content, driving both reach and engagement, but it will certainly take more time to create than the simple text posts of yesterday.”

A combination of creative and potentially viral content as well as paid media is the best way for businesses to engage with fans and remind them why they connected with the brand in the first place. The investment of both time and money in Facebook has never been more apparent for businesses, but with social sales expected to continue to increase as we move into the next year, it is necessary for businesses to evolve their social strategy to keep up with the changing times.

Sources: AdAge, Red Orbit 

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Overall, the candidates focused on getting people out to vote and proactively encouraging others to do so as well. Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney highlighted the necessary information for voters to determine the correct voting stations across America. On Facebook, the candidates pinned the information to the top of the page, and are promoted it heavily from their websites, making the content easily shareable for voters.

The same is true for Twitter, although President Obama‘s campaign promoted (via Twitter advertising) the hashtag #VoteObama as well as a promoted tweet featuring voting location information. At the time this article was published, Mitt Romney had not promoted any tweet or hashtag, but had instead been directing followers to his website’s voting information.  Twitter also set up a landing page for the hashtag #election2012 compiling relevant news and pictures throughout.

There has been a lot of speculation leading up to the election regarding the real value of social media in determining who will win as well as the creative and unique ways various candidates have taken advantage of digital and social marketing. Some experts believe that social media for political use has become the norm and is no longer the exception to the rule.

As Paul Sloan explained, “…this seeming fascination with all things social as something separate, even novel, maybe a fleeting phenomenon, as 2012 could be a turning point of sorts – the last U.S. Presidential election in which the media pore over every detail about what’s going on with social media… At some point, it’s simply no longer surprising. It just…is.” Despite the slow adaption of social media in certain industries, marketers have for a while accepted social media as the norm and pushed to find unique and creative outlets to stay ahead.

Marc Andreessen took this notion even farther by saying “There is going to be a national election that is going to be about the Internet the way that 1960 was about TV for the first time with the Kennedy/Nixon debate…That hasn’t happened yet…When that happens, everything changes. The spending will tip, and the campaigning methods will change.”

Both Presidential candidates this election have embraced social media, although arguably to different extents. It will be interesting to see how the candidates of the future address social media and what, as Sloan said, will be the catalyst. Will social networks continue to grow or will niche social networks gain in popularity and influence?

Source: CNET

With the real time updates from both the government officials as well as city workers, official reports were supplemented with updates from around the metro north area and in some cases beyond via pictures, video and updates. Once the worst of the storm passed, huge numbers were left without power, and social networks were the main form of updating loved ones via backup battery and mobile devices. As of 10 am Tuesday morning (October 30, 2012) the most popular shared terms by Facebook users included; “We are ok” “Power (lost power, have power, no power)” “damage” “hope everyone is ok” and the list goes on.

Furthermore, “A quick glance at the statistics showed that Hurricane Sandy made bigger waves than the presidential debates, with a Talk Meter rating of 8.34 (on a 1-10 scale) over the first presidential debate’s 8.18. Sandy’s 8.34 number also makes it the number two most buzzed about topic in 2012 so far, just following the Super Bowl.”

As for Twitter, it was (and continues to be) one of the only sources for people to continue to get information from using hashtags such as #hurricane. “Twitter was one of the largest go-to sources of the most recent updates by city officials, public transit authorities, and news outlets on top of the average tweeter sending in their perspectives of what was happening in their neighborhoods. The site also set up its own #Sandy hashtag page for news relating to the event, complete with top tweets of the most shared news links and photos. Twitter users were also able to search hyperlocal tags to check out what was happening in their neighborhood, such as #ConeyIsland, to see how the historic area managed on Brooklyn’s southern coast.”

There were, however, a number of rumors that spread rapidly due to social networks. Many images from previous storms as well as movies were circulating around the internet, leading some to believe the worst. Nevertheless, in times like these, the real power of social media is shown. The ability for friends and families to communicate despite widespread damage was imperative, and wouldn’t have been possible without these social networks.

Source: Digital Trends. 

After the first presidential debate, Big Bird and PBS were able to news-jack a national story and create a larger discussion about their message. There was potential for this story to play out negatively for the organization, but they did an excellent job handling the situation and engaging in a conversation with the public on their terms.

