Our favorite infographic so far is the one here, from Flowtown. This graphic says it correctly — if social media could predict the Oscars. We know we can track the buzz! But the Academy decides the Oscars, and the 5,765 members vote on the real winners.

But no matter who wins the Oscars Sunday night, social media is coming out a winner. Not only are we talking about the social media predictions, but the Academy itself is working hard to increase social media buzz about the awards. The Los Angeles Times this morning featured an article on the Academy’s social media push, stating:

“The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Walt Disney Co.’s ABC television network have been posting comedy bits on YouTube, designing interactive games for Facebook friends and installing cameras backstage to give Internet users a behind-the-scenes peek of Sunday’s 84^th Academy Awards. A “thank you cam” will be positioned off stage for Oscar winners to gush for fans who are watching the show on TV with a “second screen” — a smart phone, tablet or laptop — in their hands” (read the full article).

The article continues to discuss the importance of engaging a younger audience, especially to the advertisers who are spending around $1.7 million for a 30 second spot. The Academy Awards could use a boost of social buzz, and it seems so far they’re getting it. The Wall Street Journal elaborates further on how ABC and the Academy will incorporate social media into this year’s broadcast:

“During the broadcast, viewer tweets using the hashtags “#oscars,” “#redcarpetqa” and “#bestdressed” will appear on Oscar.com and the Oscars app. …Even snarky comments from viewers can be used to the network’s benefit. ‘If everyone is going crazy about one event or moment of the telecast, we know what video clips to post to the site,’ Ms. [Karin] Gilford,  [ABC's senior vice president of digital media] says” (read the full article).

No matter who wins this year’s Academy Awards Oscars, it seems that social media is a clear winner. So social media might not be predicting the Oscar winners, but the Oscars are counting on even more encouraged buzz from young audience members watching on their tablets or TVs with iPhones in hand. Enjoy the show, and don’t forget to tweet about it!

A Pinterest photo collage of, well, photo collage inspiration. Meta!

Do you remember when you were a teenager, and you’d spend hours at a time sprawled across your bedroom floor paging through magazines? You’d cut out pictures of people you liked, bands you loved, quotes you admires, and anything else inspiring, and you’d spend another few hours carefully taping everything to the wall above your bed in an ever-growing collage?

No? I’m the only one that ever did that?

Well, if you missed out, never fear. There’s a place you can recreate that experience — albeit with less tape – on the internet, and it’s called Pinterest.

What Pinterest is

Pinterest is often referred to as a “virtual pinboard.” I like to think of it more as visual bookmarks. But instead of simply bookmarking the page that contains an image you like in your browser, you can instead click the “pin it” button (available as an add-on to your browser) to pin the image to one of your boards. You can also peruse other users’ pinboards and “repin” images to yours. As you pin, your board fills with a rich mélange of photos all in one place — much better than having to click into individual bookmarks.

Pinterest as a social network

Much like Twitter, you can choose to follow and unfollow other users’ boards. The pins of those you follow appear in your Pinterest stream, allowing you to build a custom online community tailored to your interests and tastes. Similar to Facebook, users can comment on and even “like” pins.

Who uses Pinterest?

All types of people use Pinterest, but interestingly, in the United States, the network is especially strong among women ages 18-34 who live in the center of the country in households with incomes between $25,000 and $75,000 per year.¹ Accordingly, some of the most popular topics are weddings, babies, interior design and decorating, clothing and hairstyles, and recipes. It will be interesting to see how user content and demographics shift and change as the site continues to grow in popularity — and all signs are indicating that it will.

Companies on Pinterest

Lately, more and more companies have been getting into the Pinterest game. Big brands like HGTV, Whole Foods, Kate Spade, Real Simple, and Apartment Therapy currently have a huge pull, but there’s still plenty of room for small-business creatives — people like designers, wedding planners, and photographers — to carve out solid niches as well.

