Imperial Leisure Blog

Instagram rolls out tagging feature ‘Photos of You’, allowing users to tag people and brands

kyle — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:51:32 +0000

Yesterday, Instagram rolled out a new feature, ‘Photos of You’, to all users. Instagram users are now able to tag other people and brands in a photo they upload. Only the person who publishes the photo can tag other users/brands. Users receive a notification when they are tagged in ‘Photos of You’, and settings can be adjusted so that nothing appears on their profile until they approve it.

‘Photos of You’ encourages users to highlight their favourite brands and products, effectively turning them into brand advocates. Brands must remain active on Instagram to encourage their audience to do likewise. Take a look on the right at some early examples of tagged brands in ‘Photos of You’.

Facebook video advertisements set to be launched in July

kyle — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:53:49 +0000

Last week, it was reported in the Financial Times that Facebook is set to launch 15-second video advertisements to its News Feed. Brands such as Unilever, American Express and Coca-Cola are to take part in the initial trials. The new feature is expected to be rolled out for all brands in July.

What are the new ads?

Facebook has seen a steady rise in the number of unique viewers of videos on its platform. According to a recent report from ComScore Video Metrix, there were 47.7 million unique viewers of video content on Facebook in the US in August 2012. By February 2013, this had risen to 61.2 million in the US — surpassed only by Google sites (which include sites like YouTube). As more users view video content on the social media platform, it makes sense for Facebook (and its shareholders) to allow brands to target them with video advertisements.

The Facebook ad videos are expected to be 15 seconds long and will play automatically without sound. Users will then have the option to play the advertisement from the start with sound if they are interested.

Initially, Facebook will allow advertisers to target one of four demographics: women over 30, women under 30, men over 30, and men under 30. The plans are also said to include limiting the advertisements users see to those from a single advertiser per day, with the price for an advertisement likely to be in the ‘low $20s’ per thousand video views.

What will be the impact of the ads?

The video advertisements come at a time when Facebook is increasingly appealing to brands with features designed to target users more effectively. Along with ‘Partner Categories’ and ‘lookalike audiences’, the new video advertisements present a compelling case for brands.

Android devices dominating UK and worldwide markets

kyle — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:22:08 +0000

Kantar recently released figures on Android and iOS' popularity around the world. Kantar tracks sales of handsets across key markets on a 12-week rolling cycle, basing its figures on over 1 million interviews across Europe and 240,000 in the U.S. The survey also took into account the Australian, Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian and Mexican markets.

Worldwide, Android averaged 64.2% of all smartphone handset sales in the 12 weeks that ended March 31. Android devices are dominating markets worldwide, regardless of the financial situation countries find themselves in. They are the top performers in economies ranging from emerging (China - 69.4% share) to struggling (Spain - 93.5% share).

In the UK, Samsung and iPhone devices feature heavily on the top selling smartphone list, with 8 of the top 10 highest sellers one of these phones. The iPhone 5 was the highest selling smartphone in the first three months of the year (15% of all sales), although Android is the most popular platform with a 58.4% share of the market (compared to the 28.7% share of iOS devices).

Kantar is also predicting an even greater spike in Android’s popularity in the UK after the release of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4. According to Kantar this will ‘pile pressure’ on Apple, BlackBerry and Nokia to remain on consumers' radars.

Tribeca Film Festival announces the winners of its #6SECFILMS Vine competition

kyle — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:32:47 +0000

Last week, the Tribeca Film Festival announced the winners of its #6SECFILMS Vine competition. The competition attracted over 400 entries and featured four categories: best genre, best auteur, best animated and best short series.

The competition follows on from artists and brands using Vine more frequently over the past few months. The challenge of Vine is to be able to amaze and establish a connection with your audience in just six seconds.

The winning Vines were judged to achieve this quality. Although they are varied in their approach and execution, they all share common characteristics which play on the audience’s emotion and make them compelling to watch. Whether you want to be horrified, amused or intrigued, these Vines deliver.

British adults spending more money online than anyone else in Europe

kyle — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:14:17 +0000

Recently, Forrester released a report about the online spending habits of adults in the five largest European economies: France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK. The findings are based on a survey of 22,000 people over the first three months of 2013.

The research revealed that UK adults spend the most money online, with the average shopper spending £204 over the three months. Sites like Amazon are popular — 59% of of those surveyed in the UK had shopped there.

The survey also showed that 83% of British adults access the Internet at least once a month — the highest number of those surveyed. UK adults are the most likely to own a laptop (64%), a smartphone (52%) or tablet (12%). This has led to higher engagement with online retailers. Forrester estimates that 78% of UK adults purchased something online in those three months.

British people did more than half their Christmas shopping online this year. Average spending online has increased year on year for the past 5 years, although customer satisfaction has struggled to keep up with the pace.

Will.i.am #willpower Twitter visualisation campaign launch

mightyulysses — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 23:03:21 +0000

We’ve just launched a digital campaign for will.i.am’s new solo album #willpower. The campaign is a real-time, interactive, 3D visualization that displays the global spread of tweets that mention the hashtag #willpower.

The application collects the tweets and maps them onto a 3D globe. The tweets are animated as ‘digital flares’ that travel from location to location based on the tweet sender and tweet receiver’s profile location.

You can view the full tweet by rolling over the flares and also add your own tweet to the visualizer using the hashtag #willpower.

You can view #willpower here: http://www.will-i-am.com/willpower/ (Requires a WebGL-enabled browser such as Firefox or Chrome.)

