Scary, right?

You and I live in a world where the person on your TV who travels the world and researches trending topics has less credibility than an anonymous blogger who has no background, experience or knowledge on the subject. How does that happen? Simple: we now want to hear what non-biased, non-tainted, non-politically or financially motivated people have to say. They speak the truth because they can.

70% of people are more likely to share something they read on a blog or social media platform than a brand or CNN. On top of that, they actually get to interact with the information by engaging in discussion, sharing it with their friends, researching it further and then form their own opinion. It’s less about having information thrown at you in the form of guaranteed truth, and more about placing information in front of you and asking you what you think. The difference may seem subtle, but the effect is massive.

Here are a couple of interesting statistics on the matter:

• 92% of people surveyed by Nielsen online say they trust earned media, such as word of mouth, above all other forms of media and messaging (18% rise since 2007)
• 70% of people in the same Nielsen survey trust online consumers reviews (15% increase in the last four years)
• 65% of bloggers follow brands on social media and most bloggers write regularly about the brands they follow
• Of all social media platforms, consumers trust information they receive through blogs more than Facebook or Twitter

Now lets look at this from a business perspective. If you want to create a fantastic brand image, you can no longer just put up a billboard saying, “Look at us, we’re awesome”. That’s a brilliant way to end up filing for bankruptcy. The best method is to get people to talk about you; preferably in a positive way. How do you do that, you ask? Fantastic question!

Social media is all about user-shared content. As I mentioned previously, you can’t force this to happen. It needs to be organic.  What you should be doing is planting seeds in the form of a conversations – or thoughts – amongst your consumers, and then water them from time to time (the seeds, not your consumers). The best way of doing this is through:

• Consumer review websites
  • Encourage your consumers to review products after purchasing. Maybe even incentivise them to leave comments…?
  • Monitor what is being said about your brand, product or service on the internet. Respond to the comments by thanking them for their feedback, and address their issues immediately. Do not delete comments or respond aggressively to them. This is their turf, not yours.
  • Use social media monitoring websites such as Thismoment Brand Monitor

• Blogs
  • Find key bloggers who write about your industry, brand, product or service
  • Send them a couple of free products or ask them to come and trial your service, and then write about it
  • Ask them to maybe write about your brand
  • Forums
    • Create an account and start talking to people on the forums
    • This is an excellent space for discussion, feedback and market research

If you provide valuable content; if you start the right conversations with the right people; if you engage with your target market; it will all happen without you needing to lift a finger. People will start talking about you. They’ll write reviews. They’ll share it with their friends. And you’ll build your brand better than you ever could have with a gigantic billboard.No Tags

Pinterest for Business

Pinterest has become a fast mover amongst social networks, driving more traffic to retails sites than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. According to Adverblog, Pinterest has a large female audience (at 68.2%), 50% of users have children and have an average household income of 100+K. These demographics cover a large portion of the home and lifestyle market – and it’s only getting bigger.

General Advice

First and foremost, Pinterest isn’t going to be for every business. No-one ever would want to follow a board on accounting (or would they?!). Some of the industries marketing well on Pinterest include the home ware, fashion and photography.  Not sure if Pinterest is right for you? Ask yourself these three questions:

• Does my audience already have a Pinterest presence?
• If not, can I offer them something of value to make them want to connect with me on a new channel?
• Can I sustain this channel for the long term?

Still want to continue? The next plan of action after creating an account was outlined by Nancy as follows:

1. Be a curator: Create boards and repin good content to those boards.
2. Connect: It’s ideal to have content on your own boards first before connecting with other users/boards. That way, when curiosity gets the better of them, they are more than likely to return the favour if you have interests in common.
3. Comment: Be active and join the community. Commenting on pins is also a great way of establishing your presence without repinning the piece of content on your board (it may be something you like, but does not meet the feel of your own boards).
4. Sales Person: Having established yourself in the Pinterest community, create boards surrounding your products and services. Make your pictures visually appealing (see below)!