How Pinterest can work for your business

More than any other social network, Pinterest can help drive traffic and revenue to your business. How? Well, when pinning an image from a website, Pinterest automatically collects the source URL so that it the original creator is credited. That means this little nugget of metadata works hard to keep pointing people back to your website. The more an image gets repinned, the more Pinterest users will click, share, and – ideally – buy.

And since users are more likely to trust the recommendation of someone they follow than a pitch from company representative, here’s where the social network aspect of Pinterest does the heavy lifting of selling your products. It’s a genius setup.

…And how it can’t

If your site isn’t optimized for e-commerce — meaning you don’t have a shopping cart linked to an image-based online store — then you’re not likely to see any kind of monetary benefit to joining up with Pinterest.

That said, Pinterest doesn’t necessarily have to make you money in order for you to incorporate it in your business. Consider its application as a brainstorming or inspiration source for your employees, particularly if they’re creatives. Consider also its application with customers and clients. Stylists at a hair salon could maintain pinboards to inspire themselves and show clients different haircut options, for instance.

It’s all about the visuals, baby

Bottom line? Pinterest works best for your business if you have unique, styled, visually attractive product images that will drive people to pin and repin them. Pretty pictures trigger the impetus to buy, and the way the network is set up helps direct sales like no other social network currently in existence.

Happy pinning!

¹ Source: The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/know-your-internet-what-is-pinterest-and-why-should-i-care/252835/

The most recent infographic from KISSmetrics shows us the importance of these fans, and provides some basic tips on how to grow that fan base. One quick note — I love that it starts with knowing your target market, which is something we preach quite a bit here! First we want to identify the people we want to engage, then how, then create and distribute the content, monitor, and adapt. It’s our process at work!

Click for a larger version

Ready for the big commercials — I mean, game?

I hate television commercials, and I’m willing to bet you do, too. They’re annoying, they’re unrealistic, and perhaps most infuriating of all, they always air much louder than the actual show you were engrossed in before the break.

With my DVR, I can get around this. There’s nothing I love more than being able to fast-forward through the commercials. It makes me feel like I have the upper hand on the advertisers. That I’m beating them at their own game.

And this makes the advertisers very, very sad. Indeed, as traditional television viewership has declined, so has advertising revenue. The television ad market dipped 21.2% between 2008 and 2009¹, and since then it hasn’t exactly made a comeback.

But there remains one time of year where the advertisers can still beat me at my own game. One very special day where they know that they have nearly all of America’s attention.

Super Bowl Sunday.

Super Bowl Sunday has, amazingly, managed to become a cultural touchstone; a pseudo national holiday. It’s recognized as the second-largest day for food consumption in the U.S. after Thanksgiving Day.² Even if you never watched a game during the regular season, or even if you can’t stand either of the teams playing, chances are that you’ll watch at least part of the big event. The 2011 Super Bowl clocked in an astonishing 111 million viewers.³ That’s over one third of the U.S. population!

This little championship football game just has that strong of a pull.

And surprisingly, one thing that seems to have just as much of a pull as the game — if not even more — is the commercials. Super Bowl commercials have come to be known as epic, elaborate productions that compete to win the hearts and minds of the audience.

Apple started the trend in 1984 with its unveiling of a high-concept commercial announcing the release of the Macintosh computer that had Super Bowl fans reeling. Since then, the stakes continue to rise. The Super Bowl is the only televised event that some people tune into just for the advertising. This year, advertisers happily shelled out an average of $3.5 million for a mere 30-second spot. Outrageous? Foolhardy? Think again. When you have the eyeballs of the nation on you for one day, you’d better use it to your advantage. You gotta go big or stay home.

For a long time, part of the way advertisers “went big” was to keep their Super Bowl campaign plans under close wraps, believing that secrecy and surprise would draw the most attention. But the last few years have seen a new development: relying on social media to drive up buzz about the commercials in advance.

This is the age of the preview. The teaser. And viewers are absolutely eating it up.

