Marketing is changing at a lightning pace, with platforms, strategies and media continuously evolving. In fact, in today’s world, it is essential that marketing departments become media and research departments as well.

As I wrote previously in “Brands as Publishers and How It’s Changing Marketing,” many major brands’ marketing departments are churning out incredible amounts of content in order to connect with customers and amplify their messages – a concept that has grown in popularity only in recent years.

Major brands and organizations are also using social media as a key component of their marketing strategies. Social networking platforms are used to source user-generated content for campaigns, spread messaging and content, and engage brand communities and consumers.

In fact, according to Ogilvy’s 2012 Social Media Study, while only 15% of B2B marketers reported using social media in 2007, by 2012 91% of those marketers reported using social media as part of their marketing strategy.

Here’s a closer look at how exactly social media marketing has changed and how more and more marketing and advertising campaigns are integrating social as a key component:

Continue reading →

The case for the full integration of social media and eCommerce is not subject to debate.  Anyone who has been remotely interested in the digital space for the last few years understands that social media influences purchase behavior.  Some of the latest studies, such as the one conducted by Chadwick Martin Bailey, in connection with iModerate Research Technologies, confirm that consumers are “67% more likely to buy from brands they follow on Twitter, and 51% more likely to buy from a brand they follow on Facebook.”

Additionally, our own experiences with Postano social hubs indicates that consumers want to see a brand’s social media content on a brands’ eCommerce websites– those brands that have implemented our Postano Social Hub generally see a 2-3X increase in average time on site, and a 3-7X increase in social sharing of that content.

Challenges with Integrating eCommerce and Social

So, integrating social media with eCommerce should be simple – a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup type scenario where the marketing folks and the eCommerce team should realize that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  But in general, most brands struggle with the task.

Many companies are either unaware of the social hub platforms available for use, or are not willing to devote the real estate necessary on their eCommerce sites to show off their brand’s social media content at its best.

Tommy Hilfiger's social hub, which aggregates curated social media content

Instead, they may make use of the many plugins and widgets that are available, but are then either unhappy that the widget does not look brand right, and/or become distressed that their web traffic, acquired at great cost end effort, is diverted away to visit external social media channels.
Continue reading →

1. Seeing innovative social media displays at more events

If SXSW this year was any indication, it’s clear there is a growing trend towards displaying live social media feeds in customized and engaging displays. Everywhere our team went in Austin we saw a huge number of brands showing social buzz – in the form of Tweets, Instagram photos, check-ins and more – in interactive visualizations at events, parties and in the convention center.

Here at Postano, we’ve been helping brands and conferences create unique, branded visual experiences with social media content – either from official feeds or user-generated content based on hashtags.

Social media displays can help bring the digital audience into a physical space, and when fans see their content driving the visuals up on the big screen, social media activity and engagement can increase dramatically.

The surge of activity ripples across the web and engages fans who are not even attending the event. Using a hashtag specific to the event can inspire more engagement and even help the event trend.

Here at Postano, we have helped power social media visualizations for everything from corporate conferences, like Dell World, to parties at SXSW, like the Smirnoff powered #Mixhibit VIP lounge at Viceland.

>> Learn more about the Postano event visualization options, which range from montage style boards to fully animated 3D sequences, all created with live, dynamic content.

2. Second screen viewing experiences

Large cultural and televised events are no longer relegated to TV alone. This year, CES added a 2^nd Screen Summit, which showed the meteoric rise in social television in 2012.  In 2012, social TV grew 363%, ending the year with 800 million comments made about televised events on social media.

Some other statistic about the huge rise in second screen viewing:

• 40% of tablet owners seek further information about the TV program
• 29% of smart phone owners shop online while watching TV
• 46% of smart phone owners check social networks while watching TV

>> See Full Infographic on Social Television by Blue Fin

As I wrote in Twitter hashtags and the Super Bowl, Twitter hashtags were mentioned in 50% of the television ads this year – showing marketers increased interest in engaging television audiences online and expanding the reach of their campaigns through social media.
Continue reading →

By now, you know the importance of having an active social media presence to build your brand, fan base, and link building efforts. You may have a large following, an active presence, and a content publishing calendar covering every major and upcoming social network, but there are some opportunities you may be missing to learn from your audience.

I’m here to position how you use on social media in order to uncover important information about your customers, competition, and PR opportunities.

“Likes” Are People Too

In a digital world where marketing departments obsess over the number of new Facebook likes and Twitter followers, it’s important to take a step back and value what fans really are – people. More than that, your social supporters are real customers with likes and interests. Stop treating your users as one data-defined segment of the Internet’s population and treat your audience as individuals.

Your audience and what they say about your online define your brand and can provide invaluable insight into how to market to a much larger demograpghic. Aggregating and curating user-generated conversations into a visual dashboard, can be one of way of easily saying what your customers, or potential customers, are saying about you online.

You can then turn social media interactions into case studies on customers that move beyond demographics based on real fans preferences. Not only will this help put a face to your visitors, you will begin to understand how different people interact with your site and what information you need to include in your content marketing strategy to reach the entirety of your audience.

I like to print out the picture of a few fans and put a few bullet points next to each image to use as examples of our customer profiles. Here’s a few examples (minus the pictures):

• Julie – impulsive, 23-years-old, loves deals, active on Facebook
• Jessica – comparison shopper, Internet savvy, looks to expert opinions
• John – wants the newest gear first, young professional, looks for exclusives, Tweets often

Keep Learning from the Competition

When you first delve into social media marketing, it’s good practice to examine your competition to see how they manage their social media campaigns and find out what type of topics their covering, the frequency and time they post, and any other insights to get you started. After you find find your own voice and build a following, keep paying attention, but shift your focus from what other companies are doing to their interactions.

Who actively shares posts with their audience? What fans follow more than one of your competitors, but not you? Who has the potential to reach the largest audience? Tools like SEOMoz’s Followerwonk and Advanced Search on Twitter make it easier than ever to analyze social media and prospect leads. These can be writers covering your industry, related brands with large followings happy to interact online, or just super-fans ready to share some love.

After you identify key brand ambassadors and influencers within your industry, dig into their public profiles to learn more about them. Monitor what they post about and what other groups they belong to and become active in those communities. When you finally reach out to them, you may be on their radar already, and you do so armed with a wealth of knowledge about their interests and habits making it much easier to turn them into your fans as well.
Continue reading →

In 2011, Instagram was still a burgeoning social network had fewer than 5 million users and was still largely untapped as a marketing channel for many small and big brands. Two years later, Instagram has over 80 million users, has been acquired by Facebook and 40% of the Interbrand 100 are now using the service for social media marketing.

It probably comes as no surprise that many of the top brands on Instagram are the same ones who are extremely active on other social channels, and were early adopters of the photo network. MTV, Starbucks, Burberry and Nike are the top 4 brands on Instagram, all with more than 300,000 followers and high engagement rates.

But, for those smaller businesses and brands just starting to use Instagram as a marketing channel, you may be left wondering how you can increase exposure of your brand’s Insatrgam account, gain followers and increase engagement rates. Here are 7 tips to help you get started on the path to Instagram success:

1. Use Hashtags Effectively

Hashtags can be an incredibly effective way to expose your content and account to a much wider audience than those who already follow you. The guidelines for using hashtags on Instagram follow many of the same principles as on Twitter. Read my post “12 Tips for Effective Twitter Hashtag Marketing” for a more in-depth look at how to best use hashtags to your marketing advantage.

You can use hashtags on your Instagram account in every post you make. Here are a few different ways you can use hashtags to help promote your business Instagram account:

Continue reading →