More recently, a UK based feminine products company Bodyform took advantage of some unexpected attention.  Last week a Facebook user Richard left a sarcastic and humorous message for the company, scolding the company for lying to him for all those years about the wonderful time of the month females are able to enjoy. An excerpt from the long rant includes, “I got a girlfriend, was so happy and couldn’t wait for this joyous adventurous time of the month to happen…. you lied !! There was no joy, no extreme sports, no blue water spilling over wings and no rocking soundtrack oh no no no.”

The comment soon went viral and amassed over 90,000 likes– an impressive feat considering the company itself had 6,061 as of October 18^th 2012. Like all comedy, Richard’s comment had the potential to be seen as just that or perhaps taken offensively.

Luckily, Bodyform had the good sense to embrace the joke (and publicity) and the company made an equally funny response. Bodyform posted shortly after the comment was left, “We loved Richard’s wicked sense of humour. We are always grateful for input from our users, but his comment was particularly poignant. If Facebook had a “love” button, we’d have clicked it. But it doesn’t. So we’ve made Richard a video instead. Unfortunately Bodyform doesn’t have a CEO. But if it did she’s be called Caroline Williams. And she’d say this.”

In the video response the ‘CEO’ sarcastically apologized to Richard for lying to him for so long and explains that there is no such thing as a happy period. By creating a video that most likely took the words right out of the mouths of many women, Bodyform created content that was incredibly shareable and most importantly relevant. Most of the conversation about Bodyform took place on Facebook, and by posting the video there, Bodyform took advantage of the correct platform – it was shared over 3,000 times.

These recent displays of social media marketing savvy are encouraging to those in the industry who are tired of discussing numbers of fans. The real value of social media lies in the connection that is possible between companies and their consumers. Bodyform was able to connect with their fans as well as a much wider audience on a humorous yet understanding level, thus making them appear more genuine to the consumer and largely increasing their brand awareness.

Sources: AdAge, MediaBistro, YouTube

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The 2012 election has seen a definite increase in social media use by both parties; however, many experts still maintain that the Obama campaign is doing a smarter job. As Mark Knight wrote for The Huffington Post, “It seems that the Obama team understands the language for social media better than his Republican rival. They’re ‘willing to be lighthearted and jokey’ and their social media language and graphics have a tone and feel which sits comfortable with the digital world. Romney’s approach is more traditional and is reminiscent of a 65-year-old encountering social media for the first time and trying to force the pace.” 

Despite HuffPo’s potential bias on the matters, Knight makes a very good point. Governor Romney’s efforts tend to fall short maintaining a genuine rapport with voters as well as the commitment the team is putting behind the platforms (on Twitter, for example, his bio briefly states “Former Governor of Massachusetts”).

Obama and his team are continuing to explore new means of connection and engagement with users. The President has taken to Google+ hangouts to answer questions and speak directly with voters, as well as a recent Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). The event doubled the popular site’s traffic and was viewed by a huge success by the site’s co-founder, Alexis Ohanian. Ohanian also publicly welcomed Mitt Romney to host an AMA session, citing the governor’s opposition of SOPA as evidence of his internet and social media capabilities.

The most important statistic however, is whether or not social media success will translate at the polls come November. The numbers across the various social networks show Obama ahead in a landslide, but the latest polls show the candidates neck and neck. A number of factors may account for the disparity such as the age of average the average social media user as well as voter turnout. The election is less than a month away and it will be interesting to watch what techniques the candidates use as we get closer.

To begin planning your social media marketing strategy, contact Wild Frog Studio at 914.428.4645 or via email.

One of the problems many organizations face with social media marketing is a way to quantify and measure the success of their efforts. Certain discussions and sharing are now easier to track than ever; however, connecting these digital interactions to real world purchasing decisions has not yet been perfected. 

In light of these issues some new technologies have appeared to help deal with the problem of influence – which users have it, where to spend the most time attaining it, etc. Many new companies like Klout are attempting to put a number on influence for marketers to measure up with one another, as well as measure their users. The point is to measure how many people you influence and on what topics specifically your opinion holds the most weight.

Although the work these companies have done is impressive, there are still a number of issues to be worked out. People regularly complain that Klout does not accurately depict a person’s range of influence often citing industries and fields that are unrelated. Another issue is the inflation of influence ‘score’ that is possible, and more annoyingly the self-promotion that certain people take part in to increase their score. How trust worthy is this information if people can increase their score through non-influential content?