Twitter mobile use up, desktop use down

kyle — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:37:25 +0000

Recently, Strategy Analytics released a report on how users are accessing and using Twitter. The study, entitled ‘Social Network Profile: Who Uses Twitter?’ analysed which devices were used to tweet. The study included 6,500 people in the US and Europe.

Between March 2012 and October 2012, the proportion of Twitter users who accessed the social network from a mobile device (either tablet or phone) rose by 15%, from 56% to 71%. This coincided with a dramatic drop in the number of people using desktop or notebook computers, falling to 64% from 77%. Tweeting from mobile saw an increase from 53% to 64%, and tweeting from tablets grew to 18%, up from 9%.

The report also revealed a number of other insights. Usage of Twitter is highest in the UK, with 21% of people surveyed accessing the social network frequently (at least once a week). Twitter is most popular amongst more affluent people (12% of those with lower household incomes are frequent users compared to 22% of those with higher household incomes). Students are more likely to use the service: 26% of full-time students are frequent users, compared to 17% of those in full-time employment.

The growing trend of users accessing Twitter from mobile and tablet devices highlights the importance of establishing a mobile strategy.

Twitter launches ‘Twitter Music’

kyle — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:08:31 +0000

Yesterday, Twitter launched its ‘Twitter Music’ site. The launch came after Twitter’s acquisition of ‘We Are Hunted’, a service which scoured the internet (blogs, social media, message boards and BitTorrent) to identify the most popular 99 songs online. The technology behind ‘We Are Hunted’ has driven Twitter’s development of ‘Twitter Music’.

In a recent blog post from Twitter, the connection between the social media platform’s users and the music industry was highlighted in a number of ways. Research found that 50% of active users follow at least one musician, with the four most followed people being musicians. Also, it was revealed that the second most discussed topic on Twitter in the U.S is music. It is clear that Twitter wishes to harness and integrate the influence and potential of music into a dedicated platform.

‘Twitter Music’ has both a web interface and a mobile app. The service tracks what users are listening to and then makes recommendations based on the findings. Users are able to view artist profiles, follow other users, charts and shows, as well as being able to purchase songs from iTunes. The user can also stream music, with the site/app integrating with established music platforms like Spotify and Rdio.

‘Twitter Music’ makes sharing and connecting with fellow users over music easier. Users are able to listen to songs tweeted by their followers or the artist they follow. Tracks can also be shared with followers by tapping the spinning disc in the site/app. Therefore, users will be able to share songs to their followers that they enjoy, with their recommendations driving whether an artist’s single will be successful. It is thus important that artists are willing to actively communicate across Twitter to ensure that their release will be a success.

Follow this link for more information on ‘Twitter Music’.

Facebook launches ‘Partner Categories’ to help brands target specific user groups

kyle — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:18:22 +0000

Last week, Facebook launched ‘Partner Categories’, a feature that will help brands target Facebook users who are more likely to be interested in their products. The targeting feature will be available for both mobile and desktop ads.

What are ‘Partner Categories’?

‘Partner Categories’ enables marketers to target their advertisements to a more relevant audience. The feature allows for more refined targeting, as previously marketers could only target based on a user’s data from Facebook.

Facebook has partnered with third-party data companies Acxiom, Datalogix, and Epsilon. The information from these companies will allow brands to target users based on anything from their location, to the products they buy on their desktop and mobile devices.

Brands can target Facebook users through the feature in over 500 different categories (with more to come). Each category contains information including the number of users, their description and spending habits. User’s private information is not shared with brands, who can only see the size of the target audience.

What will be the impact of ‘Partner Categories’?

‘Partner Categories’ offers brands greater refinement in who they target on Facebook. With the feature, brands will be more likely to make a connection with users who are interested in what they have to offer. Coupled with Facebook’s recent announcement of its expansion of ‘lookalike audiences’, it is clear that Facebook is taking steps to target advertisements to users more likely to connect with the brands. These tools will enable brands to have greater success with their advertisements on Facebook, whilst also building their profile and relationship with existing and potential fans.

More information/helpful reading

Follow this link for more information on ‘Partner Categories’.

Vine: the app challenging brands to connect with their audience in six seconds

kyle — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:23:46 +0000

This week, Vine became the top free app in Apple’s App store in the US. Vine is Twitter’s video-sharing application that allows users and brands to share six-second clips.

Since its launch in late January, Vine’s popularity has grown. According to recent figures from Onavo Insights, the app had been used on an impressive 2.66% iOS devices in the US. Active users of the app in March also increased by 50%, with all three of Vine’s main competitors (Cinemagram, Socialcam and Viddy) declining in both market share and monthly active users as a result of its surge in popularity.

Vine presents an interesting platform for users and brands to communicate and connect with their audience. Recently, a six-second trailer for the upcoming film, ‘The Wolverine’ was released via the platform. The release generated widespread media coverage, and ‘Tweasing’ of upcoming films is an interesting way that film companies could build anticipation for their releases.

Vine has already attracted brands such as Dove, General Electric and Schuh. As a platform for connecting with followers Vine is unique, with a six-second timeframe challenging for brands to get their message across. Mobile video will represent 66% of global mobile data traffic by 2017, up from 51% in 2012. Therefore, the message that brands are willing to communicate in these videos must be enticing for users. Vine will thus appeal to brands willing to be creative in the type of content they produce within the six second time limit.

Follow this link for more information on Vine.