Lindt Chocolates on Pinterest

Lacoste on Pinterest

General Dos

• Do tag your pins (great for social SEO)
• Create great content – repinning all the time will wear out over time, and users may have already been exposed to it. Instead, be a leader and inject fresh content into peoples streams. It can set you out to be an authority in your Pinterest category, and attract more followers.
• Do make your board names interesting and attention grabbing – show creativity and flair! Drunk Knitting anyone?

Creative Pinterest Board Names: ‘Drunk Knitting‘ by marcymassura

General Don’ts

• Don’t watermark your images – Pinterest is based entirely on visuals, if your aim is to have your content shared – it’s not going to happen with a big ugly water mark slapped on top of it. If you do need to watermark your images, subtly apply it to the corner of your image instead of the centre – allow users to enjoy your image (product/service), not your company name.
• Don’t pin all at once in blocks – Your followers will have their stream inundated with your posts, which may not appeal to them at the time. Instead, space out your pins and prevent yourself from being unfollowed!

Then what?

Pins and followers are all well and good, but how do you measure Pinterest’s success? One of the tools mentioned on the night was PinReach, an Influence and Analytics tool that allows you to identify which content your audience is most receptive to (based on repins) and which products in your collection.

The ability to measure a Pinterest campaign based on conversions exists with Google Analytics by analysing your referral traffic and the sources available under ‘Assisted Conversions’ under ‘Multi-Channel Funnels’.

Hopefully this guide can help you discover the world of Pinterest – whether it be for business or personal use. If you’re new to Pinterest, what are the biggest challenges you have faced so far?No Tags

In what seems like a bid to keep up with the Joneses, Google+ released a more simplified and cleaner layout redesign of the social network on Wednesday. From the Official Google Blog, this change aims to improve the social interaction for its users by focusing “on you, the people you care about, and the stuff you’re into“. But is it a case of a little too late?

Watch the official launch video:

What’s New?

Custom Navigation

The navigation from the top of the screen has been moved to the side of  the layout, with each menu item now referred to as an ‘app’. This is a move to make the site appear more like a social networking site than a standard website, and to maximise the focus on conversations and content.

As well, the apps are able to be prioritised by importance, or removed altogether if they are not needed:

Custom Newsfeed

Similar to features seen in Twitter apps, Google+ now allow you to follow the conversations of your circles in a more streamlined fashion through a minimalist menu bar at the top of the home page. Currently, only two circles are visible with any additional circles hidden in a ‘more’ option.

Google Plus Custom Newsfeed, Menu Options

The two circles that appear in the menu can be changed by reordering your circles in the ‘Circles’ app (see below):

Google Plus – Rearranging Circles

The best thing about this change is that Google+ users no longer need to customise each post’s circle preference, which by default used to remain on the preference used in the last post (and could lead to information passed onto the wrong circles if forgotten!).

Video and Image Highlights

Another feature to emphasise social content: Google+ pages now proudly feature images with larger viewing options, similar to the Facebook ‘highlight’ feature. This is a change that sets out to make Google+ an engaging social hub, rather than merely another platform to distribute information and send out news updates.

Image Highlights on Google Plus

Profile Pic and Cover Photo

Ring another bell? Google+ has redesigned the profile pic and photos area by switching from left to right, increased the profile photo area and provided options for users to be creative with the photos they want the public to see on their page.

Choosing the Google Plus Cover Image

Google+, is it here to stay?

One thing Google have failed to nail on the head is social. With projects like Google Wave shutting down, this appears to be another pivot in Google+’s strategy to build up the social network for everyday users, not just for those in the online and technology field.

Our newsfeed is already live with inactive everyday users returning to Google+ to check out the new design. If you have returned to Google+, will these changes be enough to make you stay and use it in the long run?No Tags

When we were children, we would just ask for what we wanted. If we wanted that toy over there, as soon as we were able to talk, we would ask for it – no matter how impossible or inappropriate. We seem to lose this ability to be direct as we grow up, it’s almost as if our communication skills diminish with age. The following is an example I’m sure we are all guilty of:

You: Do you know what time it is?
What you really mean: Why are you late?

