“Kunal is highly Internet savvy. He has an excellent understanding of web trends which is very valuable to many companies in today’s market. Kunal is a self-starter who is capable of seeing an idea through from conception to execution.” Daniel Robertson, CEO, Fishpond

“Kunal was great to work with, very creative knowledgeable, yet always willing to listen to new ideas and learn about other aspects of the business. His online marketing and use of adwords drove Fishpond towards being Australasia’s largest online book store. His increase in sales constantly put pressure on my own role in operations, and I noticed a definite increases in sales when he ran promotional campaigns. I’ve been lucky enough to have worked with him since Fishpond, and look forward to working with him again in the future.”Andrew Hales, Operations Manager, Fishpond

Results: Fishpond  won these Awards while I was in charge of their marketing:

• 4th at Deloitte Technology Fast 50.  1230% growth
• 31st at Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific
• Exporter of the Year, Westpac Manukau Business Excellence Awards

Today, let’s take a closer look at what makes a Facebook Ad successful using the ads pictured above as case studies:

Headline:  The message is clear, if you want to fly to London, keep reading.

Image: London is a popular OE destination for kiwis. The image is designed to resonate with someone who is is planning their OE and encourage them to take action towards this goal. The simple “I quite” message on a PostIt Note is amusing.  The focus of the image is not on the AirNZ logo.  Rather, this is inserted more for subtle association.

Copy: The text ties together the headline and the image presented. The call-to-action is clear, (buy your one-way ticket to London for your OE,) but creatively presented. It also takes the  also takes a step towards further qualifying the click, by explicitly stating the offer period.  Also note that the tone and language used is a good fit with the channel – People are on Facebook primarily for entertainment.

Headline:  If you live in New Zealand, you’ve probably heard of Infratil and you’d be surprised to see them on Facebook, but here they are.  A corporation that owns a number of consumer brands is taking an interest in directly communicating with their shareholders, customers and other stakeholders.

Image: A clearly recognizable logo to anyone who has ever had contact with the company.

Body: If you’re a shareholder of Infratil, you are likely to take an interest in what they’re up to.  Their copy conveys transparency and that connecting with them on Facebook is a good way to learn more about the company and keep up to date on what they are doing.

Headline: Westpac’s credit card points program ‘hotpoints’ gets a mention just because they are the first New Zealand bank making any headway with social media.   I think their headline isn’t going to attract anyone who isn’t going to attract anyone that isn’t already a hotpoints member.

Image:  There is no continuity from headline to image, nor does Allyson Gofton’s cookbook hold any appeal to me, as a mid twenties male.  Westpac needs to work on their audience targeting – easy using Facebook.

Copy: The pitch starts with the cookbook.  I understand they are trying to show off all the goodies you can redeem with your hotpoints and to this end, they tie the copy to the image well.  The very last sentence attempts a sales pitch, but since the ad is likely to attract only existing members, this is wasted.

Headline:  Ties in well with the escapism nature of Facebook.  It certainly gets the attention of anyone who is planning a holiday.

Image: An augmented The Warehouse mascot attempts to target the ad towards the backpacker crowd – the younger crowd that has  traditionally  drawn brands to  Facebook.

Copy: Travel Insurance is a very competitive market and I think The Warehouse have done well to make their offering somewhat remarkable.  As long as the cost of their policy is competitive and its coverage is on par with competitors, why wouldn’t you want the chance to win your holiday back?

Headline:  Sweepstakes are all over Facebook and this one is clear in its intent.

Image:  Look!  You can win a whole bag worth of pens!  Enough to last for years…

Body:  We’ve all used them at some point of time and are familiar with them, but I can’t think of a more boring product than a BIC pen.  I think their intent in making the BIC pen more exciting is good, but the execution: taking the experience offline, then back online, creates too much friction.

What do you think makes a good Facebook Social Ad?

Good Facebook Social Ads have a set of common traits.  Check out the selection above.

Bad Facebook Ads also have common themes.  There are many ads that are just run of the mill, and I make no mention of them.  However, these ads below are remarkably bad and worthy of note. They are typically not tailored to fit the Facebook channel and look more like recycled Google Adwords (written by people who have never used Google Adwords before.)  They tend to serve no purpose other than to annoy:

Facebook Ads that miss the mark

The Economist:

“You are selected” is an obvious lie and not attractive to anyone who has surfed the internet and seen hundreds of spam ads that start the same way.  It speaks to the calibre of reader the Economist hopes to attract. The enticement of a 2GB USB stick (worth <$10) is also offensive at best.