Volkswagen of America has been an early leader in the game. On January 18 they released a teaser video for the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle on YouTube that was also shown on television. The video showed dogs barking the “The Imperial March” theme from Star Wars in chorus. The YouTube video had 1.6 million views within the first 24 hours, and within two weeks it had over 10.6 million views. Volkswagen cross-marketed the teaser with a link to a website where fans could create and send their own customized Star Wars-themed Super Bowl party invitations. Volkswagen posted the full commercial online on February 1, several days before the Super Bowl, in an effort to maintain viewer interest and increase conversation.

Here are some of the other notable previews we’ve seen this year:

• “Vampire Party,” Audi — The YouTube teaser video was followed up by a release of the full video of a vampire party that ends badly thanks to the Audi S3′s new headlights, and marketed on Twitter using the hashtag “SoLongVampires.”
• “Mr. Quiggly,” Sketchers — Viewers only get a brief 16-second introduction to this French Bulldog with an affinity for racing before the big day, but in the meantime fans can “like” Mr. Quiggly on Facebook.
• “Matthew’s Day Off,” Honda — Topping out at a whopping 2:25 minutes long, the extended version of the commercial depicts Matthew Broderick revisiting his role in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The video is being cross-marketed on Honda’s Facebook pages and on Twitter using the hashtag #dayoff.
• “Polar Bowl Party,” Coca Cola — Coca Cola is ramping up the hype on Facebook and Twitter for their live game day party. Fans must RSVP for the party, during which they can chat with each other and get real-time updates from the polar bears that can be shared in social media streams. For every reservation to the party, the company will donate $1 to the World Wildlife Fund. The highlight of this huge campaign will come during the Super Bowl, when Coca Cola will air one of two commercials based on which team is leading the game at half time.
• “Crash the Super Bowl,” Doritos — For the sixth consecutive year, Doritos is relying on fans to vote up their favorite consumer-made videos, culled from over 6,000 entries to just five. The video with the most votes will be aired during the Super Bowl, and the winner will get a chance to work with a top agency to create another video. Doritos is promoting the contest directly across social media streams, and indirectly via USA Today’s traditional Ad Meter or its new Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter by offering a $1 million cash prize if one of their videos ranks #1.

As far as being effective? Let me put it this way: if even me — a stubborn commercial-hater — could get roped into the Super Bowl commercial preview buzz, I have to admit they beat me.

What about you — do you find yourself watching the big game to see the commercials?

¹ Source: The Yankee Group, 2010.
² Source: USDA, 2007.
³ Source: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl#Television_coverage_and_ratings

Hashtags: a part of the Twitter puzzle, explained.

There are a handful of words that never fail to make me hungry, and one of those words is “hashtag.” Whenever I lay eyes on that word, visions of perfectly browned shredded potatoes come dancing through my mind.

Sadly, hashtags couldn’t be further removed from hashbrowns. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing, because when’s the last time a potato did so much for your marketing strategy?

If you’ve been on Twitter for any length of time, you’ve seen a hashtag in action. A hashtag is any word or phrase preceded by a # symbol. The hashtag is used to denote key topics, similar to the way a tag is used on a blog.

Fun fact: Hashtags were popularized in 2007 by Twitter user Nate Ritter when he used #sandiegofire to categorize updates on the San Diego forest fires.

Whenever a hashtag is used, it becomes a clickable link to a page where all the tweets using that hashtag have been collected in one place. The very most popular hashtags often appear as “Trending Topics” on Twitter.

What does this mean for you? If you use Twitter to promote your business and brand, using hashtags can drastically expand your reach. Effective use of hashtags enables people who aren’t already following you to find you. How’s that for targeting the right potential customers?

Okay, I’m sold. So where do I find these hashtags?

Many sites exist that aggregate, identify, and sort hashtags. Twubs.com, for example, features categories you can browse to narrow what you’re looking for. Once you’ve established which hashtags you’d like to watch, there a number of ways to go about tracking them:

• Web-based applications. Monitter, Twist, Hashtags.org, Tweetmeme, or using the search function within Twitter are popular options.
• Twitter accounts. Follow users such as TweetingTrends and Twithority for trend updates right in your Twitter feed.
• Mobile applications. Need to track trends on-the-go? There’s an app for that! Summizer and Retweet are among those to check out.

