A roundup of relevant links affecting our industry.
Each week, I compose a newsletter that includes a series of links about current events and trends in the worlds of technology, social media, mobile, communications and marketing in order to keep our wider team up to date on changes, newsworthy items and content that might be useful in their jobs. These are those links.
If you have additional links, sources or ideas that might be helpful, I'd encourage you to add some via a comment below or tag me in Google+. And if you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links in the This Week in Social Media Magazine.
Video, mobile, content marketing secrets, Facebook statistics, brands playing with fire via controversial co-creators and more, it's This Week in Social Media...
Industry News
- Content is always challenging to develop for social media, but what about the efforts you're undertaking for engaging fans? Here are 7 ways to improve your social media engagement.
- Salesforce has unveiled a Communities solution for the enterprise, which leverages its Chatter platform and other products to create portals that will allow external conversations to be brought into the company more seamlessly.
- The most popular video ads shared online are entertainment, fast-moving consumer packaged goods (FMCG) and technology, with automotive a distant third. For autos, even the Super Bowl didn't help, as social sharing around that content fell flat in Q1 2013.
- In the automotive space, online reviews are just as influential as professional opinions for buyers.
- Being a community manager is more than just posting to social networks on behalf of brands. Here are eight different roles that community managers must play on any given day.
- American Airlines has introduced a Klout perks program, giving a one-day pass to their Admirals Club to anyone with a Klout score of 55 or higher.
- U.S. retailer Target is teaming up with Facebook for Cartwheel, part of a digital savings program that gives consumers a chance to select and share deals in an effort to drive more foot traffic to stores.
Content
- Here's a test: replace "content" with "stories" every time you reference content marketing. Do you really have a good story to tell?
- Why does your brand need a content studio? Because, chicken.
- One of the things that Oreo achieved with its Daily Twist campaign was muscle memory that allowed them to produce high quality content that could be quickly approved.
- Lessons from the Bayer Potato Planner yield five steps to create compelling content.
- How to succeed at content: focus on defining what quality content is, its business purpose and the ease of discovering it.
- Guess what? If you want to be in the real-time content creation game, you need to consume real-time content. Directing from the sidelines just isn't going to cut it any longer.
The Platforms
- Facebook has said that 30% of its revenue is derived from mobile advertising, and it's a good thing, as 1 in 6 users access Facebook only via a mobile device.
- But is there a downside to it? As Facebook integrates the web, mobile and even offline experience, the mountain of data on which it sits is mind-boggling and risky.
- Facebook has published a guide for journalists and media companies to better engage readers. The 12 best practices also include links to a developer site for media and best practices for Pages in general and for journalists.
- Big brands have been approaching Facebook about ads on Instagram, but currently there are no plans to start offering advertising. Looks like brands will have to stick to telling compelling stories with images that earn attention.
- Instagram introduced the ability to tag photos, effectively giving brands a new way for people to explore photos of their business.
- Three weeks after its acquisition, Pulse is introducing sharing functionalities to LinkedIn.
- Warren Buffett started a Twitter account last week. His first tweet from his verified account: "Warren is in the house."
- Between TrueView metrics and planned monthly subscription fees, keep your eye on YouTube.
- Here is a comprehensive set of statistics on how many users are on various social media apps, services and platforms.
Measurement/Big Data
- Data can (and should) fuel storytelling. Here's how.
- The role of the CIO is changing, and according to the Harvard Business Review, the CIO will intersect with things like the socially-enabled enterprise, digital business ecosystem and innovation as competitive advantage.
Legal/Regulatory
- The White House has created a chief privacy officer position and Twitter's legal director has been named to fill it.
Bookmarks/Read-Watch-Listen Later
- Kara Swisher has a feature in Vanity Fair on how the Facebook-Instagram came to be, including the nugget that negotiations were delayed because Mark Zuckerberg was watching Game of Thrones.
- If Emily Post were to provide tips for social media, she'd write The Marketer's Guide to Proper Social Media Etiquette. Please mind your manners.
- What's next for social? Well, once you've caught your breath with everything that's been going on from the last 5 years or so, wrap your head around the collaborative economy, where brands use their goods and services for trade.
Commentary
"You will be judged by the company that you keep." So goes the old adage. Some recent examples by major brands are really testing this notion, teetering on the edge of good judgment in exchange for the relevance/popularity game.Last week, Mountain Dew was taken to task for the third video in a series that, taken out of context, did not put them in a good light. The video series was created by Tyler, the Creator, whose Twitter handle is so offensive, I won't name it here. The beverage maker teamed up with the leader of the Odd Future collective, and even he seemed surprised, saying Mountain Dew "let my stupid ideas come to life."
This week, Major League Baseball (MLB) turned over its Twitter handle to comedian Rob Delaney (@RobDelaney) for seven hours. Delaney is notable on Twitter for his relentless poking and prodding at brands, so it's a risk to turn the account over to him. With over 800,000 followers on @RobDelaney, it's clear to see why the MLB might want to have access to his followers.
If you're responsible for a brand integration with a celebrity or public figure, in the end you need to ask yourself how it might be perceived - particularly by people who are not part of either of your respective communities. It isn't your fans or that of the celebrity that will judge you harshly; it's people you haven't met yet. Are you that desperate for attention?
Image credit: Trev Grant (Flickr)
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