What I like about the ad is the magazine cover they have chosen to use with the headline: “New Dangers for the World Economy” – yes, people who click on this ad are a danger to the world economy.

North Shore Toyota:

Get a clue:  That’s the most poorly targeted and boring ad currently running on Facebook.

Tivo:

“Facebook your friends while your fav TV show is on.”  What? To top off the lame intro, they try to sell me a 36 month contract.  Hey Telecom, since you’re behind Tivo in New Zealand, you should have your copywriter meet up with the Toyota copywriter and together, they can go find a clue.  Start by reviewing the good ads above and reading about what make’s a good facebook ad. All the information you need is on the internet and it is free.

Tomorrow:  Commentary on the great ads picured at the top of this post.

Firstin.co.nz, a technology daily deals website,  has  given  New Zealanders access to over 1600 deals over the past 5 years. Their iPad competition has added hundreds of followers to their Facebook Page in just 3 days, taking their total to over 3000. Tactics used:

• Good competition promotional spot on their website with a frictionless opportunity to  ’Like’ them without leaving the page.
• Good pre-competion marketing by informing their visitors that they need to follow them on Facebook for competition updates.
• Critique: The competition details page could be a lot cleaner and simpler.  Most people simply don’t have the time to read through all those details.

Compare the landing page above to Privatebox.co.nz’s below and we notice that we have a much simpler page with a clear call to action.  There’s much less work involved to enter, oh so it seemed…

• The competition details are not entirely clear:  ”On June 10, we will post an update with a question and you may be the winner.” What’s confusing is that they have been posting lots of questions in the lead up to June 10 as well that people have been answering, obviously thinking they are competition entries.
• Privatebox have taken steps to clarify things as demonstrated in this image. To me it looks like a lot of extra friction.
• Point 4 in their T&Cs could be worded a lot better. The tone is a little harsh and unfriendly.  This tone can also be seen in the responses and comments that Privatebox staff post on their Facebook Wall which falls short of best practice.

Objective

Determine how Facebook Social Ads perform as a marketing channel to drive qualified traffic that converts to sales on retail websites. Here is what I did and what I learned:

• Adhering to Facebook’s recommended bids will drive you to bankruptcy and to complain loudly about how ads on social networking sites do not work. My objective was to drive traffic with lots of low cost, but well qualified clicks to high value products on retail websites and then benefit from sales that occur over the next 30 days. This methodology allows for making a positive ROI.  <strong>Cookies typically last 30 days,Place very low bids.

Headlines

Like with any ad campaign A/B testing  headlines and ad-copy was critical in identifying the optimal  mix. Once established, the ‘secret formula’ delivered perpetual returns.

• Well targeted headlines that were very specific worked best. Eg: “Buy Books” was not as good as “Vampire Lover?” when talking to an audience of female Edward Cullen fans.
• Getting clicks is easy using truisms in your headlines based on Facebook’s interest based targeting system facilitates this well. For example:

A female between 18 and 25 who has an interest in Vampires and Edward Cullen, is likely to be responsive to the headline:  “Vampire Lover?”

OR A 27 year old male in San Francisco is likely to take notice of the headline:  “27 and in SF?”

Ad-Copy
With ad-copy, I found two styles work well:.  Firstly, a compelling message that is conversational in style.  For example, positive customer reviews like:

“I love this set of Vampire tales! It has everything you want Mystery,Fantasy and of course romance with juicy bits! Only $88.99

• Other good ad-copy requires a compelling, time-sensitive and specific value proposition that sounds believable.  For example “Tuesday Only” was not as good as “Today Only” because people hear the latter  phrase far too often.
• Coupon codes also drove good clickthrough rates and allowed me to easily track which specific combination of headline and ad-copy worked best.  Interestingly, resulting conversions that used the coupon codes were very limited.

Product Strategy

Promote niche and high value items to a captive audience (people who want what you are selling) who given the correct motivation (as determined by A/B testing your Ad copy) are more than likely to become customers. This increases the probability of your ROI being positive.