One particular solution may not necessarily be the best. Try a variety until you find what works for you, your business, and your campaign.

Hashtags: get ‘em right

Now that you have some hashtags in your arsenal, here are some tips to get the most out of them:

• Use hashtags sparingly — no more than three per tweet! Overuse dilutes both the message and the impact of the hashtag.
• Give ‘em some meat! Tweeting only hashtags is not just annoying, it makes your feed look like spam. And spam definitely isn’t meat.
• Focus on the message of the tweet first, then add hashtags where relevant.
• For hashtags that include more than one word, try CamelCast — that is, capitalize the first letter of each word in the tag. This improves readability. #SocialMediaMarketing looks a lot better than #socialmediamarketing.
• Inventing your own hashtag? Great! Make it clear in an explanatory tweet what it means, and make sure to choose a word or phrase for your hashtag that provides context. Make it easy for people to pay attention, and they will.

Happy hashtagging!

If you’ve never before seen it, Mad Men is a dramatic series set in the 1960s at a fictional advertising agency in New York. It deals with shifting social norms, especially as experienced through the show’s main character, Don Draper.

The minimalist poster depicts a black and white silhouette of a man in a suit falling headfirst through a white and grey negative space. At the bottom, red and black text simply reads “March 25.”

There are no other words or visual markers.

Compare this to the “unofficial” poster, reportedly done on spec, by a creative agency named Radio:

This poster, in comparison, not only includes the name of the show, the season number, and the name of the cable channel on which it airs, but it includes visual clues that tell a compelling back story about the show — a good point of introduction for those who have never seen it before. Unlike the minimalist poster, it provides context.

These two wildly different approaches to the same poster really got me thinking about branding. Once a company gets big enough, they generally go through a rebranding process in which their logo is simplified into an icon. Think: Target’s red and white target symbol, or Starbucks’ woodcut siren, or McDonald’s golden arches.

Icons say a lot about a brand. Consider Apple’s extremely well-known apple. That icon isn’t just a logo, it’s a legacy. That icon is the brand. Plain and simple. No further words are needed to explain who or what the company is, because consumers already know the story.

The fascinating thing about all of this is, Mad Men is not a well-known “brand.” It doesn’t have a particularly well-known story — at least not outside its small but fiercely dedicated devotees. The show brought in a mere 2.92 million¹ viewers during its last season premiere compared to the 26.23 million² viewers of the last premiere of superstar singing talent contest American Idol. And even then you don’t see the American Idol marketing team cranking out cryptic promotional materials featuring only, say, a microphone and nothing else.

With such a tiny audience, where did the Mad Men marketing team get the cojones to “iconize” their brand?

And that’s where the best criticism of the minimalist poster lies: only a fan would recognize the image of the falling silhouette that appears over the opening credits of the show, and the familiar type treatment of the text. That means those who aren’t yet fans are completely left out of the messaging.

How can AMC expect to attract any new viewers this way?

Then again, is that always the point? Does adjusting the message for a broader audience sometimes dilute the message? Sure.

The poster is likely the first in a very detailed marketing campaign that will span print, television, and social media advertising, of course. I’m guessing AMC won’t maintain this minimalist approach throughout the duration of the campaign, but this is certainly an interesting start.

The takeaway? Good design is important. Good branding is important. Good iconography is important.

But sometimes, getting people talking is important, too.

Do you think the poster is successful?

¹ Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Men
² Source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol

Podcasting: a new way to reach customers.

Podcasting. Sounds like something straight out of The Jetsons, right? You’d almost expect it to involve some sort of pod-like vehicle that launches you to any destination of your choice.

Speaking of which — why haven’t they invented that yet? I’m also still waiting for that big machine that bathes, clothes, and grooms you in five seconds flat. I could save so much time in the morning!

But back to podcasting. Chances are, you’ve heard it mentioned before. You may have even listened to one, and now you’re wondering how to go about recording your own. No matter where you stand, here’s an overview to help you get started.