I mean, did you really want to know the time? No. It was just a roundabout way to emphasise their tardiness without directly saying it. I’m digressing here but I just wanted to highlight the communication habits we get into that may not work out well for us on social media.

When brands communicate on social, some suffer from the same issues, they want engagement but they aren’t direct enough about it to get any. When us consumers participate in social, we are usually in our wind-down mode. Our we want a break from thinking mode, and we just want to enjoy ourselves. So do your fans a favour and just be direct with your communication. If you want like’s on your post – just ask for it. From my experience, posts which contain “please like us if _______” get double the amount of interaction than posts without it. This makes total sense because we “asked” our fans for what we wanted and most of them would be happy to give us what we wanted.

I’d use this with caution however – don’t just ask ask ask. There is a simple rule that you can apply to this “just ask for it” method of getting interactions. Remember to give 6 times more than you receive. For every “ask” you need to make sure that you’ve have given sometime of value to your audience 6 times prior to your ask. This will not only increase your interactions, your fans would be completely happy to do it. In addition it’s also a good idea to explain “why” you are asking – especially for gen-y’ers and younger. A heartfelt plea for help will be greatly rewarded if you communicate it properly. This works extremely well when you are face to face with your customers – allowing you to build the human connection. If you are a small business, you just need to ask one customer a day to join your fan page, and that is 365 new fans with little or no effort on your part. In fact these fans may be more likely to engage with you because you asked them personally.

I hope that you enjoy getting in touch with your inner child and learn to ask for what you need from your fans online. I’d love to see the growth in interactions you have from applying this simple rule with your audience. If you have any breakthroughs or comments please pop them in the comments section below.No Tags

Well it looks like our prayers have been answered. Twitter is giving more back to the brands that operate on their network. The recently introduced “brand pages” which includes the brands twitter feed, images and soon to have e-commerce functionality and enables app developers to run contests, sweepstakes and other promotional material.

Twitter has been telling clients that they can expect it sometime this year. This will give alot more business’s a reason to put more resources into their Twitter pages, as up until now only Facebook had the ability to create interactive environments that go beyond just updates. With the changes that Facebook has made with the timeline as well, this move may actually win twitter a lot more fans amongst the business users.

The brand pages launch in January has been impressive with 21 high profile brands like Nike, American Express and McDonalds coming on board – each spending over $25,000 in advertising.

We’ll be keeping an eye on these brands to see whether their money spend on twitter is actually giving them returns. We are always interested in the experiences of others and would like to open up the questions: Are you currently active on Twitter?No Tags

Perfect. Just perfect.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way? Dutch airline KLM has decided it wants to pioneer a method to research and select who you sit next to before you ever get to the airport. It works like this:

KLM will offer people the chance to share either their LinkedIn of Facebook profile and attach it to their booking. It’s not obligatory, but rather an optional extra. They can share as much or as little information as they like, but it then becomes visible to anybody looking to reserve a seat on the same flight.

Positives

You’re not necessarily doomed to sit next to a nightmare neighbour for 15 hours during your flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles.

You can select somebody with similar interests and personal hygiene. It could make for a more entertaining flight.

Negatives

You’re doomed to sit next to a nightmare neighbour for 15 hours during your flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles.

Up until this point, KLM hasn’t mentioned anything about a “reject” button. That means that somebody who stalked your profile and thought you were cute has reserved a seat next to you. Imagine how uncomfortable, inappropriate and annoying your flight is now.

Most people simply want to read a book, watch a movie and sleep. The thought of that kind of a nuisance will probably lead to airlines needing to stock more alcoholic beverages.

I, for one, will be flying Air New Zealand from now one. They allow you to pay extra to have an empty seat next to you. And have an excellent wine list.No Tags

Kikki.K have taken advantage of this hype to create a campaign based around their affiliation with the L’oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. They are asking their audience to create a pinboard inspired by their new season Kikki K stationary collections Organisk and Sand Leather. These pin boards also have to include their new stationary products. To enter the competition they simply have to post the link to their pinboard on Facebook or Tweet at Kikki.K. Winners receive the following prizes:

• 2 x Tickets to L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2012 – L’Oréal Paris Runway 2 presented by InStyle
• 1 x $400 Funkis Gift Voucher to be used in store or online
• kikki.K Prize Pack including: Organisk A4 Notebook, Adhesive Note Set, Metal Twist Ballpoint Pen, Sand Leather Pencil Case and A5 Notebook, as well as a Vision Board, Limited Edition Fashion Quote Cards, Twine, Mini Wooden Pegs and Push Pins to bring your real life inspiration board to life.

Here is an example of what they are looking for:

The integration of social in the campaign is very strategic, they are connecting their audience to the Pinterest platform along with Facebook and Twitter. In addition the competition was announced on their blog. Have you got any examples of cross-platform promotions you want to share?

Tweet me @thesocialhat

Also here is a link to the competition which closes March 5th: http://bit.ly/w4WxAhNo Tags

In the previous week, Google launched an updated version of Google Maps for the Android phone, which was equipped with the new Leaderboard feature that is reminiscent of the Foursquare app.

The Leaderboard addition to Google Latitude hasn’t been officially announced, and google seems to be wanting to keep it that way. Google doesn’t even reveal the Leaderboard as being a new feature on the Android Google Maps update. It only says it fixed bugs and has “improved battery performance for Latitude and Location History users.” Also, the Leaderboard is only available on the latest version of Google Maps, and not everyone has access to the feature yet.

The new version of Google Maps with the Latitude Leaderboards is only accessible after a user checks in somewhere using Google Latitude. Maps users can share their location with Google’s Latitude app. After check-in, the user earns points and is navigated to the Leaderboard page, which ranks the user and his or her Google+ friends. There is also a global page that ranks all users based on points from check-ins. The person with the most points earns a crown above his or her No. 1 ranking. Leaderboard doesn’t have a mayor, like Foursquare.

Do you currently use FourSquare? Would you use this?No Tags

I’m going to try and start a new trend – of circular icons. I must admit they do look very impressive on some website, it’s a good contrast to the traditional blockishness of website designs and therefore does attract your attention. Here are the 5 different sets you can start using today:

1. Somicro

This particular icon-set is very clean and sharp. There is a good variety of icons available, and it’s probably my most favourite set so far.

2. Round Social Media Icons

These icons remind me of cute buttons. The white outline gives it a much more playful feel and is suitable for website that want to be more lighthearted and cheery.

3. Simplito

This icon set is aimed to be clean and simple. It is reminiscent of a child’s drawing and has a but of a sketchy touch to it.

4. Buddycons

The buddycons set is something you would see on a windows graphic set. It is very basic and gets the job done.

5. 8-bit Social Iconset

Our last set is a tribute to the retro gaming movement. Pixels are coming back as a novel design trend. This would work really well in the gaming industry.

There we have it, 5 icon sets you can start using on your websites. It’s always good to change your icons and do some testing. Will circular icons result in more click throughs to your social properties? Implement and find out!

No Tags

The self titled ‘Virtual Pinboard‘ site allows you to both organise and share images of ‘beautiful things found on the web‘ in collections based on user interests such as favourite recipes, must see destinations and funky furniture – with the intention of helping your own friends and followers discover new things.

The social network has even surpassed Google+ in the amount of traffic it drives to retail sites. Monetate has compiled this infographic to illustrate the capabilities of Pinterest:

Who Else Users Pinterest?

Besides retail stores and specialty boutiques, the site is open for everyone to use. The U.S. Army have even included Pinterest in their online media campaign, with collections including images of patriotic foods and DIY Army decor.

Above: Online Retail example – Kikki-K.com

Above: Used to increase the online presence of the U.S. Army

The site continues to show promise in innovating the way people share content online. If you’re on Pinterest, what have you been using it for? Drop us your link in the comments below!No Tags