Targeting

Improve your targeting. I’m able to tell which specific page or application on Facebook each of my clickthroughs came from.  I’ve been running identical Google Ads for comparison and my sales reports tell me exactly what search terms people are using to trigger my ads to show.  I can then add these keywords to my Facebook targeting.

[Update] It’s been proven that driving traffic within Facebook from an Ad to a Fan Page provides a higher (all be it soft) ROI. Also, Facebook now offers the ability to target friends of friends.  Ie:  You can serve ads only to friends of your followers which is also a clever optimisation tactic.

Concluding Observations and Comments

Finally, I noticed Subway have made clever use of Facebook, displaying ads with headlines like: “It’s time for Lunch” and “Hungry?” between around 11am to 2pm and encouraging you to order online. I think they are certainly doing something right.

I was using the Amazon Associates Program until they announced they will no longer pay referral fees on paid-search-derived traffic. In any case, the system seems to work better outside of the USA. I will continue to post my results as I experiment with different types of products, companies and countries.

What have your experiences with social network advertising been like? Please leave a comment or read more about Leveraging Social Networks

More about what works on Facebook:

engaging-with-facebook-social-ads/

facebook-advertising-resources-the-6-types-of-ads-on-the-new-home-page/

contextual-advertising-in-facebook.html

why-would-you-want-to-use-facebook-advertising

why-facebook-likes-small-ads-despite-the-small-dollars/

Americans Expect Companies to Have a Presence in Social Media

Social Media Marketing is cultivating the relationship before the sale and enriching the buyer’s experience of your product after the sale.

This is a recap of Social Media Junction: The Social Media Marketing conference held in Auckland. Following on from my Primer for Social Media Junction here is a recap of the event. (Reading time: ~15 mins + videos.)

Julien Smith

Your community as an asset and the importance of building social capital

Contribute to a community and it will contribute back to you. Andy Beal also emphasized Giving before you receive with regard to dealing with bloggers. This is about creating evangelists for your products and building brand equity:

1. An audience when you need it: Product launches or Managing a crisis.
2. A customer base that defends you against trolls.
3. A network that gives you access to information before a competitor.  Insider language is critical to taking advantage of this.

You can convert this social capital into financial capital. – Julien says anything that can be measured, can be monetized, but as Andy Beal reminds us:  Social Media measurement is more like PR and less directly measurable like Adwords.

Julien contends that we will never need more advertising:  Why? Because we don’t want it.  What we do need is more connection and community.  Reduce friction so it’s easier to interact. Make it easier to do things as a community rather than by yourself.

Mike Hickinbotham’s slide on Traditional vs Emerging Media clearly demonstrates why the community is an asset:

The web & Social Media allow you to make 1 > many interactions. This diagram clearly identifies how much leverage and bang-for-your-buck social media can give you versus traditional advertising.  Social Media is an opportunity to break patterns – a way to make connections with people. Do something different. Create emotional reactions based on differences in the environment.  Find ways to alleviate boredom. Seth Godin advocates the same approach: (Anyone with an interest in landing page optimisation will probably also enjoy this.)

In Julien Smith’s case, because he had taken the time to cultivate a community first, his book Trust Agents, hit the New York Times Bestseller List 2 days after launch.

• Your audience will always be there as long as you take care of it.
• Remember that your audience spreads out over time so you need to work on it consistently.
• Building tribes is what your company needs to survive into the future – I think Seth Godin conceptualized this idea first:

2Degrees Mobile demonstrates the value of a community through their launch using social media.  They built up a substantial following even before they went live.  They understand why people follow a company on social media:

• They offer Sneak peaks of their ad campaigns provided feedback before mainstream publication and also give followers exclusive content – A reason to join.
• The 2Degrees’s Twitter profile clearly defines why they are there:

Hi! Here’s another channel for 2degrees customers to get service & support. And where we can update you on things we’re up to.

• Bryony Hilless pointed out how your evangelists (fans & followers) will answer community questions and even defend you against trolls.  But you still need to step in and correct misinformation.

