Posts Tagged ‘social media’

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Google Launches New “Personal Profiles”

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Google announced last night that they have begun to roll out a redesign of its Google Profile pages, this is the profile that allows Google account users to add pictures and information about them. If you pick to have you Google Profile set as public then there is a very good chance when someone searches for you this will be the first thing that they will come across, which could be very important should you be looking to create a personal brand online.

One of the things that you will notice straight away is the similarities to Facebook. The profile page also allows you to enter detailed information including age, occupation, photos, social media sites and your location . Making it look a lot more professional compared to its predecessor.

In a blog post which announced the new profiles Google reiterates that Google Profiles are designed for individuals, not businesses; Google claims it’s working on “new ways for businesses to engage with their customers,” and hopefully we can expect some updates there in the near future.

Could all these recent updates to the various Google services be the beginning of the much rumoured “Google Me” or “Google + 1” which is said to be the backbone of Google’s next attempt at social media.

 

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Lucozade Targets Social Media Users !

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

Lucozade, the soft drinks giant are just one of many global brands who are now targeting users with social media marketing.  According to musicweek.com the drinks giant will use spotify to promote its new instant win campaign which will come packaged in various flavours of new Lucozade bottles. The competition which starts today will give customers a chance to win access to over  1 million add free tracks on the social music service.

Spotify have also confirmed that they will enhance the Lucozade promotion by offering access to exclusive interviews and tracks from contributing artists, which include Tinchy Stryder.

To take part in the competition you will need to purchase one of the promotional bottles, you will then find a unique identification number, once you have this number all you have to do is head over to their website and enter your code.

Adam Williams, Spotify UK sales director, said there was a ‘great synergy’ between the brands. Andy Mahoney, brand manager of Lucozade, said the partnership ‘comes at exactly the right time for both brands’.

This promotion is thought to be the first of its kind that has made use of the ‘social capabilities’ of  Spotify for online marketing , although advertising is a big part of Spotify marketing strategy this is the first joint venture for the growing music company which should see its US launch in the next few months.

Matthew Marley 360innovate

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Google Social Search Update !

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Google Social Search Update

Google has rolled out some pretty exciting updates to its social search today.

They have announced that they will now be integrating social media results with regular listings which will see annotations from your friends and the people that you care about should you be logged in to your Google account. Previously these results showed at the bottom of the page, however with this update they will be in direct view of the user.

This could be massive for Google in their war with Facebook who has an alliance with Bing. By connecting with everyone else in the social world Google has shown its more than capable of creating its own social graph !

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Facebook Rolls Out New Pages !!!

Friday, February 11th, 2011

You may notice something different if you log in to you Facebook Page this morning. The social media giant rolled out several new changes to their pages platform last night with a much cleaner design and a few changes to the page architecture. If you have been using the new Facebook profile then this will be very familiar as they have implemented the same design and features with a few extras which keeps the new design more consistent across the full site.

Some of the new features include

  • New Layout
  • The ability to switch between your profile and the pages that you manage
  • Browse Facebook as your page
  • New photo banner model
  • The ability to add iframes to tabs

The have also introduced a new keyword filter for pages which describes itself as filtering out “words and phrases marked as offensive by the broader community,” without elaborating on what the specific words are nor whether the community alluded to means people on the site or the world at large.

Overall this is a pretty big update from Facebook and an overall improvement to the previous version of Facebook Pages.

What’s your thoughts on this update ?

For more info check out the Facebook Pages section here

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Twitter in talks with Google & Facebook !!

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Social Media Marketing

This is some pretty big news in the world of Social Media this morning, if true. According to reports in The Guardian today Twitter has been in talks with potential suitors, which include both Facebook and Google.  The report has indicated that the deal could be valued at $10 billion, however according to a few sources the talks haven’t progressed very far as of yet.  The Wall Street Journal has reported that the micro blogging service which had estimated revenues at $45 million last year is now valued at a whopping $8 – 10 billion dollars. Both companies are are believed to have bid for Twitter in the past when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is believed to have offered Twitter $500m in stock for the company in 2008, however the deal collapsed. Google were also rumoured to have has a deal rejected recently before the search giant made an offer for Groupon which also collapsed.

Who would you like to see buy Twitter ????

Matthew Marley – 360innovate

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Facebook Privacy And Why You Should Care!!

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

I have noticed there seems to be a lot more interest from people regarding their privacy on Facebook these days, maybe this is due to the media attention that it’s had recently. Personally I keep my account private and I think everyone should as this gives me full control of the information that I chose to share with people. The privacy features which come with Facebook is something not a lot of people use, or aware of which is mainly due to how complicated and confusing these features can be for the none technical people who use the social network. In the past 12 month we have seen Facebook role out a whole new set of privacy features to help users stay safe while using the site, so I thought I would create this blog to highlight some of the main privacy features that everyone should use and at least be aware of!

Lists

Social Media Marketing Glasgow

The friend’s lists in Facebook are a great feature, which not a lot of people know about. Facebook describes them as a feature which will allow you to create private groups of friends based on your personal preferences. For example, you can create a Friend List for your close friends that you see on a regular basis, you can create a list for work colleagues and people that you may have attended school with.  You can create Friend Lists for all of your needs, allowing you to quickly view your friends by type and also send messages to your lists.

A typical setup for a friends list and something I use personally would be “Friends”, “Family”, and “Professional”. These three groups can then be used to apply different privacy policies. For example, you may only want you closest friends to see photos from the party you were at last night, but you don’t want your family or professional contacts to see.

To create a list all you have to do is go to the friends section on Facebook

How To Use The Custom Settings

Facebook has made a lot of improvements in this area recently, to access this part of the site just go to the custom settings , once you are there you can select who has access to all of your information that you have shared on your Facebook account including pictures and your location which can be shared using Facebook Places. You can customize these setting and set this to friends only, friends of friends or everyone which will allow everyone on Facebook to have access to all your information. One of the great features is that you can customize your sharing settings so only certain people get to see what you want them to see. To do this just click on the drop down box and select the people you want to have access to this information.

Social Media Marketing Glasgow

These are just a few of the main privacy settings that I would recommend that everyone should use, I have also included a video below that was released by Facebook which will give you an overview of all the new changes to the privacy feature which they have rolled out to all users recently.

Matthew Marley – 360innovate

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More commercial possibilities for Twitter

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Although yet to be confirmed by Twitter itself the brand has created an @earlybird channel which is set to be monetised as a daily deals service.

In December, Dell reported $6.5 million in sales following two years of promotions on Twitter, and they aren’t the only brand using the micro blogging website to advertise and promote their brand, products and services many other brands use the free service as a promotional tool.

Whilst typical brand profiles take time to develop a steady following using the @earlybird channel enables brands to advertise specific promotions to a massive audience. This commercial venture will no doubt be a successful one, not only offering exciting offers it places control back into the audiences hands giving them the power to decided whether they want to be exposed to the advertising or not. There is no indication as to when @earlybird will go live, the tweets are currently protected but noise from Twitter camp indicates that what exactly @earlybird is will be revealed shortly.

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Is B2B dominating social media?

Friday, May 28th, 2010

For far too long consumer led companies have held the social media throne. Social networks such as Facebook and micro blogging site Twitter have provided them with a direct channel to their target market whilst business to business companies were left somewhat in dust trying to figure out how exactly social media tools could be used for business.

The common misconception held about business to business social media management is that social media is only for young people and Facebook users therefore it won’t work for B2B. Despite still being a commonly held opinion it is entirely false; social media is highly versatile stretching way beyond Facebook, the average social network user age is 37 years old and research shows that 91% of B2B decision makers consume social media. Companies such as Scania, Oracle, and John Deere are all shining examples of how diverse social media is and how it can be used to engage with the market.

These individual cases show that social media provides B2B companies with the perfect suite of online tools to engage with their online market, and a recent article by eMarketer has revealed that B2B companies are now taking advantage of social media even more so than their B2C counterparts. The article confirmed that B2B businesses have overtaken B2C in terms of utilising the various opportunities available online.  Perhaps because, despite knowing of its multiple opportunities it was never as clear cut as B2C for B2B marketers to approach social media. Yes, there were boundaries and B2B’s had to work hard to overcome them but as a result B2B online marketing and its uptake has evolved at lightening speed.

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Social Media, Politics and Me

Friday, March 26th, 2010

“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” — Mother Theresa

I am by no means a political person, I have only voted once before (in the Scottish election) and I am ashamed to say it was a fairly uneducated vote which I now feel could do more damage than no vote at all. However, because of the growing use of social media I am beginning to learn and understand a little bit about politics, stuff I usually just regarded as ‘grown up stuff’. But now I suppose I have to consider myself a grown up and having felt the strain of the recent recession it has now dawned on me that all this ‘grown up stuff’ has an incredible impact on how I am living my life.

Social media certainly can’t take all the glory for introducing me to the wonderful world of politics; patient friends, family & colleagues have filled me in a lot, magazines (Vogue is surprisingly political), TV, and the BBC website have all played a part in tickling my curiosity. But, in the past week with the run up to the budget and the budget itself I have been paying a little bit more attention thanks to Twitter; the commentary via #budget2010 provided me with an interesting insight into proper political debate. Likewise all the #cashgordon chat, despite maybe being for the wrong reasons did get me on to a website which I wouldn’t have previously bothered with.

A couple years ago in the US election, Barack Obama, showed us how to really use the social media channels to his benefit and I am a big believer that social media played a significant role in the success of his campaign. With the upcoming UK election it will be very interesting to see whether British politicians will follow suit and embrace social media?

Of course all the main parties have set themselves up on Twitter and Facebook. The Conservatives have even gone as far to compile Twitter lists of MEPs, MPs, Peers etc but there is not a whiff of David Cameron or George Osborne; unlike the Liberal Democrats where Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are (apparently) Tweeting on a daily basis; with Nick Clegg even trying to get #asknickclegg as a trending topic.

The benefits and risks facing political parties entering the social media sphere are relatively the same as any business; you can gain the trust, credibility and love of your followers/supporters by being transparent, genuine and engaging them in conversations. On the downside transparency opens you up to criticism, negativity and, without planning, can lead to failure.

Already the Conservatives have seen that social media can go a bit wrong with their Cash Gordon website being  hijacked but hats off to them for embracing social media and any publicity is good publicity, isn’t it? There will always be people out there, pie chuckers I saw them affectionately referred to on the BBC, who will just throw insults without engaging in relevant debate and the freedom of social media tools, in particular sites such as Twitter and Facebook, provide a prime opportunity for this behaviour. But is the risk worth it?

I have noticed whilst looking around all the various Twitter pages, websites, blogs and Facebook pages is that it is all a bit one sided. There is a post or status update then an influx of comments, and of all the comments I read I did not once see the political party respond. Yes, a lot of commenter’s are pie chuckers  but amongst the trash there is some serious points being made and debates being had- and it is from the comments of these Facebook pages that I feel I learnt something about the party policies not from what the party was saying themselves. Which is all very interesting for me but perhaps not what the party would have intended.

Surely they should be delivering the message not us?

What I find even more bizarre about this situation is that politicians go all around the country trying to talk to various groups of people to communicate their message but fail to use these tools which would put them in direct contact with thousands of potential voters. Despite the enthusiasm of others I felt neither inspired nor enticed to comment on any of the online ‘conversations’ the parties were trying to have,  I would feel out of my depth amongst the other obviously more informed commenter’s and if I did comment it would no doubt be a question and why would I ask a question when I know it won’t get answered? There is this excellent opportunity for politicians to talk directly with potential voters and they appear to be failing on all accounts.

The most engaging use of social media I have seen so far is the Democracy UK Facebook page. It was set up by Facebook so not a politically run social media page but, still, attention should be paid to their way of interacting and encouraging engagement from visitors. Perhaps politicians don’t want to become too transparent for fear of vulnerability, just like my opening quote suggests, and yes they should just do it anyway. Social media is potentially one of the most powerful tools they have in their pockets but to really achieve its maximum effect political parties need to take risks, join the conversation and engage with the potential voters. If the Democracy UK Facebook page demonstrates anything it is that there are people online who want to discuss, debate and connect providing political parties with the perfect opportunity to converse with potential voters and listen to their constituents.

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User generated content- friend or foe?

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

User generated content refers to content on a website or similar form of media which has been produced, written or compiled by the users of that media/website. The greatest example of user generated content is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is produced, maintained and regulated by its users; it is the fifth most popular website in the world (Econsultancy) and although it has been subject to several practical jokes it still remains a trusted source of knowledge and information.