For social media marketers, there is a certain love/hate relationship with these metrics. On the one hand the information can prove to be incredibly valuable when running campaigns. Pinpointing the correct target audience for a campaign takes a lot of time and research that is significantly cut down by knowing who the “top influencers” are (taking into account the potential inaccuracies). Furthermore, marketers can narrow down their target in general based on the fields of influence of their users and develop better content for them.

The other side of the coin seems to combat some of the fundamental points of social networks. Genuine and organic relationships are an integral part of success for social media campaigns, as well as the opportunity to connect with all consumers. By targeting, or placing a higher value, on certain social media users this two-sided engagement begins to develop certain restrictions.

According to CEO and Founder of Klout Joe Fernandez, the score should not be taken at face value, “People get hung up on the number, but we are also giving people a lot of context around your passions and areas of expertise. I think we’re still just at the tip of the iceberg.” It is not as much the data as the ability to generate insights to inform the overal social media marketing strategy of a company. If this is kept in mind in the future, the availability of this information will hopefully be a positive step for users and marketers.

Sources: The Verge  

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In response to this sudden attention, PBS did an excellent job newsjacking the story and turning it into a positive marketing opportunity for the non-profit via social media. Now that the dust has settled, social media marketers can take away a few important lessons.

1. Choose Your Platform: In the wake of Mitt Romney’s comments, the majority of real time discussion and comments occurred on Twitter. PBS was able to recognize this as the best channel to use, and took advantage very quickly. Acknowledging the meme, @sesamestreet sent out a tweet from Big Bird asking if he had missed anything, as well as a nonpartisan response later on focusing on support. More importantly, as reported by Mashable, PBS made an ad buy for the phrase “Big Bird” on Twitter, which brings us to the second lesson.
2. Invest in Social Media: Once PBS had an opportunity to be part of a larger dialogue in a national news story, they made a decision to invest in Twitter advertising, a fairly new development on the social network. This kind of forward thinking, and real time reaction is exactly what many brands and businesses need to embrace as they move their social media campaigns forward. PBS made sure to take control of the dialogue that was already occurring, and gave users a place to channel their discussions.
3. Produce Quality Content: A case could be made that the content PBS chose to promote in light of these comments was the most important part of the equation. The tweet that was promoted read, “PBS is trusted, valued and essential. See why at valuepbs.org. (please retweet!).” This tweet appeared whenever users searched “big bird” and directed them to an educational website about why PBS is such a valuable organization. It was also retweeted over 9,000 times as of October 11th. Full of statistics, graphics, and readable information, PBS was able to inform users in an enjoyable and shareable way. As of October 11th, the site had already been shared over 10,000 times on Twitter.

Proving you’re never too old to learn from Big Bird, PBS did an excellent job creating awareness and spreading their message through a larger dialogue and social media. Businesses large and small can learn a lot from the way this event was handled with calm diplomacy by the non-profit. Furthermore, PBS clearly understands the power behind social media as well as the influence it holds and was willing to invest in that. The continued discussion about PBS and Big Bird a week later shows that with the proper support, social media can be a workhorse for any organization.

Sources: Mashable, Hubspot, CBS and PBS.

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Based on the advertisement Nestle has been running with the campaign, it is apparent that the company understands the potential for ‘big brother’ undertones in this kind of campaign. The difference of course being that in this scenario people are happy to be found and get their reward.

POPSCI notes that while Nestle may be the first company to do this with candy, they’re not the first company to use GPS to track down their customers: “Unilever added a GPS device to a box of laundry soap it sells in Brazil, and stalked 50 shoppers to their front doors to give them prizes.” Time will tell if the campaign has Kit-Kat consumers singing “Give Me a Break.”

It’s an interesting way to approach a campaign, specifically a social media campaign, bringing the interaction to the user as opposed to relying on the user to contact the company. This may be a sign of what is to come with social marketing campaigns, connecting with the user not only in genuine conversations on social networks but translating that virtual engagement into real life interactions. There are a few questions that come up when using this kind of technology: is integrating this technology going to make it easier for users to cheat, how comfortable are customers with gps tracking, etc.? Nevertheless, it is exciting to see a large company take risks and put their energy behind a multichannel campaign that is essentially focused on the customer. Furthermore customers seem to be supportive of the campaign which isn’t entirely surprising – $16,000 and a candy bar sounds like a great day.

Sources: Popsci

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Similarly, more and more companies are embracing the fact that on these social platforms, the consumer is in control, and that’s okay. In fact, putting the consumer in control gives many companies the advantage of having passionate brand ambassadors discuss and promote their products for free.

The conversations that occur around businesses now have progressed and need to be focused on the authentic versus non-authentic connections. Another way to think about this kind of marketing is as engagement as opposed to intrusion, building brands around people and taking advantage of the environments that are social by design.

Companies and brands must approach social media marketing strategies from the point of view of the consumer. How will this audience use this brand to describe themselves, and tell the story about themselves and their point of view? 

In order to do this effectively, companies must start planning a campaign by identifying the end experience they want the user to have – which should not simply be to buy the product. What are the connections the user is going to have with the product, and what emotion will make that user tell their friends and family about it in a positive way?

This is a helpful way for companies to determine which campaigns may or may not be successful. Will this effort create a meaningful story for the audience to generate? Will people want to talk about it and share it? If so, the next steps are to work backwards and determine how to develop a plan that will lead the user to that experience.

Of course certain truths remain regardless of the experience – if the campaign isn’t simple enough, people won’t engage with it. Especially at a time when there are so many options for users to choose from. However, it is important for companies to acknowledge that they no longerneed to put the customer at the center of their strategy; the customer is already there.

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In the United States alone, 93% of adults are on Facebook and have an average of 229 friends. The huge popularity of these networks alone make it impossible for companies to consider how to integrate social marketing into their traditional marketing plans.

What is interesting, and is now being discussed and embraced by more and more companies, is the use of social networks for inter-office communication. Many experts are now supporting social networks as the ideal platform for office communication. Among the many reasons are the fact that time spent searching for material is cut down and the fact that it makes for a more collaborative team can make progress faster and more efficiently.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, this idea is discussed; “Companies are beginning to discover that social technology platforms provide a far more efficient way of communicating and collaborating. And, they give companies a way to dig out the “dark matter” of company knowledge that is buried in email inboxes and on hard drives… On social platforms, communications become content – forming a searchable archive that can be continually enriched with comments and addition by members of the online community.”

By developing a social network specifically for a business to use between employees, the full extent of what the social age means can be ingrained in the company. Of course for this system to work, all members will need to participate starting from the top. A social network for business requires the mindset that has become more prevalent since the introduction of social networks – an openness of ideas and free flowing collaboration between people in order to create.

As HBR explains: “How do you create applications that are as compelling to corporate employees as they are to those same people in their personal lives? Techniques such as self-reinforcing behavior loops (e.g. gamification), A/B testing, and mobile deployment can be applied in the enterprise, just as they are used in the consumer space. But overall, changing mindsets, behaviors and a culture that celebrates and expects sharing and openness is a real organizational challenge.”  If more companies embrace this mentality, the potential for businesses to expand and progress is great.

Sources: Harvard Business Review, Hubspot

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These concerns are valid – there have been a number of cases where one wrong post or tweet spirals into a national (and at times, international) story about a company’s poor judgment and insensitivity. Similarly, anyone who has spent time on Twitter knows there is a nonstop stream of information to keep occupied reading, and Facebook boasts 20% of all page views on the web.

Nevertheless, some experts believe that for c-level executives, being an active presence on social networks is now part of the job description and will only help a business in the long run. According to Bill George, former Medtronic Inc. CEO, “People want CEOs who are real. They want to know what you think. Can you think of a more cost-effective way of getting to your customers and employees?”

This is an important point – social networks have created an environment where corporate talking heads are no longer acceptable. Users expect to have a relationship with the companies they do business with. A lack of one of these relationships signals a problem in the mind of the user.

Still, the pressure on c-level executives is more complex when legal ramifications are taken into account. A misleading tweet or misunderstood post has the potential to develop a life of it’s own at a rapid pace.

Perhaps that is why “seven in 10 Fortune 500 CEOs have no presence on major social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+, according to a recent report by CEO.com and analytics company Domo. Among those who do 4% have known Twitter accounts and 8% use Facebook under their own names…by contrast 34% of all Americans are on Twitter and 50% use Facebook.”

For executives who want to take part in these discussions and help actively promote their business, there are options to do so. To start, enlisting the help of a public-relations staff or copy writers will help ensure that updates do not contain easily avoidable grammar or spelling mistakes, and don’t cause friction with current events. Similarly, these professionals can help determine the proper tone for social networks based on the business and industry. A Twitter account for a retail store executive will be entirely different than that of an insurance company.

Overall, a social media presence for c-level executives runs the risk of inviting criticism, complaints, etc. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that these conversations are most likely going on whether or not a person or business is represented on the platform. By taking part in them, businesses and their executives have the change to clarify and set the record straight, while developing relationships with consumers and giving a business a more human and genuine feel.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Jeff Bullas.

In any company, there is the possibility for crisis (large, or small scale) that will need to be managed. Despite best efforts to avoid these issues, businesses need to have a plan in place to deal with them.

By preparing a crisis strategy in advance, the long and short-term effects of a crisis can be mitigated. Employing social media as a part of this strategy is an excellent, and at this point necessary, step. Some people are hesitant to use social media, believing it will lead to a crisis situation, as opposed to help prevent one; however, social media users are already free to discuss companies and brands on social networks and by being aware of these discussions, businesses can potentially pre-empt any discontent.

To this end, it is important for businesses to monitor the company name, c-level executives at the company and products among many others. By monitoring a company’s reputation online businesses gain the ability to prevent minor confusion or upset from spiraling into a full-blown PR nightmare.

There are of course times when prevention isn’t possible, and problems occur. The actions a business takes once “bad news” has hit the media (traditional or via social media) are crucial. Social networks are intended to create a 2-way dialogue between businesses and individuals and when crisis situations occur, these dialogues hold a lot of weight. Brushing aside problems or questions will no doubt be circulated, as our conversations are, to an extent, no longer private. This also means not giving a minor complaint due attention can potentially unfold into a widespread PR problem. Similarly, these issues can live on in infamy when people search for a business.

In an article for the Huffington Post, Amy Neumann explains -

“These are things your customers want during a crisis:

1. Feeling like I’m heard.
2. Feeling like my opinion matters.
3. Feeling like someone hears me and will do something.”

Having a well-established social media presence will help in these matters – an established relationship with users will help make feedback feel more genuine as opposed to a blanket corporate statement.

Once a resolution has been determined and is conveyed to users and consumers, thanking them for their patience and understanding is crucial. By treating consumers who interact in social media with genuine interest and respect, the story will hopefully lead away from the negative action that took place, and instead highlight the honest response from the business behind it.

Sources: The Huffington Post, Role of Social Media in Crisis Communication

The term used to describe this new mindset and age of possibility is debatable, but one Harvard Business Review writer, Nilofer Merchant, named it the “Social Era” and explained: “While in the industrial era, organizations became more powerful by being bigger, in the Social Era, companies can also be powerful by working with others. While the industrial era was about making a lot of stuff and convincing enough buyers to consume it, the Social Era is about the power of communities, of collaboration and co-creation. In the industrial era, power was from holding what we valued closed and separate; in the Social Era, there is another framework for how we engage one another – an open one.”

Using the term social media marketing may be a bit redundant seeing as how marketing has always been a social industry. The change comes from the fact that these interactions and relationships are now much stronger and much more powerful than they were previously. In order for a business to succeed in the quickly changing consumer landscape, it must adapt and reflect these changes in their business model.

Social platforms, and to some extent the progression of the way businesses are created and developed, have given some balance and equality between those running a business and those interacting and purchasing from it. Slowly the stark contrast between the two is being broken down and companies that embrace this mentality have seen huge success in social media.

With that in mind it is possible that a small business is more ideally positioned to take advantage of the “social era.” While they may lack the marketing budget of their corporate counterparts, the ability of a small business to adapt its business model and reflect the needs and wants of their audience more accurately and quickly. As stated in HBR, “The industrial era primarily honored the institution as a construct of creating value. And the information age (inclusive of Web 1.0 and web 2.0 phases) primarily honored the value that data could provide to institutional value creation. It allowed for great efficiency to do the same things that were done in the industrial era. The Social Era honors the value creation starting with the single unit of a connected human.”

For companies to take full advantage of the technology and tools that are now available, they must be ready for the exchange and open flow of ideas that is now not only possible, but prominent: “Companies cannot survive…without recognizing that Social as a phenomenon can allow us to redefine our organizations to be inherently more fast fluid and flexible by its very design.” In order to succeed in the future, businesses will need to understand and harness the power of the community.

To contact Wild Frog Studio call 914.428.4645 or via email.

Sources: Harvard Business Review, Merriam Webster Dictionary

If nothing else, the launch of the game,  “Syrum” has already garnered the company a huge amount of publicity all before its launch. The publicity for Boehringer Ingelheim will only continue to increase as the game is in use.

Players will potentially discuss the company in relation to the game – a conversation topic that no doubt has more traction than pharmaceuticals in some circles. This kind of brand awareness is a great asset for any business.

John Pugh, the company’s Director of Digital explained the goal behind launching a pharmaceutical social game. According to Daniel Ghinn; “ Speaking at Doctors 2.0 conference in Paris earlier this year, Pugh said that the game is a move away from the pharmaceutical industry’s image as ‘the most boring industry in the galaxy…my mission is to try and create a more engaging and a more emotional image for our company, and hopefully for the pharma industry as well.’’”

Gaming has already seen a fair amount of success on social networks. Zygna’s game revenue is currently 12% of Facebook’s revenue and more companies are implementing some sort of gamification daily. The creation of Syrum will no doubt increase the engagement Boehringer Ingelheim receives on their Facebook page.

The beta test version of Syrum will already encourage fans to comment on the game, as the company explains via their Facebook page; “we are launching in public beta so that we can collaborate with players to evolve and improve the game. There will be chances to submit ideas (and vote on the best ones!), give feedback and really work together to make the game more exciting!”

For an industry that has been painted as hesitant towards social media, the launch of Syrum will solidify Boehringer Ingelheim’s place as a thought leader. Of course, the implementation of this game is behind the general wave of social media games, but the potential it holds is exciting for the industry. Creating a more casual and comfortable environment to discuss the pharmaceutical industry, even in the context of a social media game, will absolutely benefit the company and perhaps the industry as a whole.

The study found that 66% of Fortune 500 companies have a corporate Facebook page up 13.8% from last year and 73% of these companies use Twitter, up 17.7% from 2011.  More information from The Social Media Surge by the 2012 Fortune 500 below:

Blogs

In 2012 139 companies had corporate blogs, or 28% – proving to be the largest increase in the use of this tool since 2008. Of these 139 corporations, 54 out of 71 industries are represented from the F500. Partial findings are shown in the chart below, but companies in the Telecommunications industry have 40% of their companies blogging while Commercial Banks, Special Retail and Utilities have 25%-30% of their companies with corporate blogs. 90% of the blogs take comments, have RSS feeds and take subscriptions.

It will be interesting to see which of the 17 industries that do not currently have any of their companies blogging will incorporate the social tool into their strategy and what effects it will have on their business. Judging by the success of blogging as an inbound marketing tool in other industries, one can assume it will bring positive results, but time will tell.

Twitter

Of the F500 companies, 365 or 73% have a corporate Twitter account with a tweet in the past thirty days, representing an 11% increase since last year. All of the top 10 companies in the F500 consistently post on their corporate Twitter accounts. In 2011 six of the F500 companies had Twitter accounts with no activity; however, in 2012 all companies are posting to accounts somewhat regularly.

All of the industries in the F500 are represented with corporate Twitter accounts (again, a partial list shown below).  The Food Consumer Products industry has 13 out of 14 companies with Twitter accounts, or 93% whereas the Motor Vehicles and Parts industry has 44% of their companies on twitter.

Facebook

Three hundred thirty-two or 66% of the F500 are on Facebook as of 2012, which represents an 8% increase since last year. It is worth noting, however, that eight of the top 10 companies have Facebook pages, while two (Exxon and Berkshire Hathaway) do not. Based on the nature of these companies however, this may be a prudent move.

Two of the 71 industries represented in the F500 are not on Facebook – Tobacco and Diversified Outsourcing Services. A partial list of the industries represented in below.

The number of Fortune 500 companies that have taken interest in social media has increased across the board. No doubt, these companies are aware of the value social networks bring to inbound marketing efforts and have the means available to do so effectively.  For some of the industries that are not yet involved, the nature of their business makes it understandable; nevertheless, it will be interesting to see who has joined in the next year and how their efforts are panning out.