Most successful companies are focused on creating communities – All stakeholders engaging at various levels” @justinflitter,Flittermedia.co.nz

“On-demand access to geographically dispersed, topic-specific knowledge and feedback through both synchronous and asynchronous communication over multiple technology platforms is what social media use at work can be and that is a game changer.” Marshall Kirkpatrick, RWW

Air New Zealand is a great best practice case study of a company that has made social media part of its corporate DNA and are embracing it internally:

• KoruTube is for Air New Zealand staff to share customer stories, events or experiences for everyone to enjoy.  It also helps them learn about many of the opportunities and events that are taking place across the Air New Zealand group including training, learning and development assistance, updates and social events. A great way to connect a global company.

• Rob Fyfe, CEO, blogs, you can access special @grabaseat, get news, connect with customer service @flyairnz, have a wish granted by @airpointsfairy or play JumpSeat on Facebook.  They’ve even segmented their presence geographically.  For example, they target the US Market on Facebook and take a completely different approach for Japan, that leverages Ustream, Twitter and a local celebrity endorsement.

• Dearlistener.co.nz demonstrates how a company that embraces social media can have their CEO respond to misinformation very effectively within 24 hours. Air New Zealand recognized speed was key and video was the most effective way to spread their story.

No wonder corporations report that 10% of their bandwidth gets chewed up with Youtube Videos.

Video is something that people love to consume and share, especially the controversial and entertaining stuff. @TheWineVault uses video to great effect, as has KEA with their Pass it On campaign:

Strategy: Activate a global network of passionate kiwis using compelling content, a competition element, fun & curiosity.
Channel Selection: Youtube used because:  Credible. Low cost. High performance. Global reach to 18-55 year old. Full API.  Dual exposure:Youtube.com & Pass it On website.
Production Line: Crowdsourcing videos from Partners > review and approval > pre-processing, optimization > closing frames appended > content activated.

Overcoming barriers to social media implementation > Overcoming fear & risk taking

Julien Smith introduced us to Person Zero (the centre of your network.) You influence out 3 degrees to people you do not even know. Herd behaviour – If you do it, then others will also. If you don’t then others won’t.  Examples:

1. Geese: If you become the lead goose, others will follow.  If no one takes the lead, then all the geese freeze.
2. Canadian huskeys: You can be the lead dog with a nice view, or one of the others and all you see is another dog’s ass.
3. Every time a child does something new (potential dangerous) they learn something new.  Their world gets bigger. As adults, we have learn to avoid pain.  We like to be comfortable.

“It’s time to embrace the ability to make mistakes, to experiment and really make significant learnings.” Aisha Hillary, SBS

Paul Brislen from Vodafone pointed out two key questions C-level will ask:

• What is it? Understand that most C-level executives didn’t get there by being early adopters.  But they know how to steer the ship and undertake an acceptable level of risk to fuel growth. We need to”…connect the dots between conversations on the social web to business strategy” – Shannon Paul

• How much will it cost? The answer is that time and financial investments need to go where the people are.  Social Media is where people are spending an ever increasing amount of their time.  Explain social media in context of the strategic business goals it can help achieve.

Social Media Marketing is about creating social capital, an asset that must be built before it can be converted into financial capital, and then nurtured so you can benefit from its ever increasing value.

Aisha Hillary’s presentation ties all the pieces of the social media engagement puzzle together..  She reminds us of a key point: Your audience has to be there and you have to be able to add value.  Social media is a tool that can be used as part of an integrated communications strategy. Watch the highlights:

Note: 3/4 of the Social Media practitioners Panel consisted of Telcos. One could be excused for concluding that it’s our essential utilities & infrastructure companies that need social media.  Or perhaps it is just industries that typically have high customer service loads?

• See Simon Young’s wrap-up and blogging tips
• I have created a list of Social Media Junction event related links that you can access here:  Twubs.com/smj
• Julien’s book recommendation: Blue Ocean Strategy is about differentiation in your space.  This is the source of his example on how Cirque Du Soleil redefined what a circus is.
• Attend Late at the Museum.  Thank you Paul Reynolds.

Thanks to the team at Bullet PR for putting together an excellent social media event.

Part II of this Social Media Junction recap focusing on Andy Beal’s Online Reputation Management Masterclass will be available here in a couple of days.

“Kunal is a very reliable, super intelligent guy who people like to work with. He is a straight shooter who doesn’t get carried away with any hype, and he executes well. I would work with him at anytime in the future.” Stephen Weir, Founder, Eventy.jp

After the event, I also wrote a Recap of Social Media Junction.

Easliy track #smj view photos, access links & connect with other delegates, speakers and organisers before and after the conference at Twubs.com/smj

Trust Age nts – @Julien. You know you need to “join the conversation” but what do you do now? Julien will be discussing:

How to use the tools of the web that make relationships that mean something. – Chris Brogan, Co-author, Trust Agents.

Trust Agents are people who understand that the web has become more humanized and build their business accordingly. They are the pioneers mastering the latest communication channels. Julien will help us become better at communicating a message online through:

• Learning to be human at a distance – Connect people, share information & practice simple touchpoints of loyalty.
• Understanding how to leverage social networks – Leverage your existing assets. Build on what you’ve got.  Don’t rest on your laurels. Be the relationship before the sale.
• Knowing how to stand out from the crowd – The Attention Wars. Gathering awareness, gaining reputation and earning trust. Effective strategies that make sense but are not common sense like: Make your own game. Find your value differentiation  and create a new word because in a crowded niche its impossible to own the defacto keywords. For example ‘Lifestyle Design’ by Tim Ferriss.

Read Bullet PR’s interview with Julien Smith,read a sample of the book or watch their Gnomedex presentation.

Changing People’s Behaviour with Social Me dia – @m_hickinbotham

The Foundation of Telstra’s Social Media Policy is the 3Rs.  They apply to someone who is officially representing Telstra or making reference to them.

1. Representation:  Be clear about who you represent and in what capacity.
2. Responsibility:  Ensure what you say is factually accurate, not in breach of any laws, within your area of expertise and not harmful to Telstra.
3. Respect: For the people and communities that you interact with.

Read the entire social media policy (6 pages)

Read more on: Social Media Governance

Mike will be discussing:

• Making the decision to ignore, listen or engage: Check out the US Airforce’s flowchart.
• Take information and link it back to business objectives:  How can social media engagement be used to help us achieve our strategic goals?
• Research:  Real time snapshots of customer satisfaction and future intent. This provides invaluable insight into what customers care about right now.
• Changing organizational mindsets: Championing the cause, a shift in mindsets, providing skills and a sense of self-responsibility – Converting employees to ambassadors. This is achieved through Telstra’s remarkable staff online education tool:

International Best Practice in Social Media: Examples from the private, public, not-for-profit and creative sectors

@justinflitter and @mcgovernonline will be sharing some incredible examples from around the world. Here’s a few remarkable organisations I have come across locally that understand how to leverage social media.  Each appear to have a strategy in place to experiment with and evaluate the emerging social media opportunities.

Private Sector

@Giapo know how to use Twitter to express what their gelato is about.  They also use it to engage heavily with their friends throughout the day.

• In their Queen street store you will find a plasma screen with a live Twitter stream and a webcam through which you can end up on Youtube.
• On Facebook, their crowdsourced customer photo competition has been wildly popular. The resulting photos are now used as Giapo’s main profile photo. – That’s real engagement.

@privateboxnz . They are on http://www.facebook.com/post.office.box. 

• Capitalised on iPad hype to cultivate their Facebook presence – Become a fan for a chance to win an iPad.
• They’ve taken ownership of the keywords “post office box” on Facebook – Great for their SEO Strategy.
• Leveraged their email newsletter to drive traffic directly to the competition landing page. They understand the need to disaggregate their customer database and move away from complete reliance on email.
• Companies that offer social network competition management include Wildfire (run by an expat kiwi,Victoria Ransom, in Silicon Valley) and also Auckland based Netfinity.  More comprehensive Social Media management platforms include:  Objectivemarketer and Spredfast

Public Sector
After the success of Barack Obama’s digital media strategy, it’s no surprise that politicians the world over are engaging.You can connect with @johnkeypm   via Facebook, Youtube and Flickr.  The importance of these channels as campaign tools is obvious.  With Twitter and Facebook, we are given the impression the PM wants to listen to what New Zealanders are concerned about and he is embracing new technology.

Not-for-profit
Charities and non-profits lend themselves to success with social media.  They are causes that people like to show their support for.  It makes us feel good and maybe it feels even better because you know your friends get to see what causes you support. I’ve found one great local example and one terrific  overseas example that speak best practice to me:

 SPCA Petfood Product launch. Traffic driven to a custom landing page where pet owners can get a free sample delivered to them. The distribution channels and product aesthetics are also made clear. SPCA Petfood on Facebook has over 26,000 fans.

Another notable product launch is Pampers Cruisers on Facebook.  What makes it interesting is the nappy-rash related backlash that followed together with how Pampers handled the complaints and misinformation found on social media.

The lifecycle of a non-profit social media campaign. I highly recommend watching this video:

What to Avoid When Implementing Social Media into an Organisation: Lessons from Facebook, YouTube & Twitter.

Chair: @VHeeringa
Panel: @vodafonenz, @phixx, @PaulBrislen, @2degreesmobile

Here’s what I think should be avoided:

1. Don’t have social media usage guidelines. Staff education is paramount to success.  I defer back to Telstra.
2. Don’t dip your feet in the water without checking the temperature or water quality first. Chances are you will recoil and not want to go back.It’s essential to have a strategy in place to properly evaluate and experiment with social media within a framework that drives towards tangible business goals.  Allocate sufficient human resources to ensure proper management of your social media presence.
3. Don’t work in a silo.  There needs to be organisation-wide buy-in.  Cultivate champions internally.
4. Don’t stray off topic.  It’s about your customers, not your weekend golf game.
5. Don’t start without using a social profile management tool like Hootsuite or the enterprise grade Spredfast.  Also ensure you have a good measurement plan in place using Google Analytics, Clicktale, Bit.ly or other appropriate package.

Managing Measurement and Tone in Social Media: - @andybeal

An important first step is to define what success entails for your business.  What business goal is the initiative working towards and what KPIs will you use to measure your progress?  There’s a multitude of Social Media management & measurement tools available including both free and enterprise grade options with SLA’s. Examples include: Spredfast,Google Analytics,Tweetreach and Bit.ly.

Tone in social media:  You vs. Brand representation was the topic of discussion at the latest Social Media Club in Auckland. My views on the subject are derived from experience working on a Social Media Policy with a bank in Singapore:

• I think best practice is to always remember that you represent the organisation.  Everything on the internet is public (as highlighted by the latest Facebook privacy debacle.)
• The less verbose you are in your responses and your interactions, the less public material can be taken out of context and misinterpreted.
• Never admit fault.  Acknowlege the issue and say what went wrong, why and how you are working to investigate and resolve it. The worst response ever is:

We are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it.

• A typically corporate tone – one that comes from a form letter, has many words but doesn’t actually say much, is not the way to go. The 140 character limit on Twitter is excellent in this regard, since there’s no room to beat around the bush.  You have to be succint and helpful at the same time.
• Sometimes it is best to resolve an issue out of the public eye.  Move it to email or phone.
• On occasion, you don’t have to do anything.  Your customers (evangelists) answer the query or bury the troll for you.

2 excellent resources are: New Media and The Airforce and ofcourse Telstra’s 3Rs of Social Media.

Read the highights of Andy Beal’s Newstalk ZB interview

Blogger Panel: How to keep it compelling and relevant. – Top 5 Tips.

Chair: @audaciousgloop
Panel: @freitasm @greermcdonald @publicaddress @alistairnz @bernardchickey

People subscribe to your blog because they’re interested in your thought leadership or stories about a particular niche.
They want to learn from you, be inspired or participate in the discussion through comments or, picking up on a thread and adding more thoughts on their own blog post. My thoughts on keeping a blog compelling and relevant:

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” – Albert Einstein

1. Stay within your area of expertise.  As a subject matter expert, stick to writing about what you understand best.
2. Write a series of posts, each one connected to the previous one.  To this end also link back to older posts from any new articles (an internal linking strategy is also important for SEO.)
3. Subscribe to peer blogs and build on their posts.  Reference and comment accordingly.
4. Be among the first to pick up on new trends and ideas in your niche.  Demonstrate thought leadership.

Using Social Media in a broadcasting environment; external and internal stakeholder management – @superfabulous

Social & Search inseparably connected; how to ensure you do both well – @gdosborne

I couldn’t agree more:

• Real Time Search means that fresh content gets prioritised in Google’s search index.
• