[SOCIALNEWS] Brands should delight. Really, that’s what it all comes down to, right? I experienced this “stand a little straighter and smile a little wider” feeling just the other day when I was, uh, shopping online (something I rarely do. PROMISE). Let me tell you about it.
[SOCIALNEWS] But while we all marvel at the power of Obama’s online campaign, the truth is that most of the tools his campaign used are available to ordinary citizens and advocacy groups for less than $20 a month. The platform that provides these tools is NationBuilder. I sat down with NationBuilder’s Vice President of Organizing Michael Moschella to learn more about this great tool.
[SOCIALNEWS] In 2012, Nissan tapped into their social community’s passion for rebuilding classic cars by introducing Project 370Z, the first ever social media build of a classic car. Over eight weeks, Nissan gave its community a choice of the car to restore, the parts to use, and the colors to paint it; together the community built a car from the ground up.
[SOCIALNEWS] Democratisation requires differentiation to stand out, and in this saturated landscape, how does a brand differentiate itself from it’s competition? What is that difference that makes all the difference?
[SOCIALNEWS] Even in the ad world content plays an important role. 68% of UK users responded that ads should tell a unique story which mentioned John Lewis and Guiness as good examples. One of the main ingredients should be the humour factor of the story. Funny is the driver for happiness, and outplaces “sexy” ads.
[SOCIALNEWS] Engagement in social happens when conversations are relevant to the intended audience. It’s critical to understand the makeup of your social audience and deliver relevant social brand experiences. Success in social isn’t about tricks to get more followers or short-term solutions for a single campaign.
[SOCIALNEWS] Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, invented his business on accessibility to their customers. Today’s customers are social customers, so rather than measuring how little time each customer service rep spends on a resolution or general communication, Zappos built a model where employees are rewarded for spending more time conversing with their customers.
[SOCIALNEWS] Salesforce.com announced its intent to acquire email marketing and marketing automation vendor ExactTarget for ~$2.5B or $33.75/share, ending a few years worth of speculation as to which marketing automation vendor it would eventually acquire.
[SOCIALNEWS] You may come to understand which types of content drive more leads and conversions for your business, but another factor to consider is the time and money that goes into different types of content.
[SOCIALNEWS] Social media has grown a lot since 2010, and marketers have undoubtedly become a bit more comfortable with new media, but the problems of competency and time still haunt a business’s marketing efforts. A social media manager is often brought into a company to solve those problems.
[SOCIALNEWS] A critical moment for consumer/brand interactions is the Zero Moment of Truth (or ZMOT). ZMOT encompasses the time between consumers’ first exposure to advertising for a product and the ultimate purchase decision—with emphasis on the online research of the product that happens in between.
[SOCIALNEWS] The genius in that picture is an unnamed employee from Taco Bell. The reason why this is stupid is rather self-explanatory. I don’t understand it. This happens way more often than it should and there is zero reason for that. Social media is a great tool and resource…but it makes everything dumb so much more visible. And that’s a real shame.
[SOCIALNEWS] When we are teaching our clients in our blog posts, we have to be genuine and helpful. We have to provide the kind of information that our readers are asking for, and at the same time, we have to be clear about what it is we want.
[SOCIALNEWS] We’re constantly assessing the impact our of various marketing channels. One thing has become painfully clear: Facebook is not worth the time and effort. Today I’m going to tell you why we decided to stop wasting time on Facebook.
[SOCIALNEWS] Smaller organizations tend towards complacency, believing that attacks only target government, military and high profile organizations. This leaves them vulnerable to easily preventable attacks.
[SOCIALNEWS] I’m sure all of you know that Yahoo recently acquired Tumblr and is showing signs of having learned from Google’s creeping strategy with Google+. But instead of going after the techies and marketing types it’s focusing its reach on the creatives of cyberspace.
[SOCIALNEWS] It doesn’t take that many people to steal a hashtag. A dozen or so independent tweeters pushing an alternative message on someone else’s campaign hashtag can dramatically shift the sentiment of a conversation in a matter of minutes. A sustained effort can effectively deny a campaign of its ability to use its hashtag to promote its message.
[SOCIALNEWS] Ginna Sauerwein explains how FedEx uses social media to provide excellent customer service. FedEx integrates across multiple functions to create a seamless customer service experience. They try new technology, like video chat. They turn to their influencers to communicate with their whole customer base. What ideas pioneered by FedEx might be helpful for your business?
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[SOCIALNEWS] I was at a fantastic party recently, and being unable to switch off from work meant I found myself comparing it to marketing a business (sad, I know). Here are my observations on the similarities between throwing a party and promoting a business online.
