By: Manuel Cortez Senior Manager, Social Media Strategy

In the past year, we’ve watched social media explode from the, “how do we get into this?” to the “how are we not in this yet?!” phenomenon.  The future of social media is now. As an ever-changing landscape, marketers often struggle to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to social media messaging, tools, and metrics.  However, 2012 still holds an abundance of opportunities for businesses and marketers to grow with this evolving medium.  Here are my predictions of what to expect and focus on in the year ahead:

  Continue reading “Social Media Predictions for 2012” »

Last week Facebook officially rolled out Timeline for all user profiles. The new Facebook Timeline allows users to show off who they are, what they do and where they’ve been – essentially turning their profile into an online scrapbook. There is still no official word from Facebook when Pages will transfer to the new platform, but it is anticipated to happen in the near future.

So what are some of the new elements of Timeline?

User profiles now consist of a cover – a wide space (849 x 312 pixels) to place a unique image that best represents the user. It is now the first thing people see when they visit a friend’s profile. As in the past where changing the profile image has defined one’s page, the user now has the opportunity to make a bigger visual statement of who they are.

Continue reading “What Facebook Timeline could mean for brands” »

By: Tyler Starrine, VP Campaign Development

It looks like Facebook is taking the plight of users who often find themselves frantically untagging photos, very seriously.

I have a friend that founded her own Animal Rescue group and who, as many Animal Rescuers do, uses Facebook to regularly network the animals that she has recently saved. She also uses the site to request donations through those heart-wrenching images of a lonely dog in a cage with a caption telling us the number of days, and sometimes hours, this dog has left to be rescued.

I’m a sucker for most things cuddly and innocent and so I find myself opening up my wallet and making a donation. The result of my “generosity”? I get tagged in these photos, and the plea updates, on the regular. Just recently I donated to save a handicapped dog and so I’m finding myself tagged in constant updates about the dog’s condition. Today I decided to untag the latest images and when I went to click “remove tag” I was pretty surprised by the array of options that appeared:

Continue reading “Facebook Makes it Difficult to Untag Yourself from Unflattering Photos” »

By: Manuel Cortez, Senior Manager Social Media Strategy

If you’re a large corporation or a small business, there’s no doubt that you already know you should be in social media. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogging and now Google+ all provide a way to leverage your brand or company and connect with your consumers.  So you’ve tasted the social media punch and want in, but where to begin?  Well, before you start you have to ask yourself one very crucial question, “Do I have the time (and budget) to dedicate to this?” The answer should be, “Yes!” and if not, then “I’ll make the time.”

Social media is advancing on a daily basis, and late comers are being left behind.

  Continue reading “Social Media Starter Kit” »

Freeway Billboard #Fail. Please QR Responsibly

Spotted: Dangerously-bad QR code placement on the the 210.

By:  Jenny Lam, Campaign Manager

As the holiday season swings into gear, here’s 5 tips to keep in mind as you put the “finishing touches” on your social media holiday marketing initiatives…or plan your strategy for next year!

1)     Customize your social media assets (when appropriate) according the holiday. Domino Sugar and Krispy Kreme did a great job of updating their Facebook page creative to celebrate Halloween. A simple graphic refresh can attract new eyeballs to your page and entice fans to visit when they see a new, compelling brand icon appear in their News Feed. Keep this in mind as you start developing creative for Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, etc.

Domino Sugar inspires their Facebook community with a sweet & spooky visual makeover of their profile image and photo bar.

Continue reading “Social Media Marketing for the Holidays” »

By: Heather White-Laird,VP, Creative Strategy

Best practices for fan growth require consistent long-term initiatives, not short-term quick fixes, as success will, in the end, be measured by fan retention over time, not just a one-time fan increase. And many times a meteoric rise is often followed by a precipitous decline.

The best performance is seen when a company launches an on-brand, compelling creative campaign that is consistent across all platforms– paid, owned and earned media.  Combined with a Like-Gate, this scenario can drive the largest increase in growth– especially in conjunction with engaging promotional opportunities such as sweepstakes or contests.

image credits Airbnb: http://www.facebook.com/airbnb

Continue reading “Top 5 Simple Facebook Fan Growth Tactics” »

Klaris Andreasian, Campaign Manager

Fashion is a lifestyle. It’s a form of language. It’s how we communicate who we are. For fashion brands on social media, it’s no different. To many loyal customers, the way brands communicate online is as important as the style or products they represent.

Here are 5 fashion brands that are embracing social media… and executing it with style: Nordstrom, H&M, Victoria’s Secret, Express and Sephora are among the most social media savvy fashion brands – positioning intriguing content for their millions of fans. Whether or not these brands are new or veterans of the space, their rapidly growing fan base doesn’t show signs of slowing down. Victoria’s Secret is the most “liked” retailer on Facebook. Never mind the strikingly beautiful models and obvious reasons why even men are fans of the page, it’s evident they must be doing something right.

These brands emerge with the latest trends on their fan pages but one thing they also do well is they give their fans what they want: style, compelling photos, videos and (maybe most importantly) exclusive offers and information. In fact, nearly 40% of Facebook users who become fans of brands do so to receive discounts and promotions (Co-Tweet/ExactTarget 2010).

Continue reading “Fashion in Social Media – Doing it with Style” »

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs (via Businessweek, 1998)

Today we challenge you to this thing that maybe you’ve been too rushed and crazed to do in awhile. You thought it seemed scarily uncomplicated, that it had to be more complex and built up, layered upon, paved over, convoluted, filled with fillers.  Today, your end goal, your challenge is this: Think simple.

Where we’ve lost the turbo mind of Steve Jobs, we’ve gained the clarity and the purity to make things less of a struggle, not only in how we communicate with each other but in how we feel and digest the world of experiences around us.  Remember,  “you are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Let today be simple. Celebrate minimalism. What will you look at differently?