The various ways a brand can integrate user generated content within their online presence are;

  • Web Forum
  • Branded social network
  • Open comments on the blog
  • Review section
  • Video/photo galleries
  • Brand wiki

Web Forum

A forum is a place for people to talk and discuss various matters. They are commonly characterised by topic and are created by fans of that particular topic/product/service. Brands can use a forum as a place to talk with and connect customers encouraging them to  discuss the product/service and post questions giving the brand a means of providing additional customer service and technical support.

Examples of brands using forums; BT, Nintendo and Joomla!

Social network

Social networks are the likes of Facebook and Bebo where friends can connect with one another the platforms allowing them to easily talk online, share content and generally interact with other users of the website including brands. A growing trend is the establishment of brand run social networks  where fans of that brand can connect with the company and other fans allowing them to share experiences, keep up to date with the brand, get exclusive promotions and interact with the people behind the brand. Although creating your own social network  gives you greater control and flexibility it is possible to create a similar community on any exisiting social networks; Asos demonstrate both options by having their own community page and a very successful Facebook page with over 170,000 fans.

Examples of company specific social networks; Asos, Reebok andToyota.

Blog

A blog is an online diary or web log, they are increasingly being utilised by businesses to communicate with stakeholders, however, a blog shouldn’t be a one way street it is there to engage users and encourage feedback. Although not entirely user generated a blog is an ideal place to encourage customer feedback, ideas and conversation and in that sense it is a tool for generating user content. For efficient use of commenting facilities minimise the moderation of comments where possible, respond to any comments left and actively invite readers to get involved by posting their thoughts and comments.

Examples of company blogs engaging with readers; Econsultancy, Playstation and Spotify.

Reviews

Many websites, in particular ecommerce sites, are now providing review facilities providing customers with the chance to provide feedback on the product or service that they recieved. User generated reviews and recommendations are one of the most powerful selling tools for any business  so having positive reviews posted beside products can play an influential role in the decision making process of a potential customer. There are many ways for reviews to be displayed in a website, with most content managed systems it is fairly simple to turn on a review facility, there are also companies such as Feefo who follow every sale with an email requesting feedback which is then displayed on the website adding further authenticity to the review.

Examples of review facilities; MyWardrobe, American Apparel, First Direct and Comet

Video/Photo galleries

On your website you can provide a gallery displaying videos or photos submitted by customers. A gallery could be used in conjunction with a competition, as part of a review facility or simply to show off the product/service. The benefit of having user generated photos and videos is that it can be used across several channels, within the website, on the social media profiles and on a dedicated YouTube channel for videos.

Examples of user generated galleries; Firebox, Oxo and Asos (again!)

Brand Wiki

A company wiki can be utilised for internal use as an effective and affordable alternative to an intranet. Users create, amend and edit the content within the wiki so its not something a company would want to let loose to the general public but along with being an excellent hub for employees to post information and communicate with one another. Within Wikipedia many larger (or reknowned) companies will have a page, it is impossible to completely control the information posted on the page, however, you can ensure that the information is factual, up to date and non slanderous. For any issues with the company wiki read this blog post.

The Pros and Cons of it all

Using and promoting user generated content is an excellent way to engage with customers and can in many cases be an excellent source of inspiration for improving or marketing your service or product. Further to this user generated content can form an integral part of an advertising and online marketing campaign; many companies including Doritos, TMobile, Asos and Oxo all use customer made videos and photographs in some form of marketing material as a means of selling their products.

Of course whenever a company invites people to generate content they are running the risk of receiving a bit of negative comments, to curb this many opt to moderate comment and reviews facilities ensuring only the ‘good’ ones get through. Doing so can have a negative effect; you run the possibility of no one commenting or alternatively no one trusting the comments being made. Instead of moderating consider allowing negative comments to be posted and read by one ‘n’ all but ensure that you respond to it. By engaging upset customers you are showing that your company accepts its mistakes and seeks to learn from them. Look to BT on Twitter who actively enage with customers having difficulty with their BT service turning a nasty situation into an incredibly positive one.

For any company seeking to encourage user generated content the best course of action is to have a set of moderation guidelines and procedures in the case of negative comments or publicity ensuring that everyone understands how the publicity and comments are to be dealt with.

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