What it is

Podcasting comes from a combination of the words “iPod” (a digital audio player) and “broadcasting.” Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you need an iPod to listen to or create podcasts, though!

A podcast is a lot like blogging, but talking instead of writing. Many people use it in a “radio show” format featuring themselves as the esteemed host. But podcasting shouldn’t be confused with internet radio. Instead of having to be present at an appointed time for a scheduled show, podcast listeners can instead download podcasts on demand or subscribe via an RSS reader, iTunes, or software such as Podcaster — which is a serious benefit over simple streaming audio.

The FCC has no control over podcasts. You don’t need a license to podcast, as you would with a radio station, meaning you have utterly free reign over the style and content of your podcast.

As I mentioned before, the “radio show” format is very popular, but podcasts are frequently used in other ways such as audio lessons for students and as part of guided walking tours at museums and historical sites.

That’s great, but why?

Why would you podcast? What’s the point? The point is that it’s a serious promotional tool. Think of it as a way to expand the scope of your impact, and as a supplement to traditional promotional media like print materials. If you have the kind of business or persona that deals in specialized knowledge, podcasting may be a great medium to grow your brand.

The pros of podcasting include:

• It’s a new way to communicating with customers and colleagues.
• It’s inexpensive to produce and distribute.
• You can reach people who don’t read blogs.
• You can get your message out free of interference.
• It’s experimental.
• It’s quick and convenient.
• It’s an opportunity to influence your target market or niche.
• You may be able to turn a profit through advertising and sponsorships.

What you need to get started

All you need to record a podcast is:

1. An external microphone you can connect to your computer. Decent plug-and-play microphones can be had for $15-20.
2. Audio editing software. Audacity is a popular — and free — option.
3. A website or hosting service to upload your podcast to, such as Podango.
4. Promotion via your website, email newsletter, or social media. You can also submit your podcast to podcast directories that allow listeners to find specific content they want to hear.

Need to get your project off the ground? Need our help? Ask us!

The main takeaways? Most users read blogs in the morning. The average blog gets the most traffic on Mondays, and the most comments on Saturdays. Check out the infographic below.

If Fluffy is about to post a review, it's not going to be pretty.

Unfortunately, there are endless examples to draw from. In fact, they follow a formula, and you can fill in the blanks (like MadLibs… brings me back!):

(name) is on (website), and (he/she) is unhappy because (reason).

For example:

Joe is on Twitter, and he is unhappy with the flowers he ordered for his girlfriend’s birthday because they were late. He’s using those 140 characters to explain that the bouquet was note only late, but also dried out, and overall a major disappointment. And he’s naming names. In fact, soon he’ll be blaming all of his relationship problems on this one bad bouquet.

Problem is, you’re the florist. So…

What do you do? Should you respond?

Yes, respond! You want the opportunity to connect with this person. This is why you monitor social media sites and the internet in general, to manage your reputation and keep up with the latest buzz about your business and offerings. Hopefully you can right the situation, and if not, you can at least communicate your side of the story, and show that you have addressed concerns.

But doesn’t engaging look bad, like the person is right? Shouldn’t you just ignore it?

No! Not responding to a negative comment is worse than engaging in an honest conversation. Social media has drastically changed our landscape. Now, I’m not one for absolutes, so there may be exceptions to this, but I’m tempted to say you should always have a response. An exception would be if a court order tells you not to, or if you have a certain history that lets you know it’s not worth your time. But here’s the thing: A person who is ranting about something you or your business has done, whether or not that individual has any merits to those claims, can create buzz. Bad buzz. You don’t want that.

So what should you say? The truth.

Show what you’ve done right, and admit what you’ve done wrong. This sounds basic, but it’s a simple principle that isn’t frequently followed.  If you made a mistake, admit it. Apologize. Offer to remedy the problem. Sometimes people need a little rant, and a cool, calm answer makes them feel heard. An answer says you’re there, and you care. It shows other customers and potential customers that you’re engaged in the latest social media platforms, and that you care what they think. Even if the situation isn’t resolved, others will see your response and will make their own opinions.

What if it works?

You’ve just salvaged a relationship, and shown a community of people that you care about customer satisfaction. It’s an action, and if actions speak louder than words, you’ve taken a group of people who may have left with a bad view of your brand and instead created a group who recognizes your commitment, and hopefully does business with you.

What if the person is just crazy?

That’s trickier, of course. Most businesses have a method of dealing with problem customers, usually starting with various channels of customer service, where hopefully it is resolved before it ends up in the legal department. Unfortunately you can’t make everyone happy. It’s worth trying to resolve the situation, and if a customer remains unhappy, you can point them to your internal methods of resolving conflicts. If that doesn’t work, you can wish them well and send them on their way. Hopefully they will go quietly.  Consider referring them to a competitor. I’m serious. Tell him/her that you are sorry you cannot meet his/her needs, but that this other business might be able to, and if appropriate, facilitate the intro. Imagine how much happier you will be working with your other customers, or working on your business.

Did it! What’s next?

• If you or your team made a mistake, is there anything you can learn from the situation? Was there a hole in your process, or something you could better track? Adapting to avoid future problems could really help improve customer experiences all around.
• Try to anticipate problems before they arise, and address them before they explode.
• Keep monitoring — if you saw a negative comment, it’s because you’re doing something right! Staying engaged and involved with your customers and potential customers online is key.
• Share your good news — make sure there is positive (real) buzz about your company online, whether its recent news about new offerings, awards, or customer testimonials, having positive affirmation that you’re good at what you do helps outweigh any leftover bad sentiments floating around online.

Check back soon for a follow up post with additional real-world examples. What are your experiences handling less-than-pleasant comments?

Two years after I finally overcame my reluctance and opened an account, I’m a solid believer in this social media platform. Yep, I’m one of those annoying Twitter evangelists, running around encouraging everyone to join. And even if you’re not yet quite as convinced as I am, you’ve probably figured out by now that Twitter is here to stay, so you’ve likely jumped on the bandwagon, too.

Good choice. Twitter is a great way to promote your business and brand, to stay on top of emerging trends in your industry, and to keep tabs on the competition. It can also be a great way to reach new customers or colleagues, and communicate with the ones you have. But like anything else in life, these things won’t happen without some effort.

It’s hard to get established on Twitter. And whether you opened your account a year ago or yesterday, there’s always room for improvement. To that end I’ve put together some tips on how you can build up your Twitter presence and become a respected resource in your industry.

• Be selective. Sure, it’s exciting to watch your follower numbers rise, but those numbers don’t mean much if half of them are video poker spambots. Block and/or unfollow anyone who isn’t 1) a real person and is 2) potentially damaging to your brand. Remember: you’re not obligated to follow back.
• Looks are everything. Just as you go to a user’s profile page to vet him or her, potential followers are coming to your page to vet you. Take extra time to ensure everything is ship-shape. Check your description for spelling errors, upload a crisp and sharp (and relevant) profile image, and make sure your (custom!) background and color choices are in line with your branding. If you’re not confident doing this yourself, hire a professional who can — chances are very high your 17-year-old nephew does not qualify for the job.
• Quality, not quantity. Trust me, flooding your followers’ feeds with a constant barrage of tweets does not help you get your point across. The only thing it helps you do is lose followers — and lose your messaging in the process. Aim for 2-4 meaningful tweets spread out during peak times in Twitter activity. Less is always more!
• Say something. Yeah, you can retweet the same things everyone else in your feed is retweeting, and you can stay spinning your wheels in the virtual mud puddle of the social media landscape, too. These days, when nearly everything “shared” in our social media streams is lifted from another source, people appreciate and value original content — and these people are likely to remain loyal followers.
• Tweet outside the box. Inject personality into your tweets. If your brand had a voice, what would it say? How would it say it?
• If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Consider all the time you’ve spent doing what you do. You have insight. You have knowledge. You have experience. Why not share it with the world?

Cultivating a good reputation on Twitter takes time, but you get back what you put out in spades. Be patient!

And remember: you have only 140 characters. Use them well.

Happy tweeting!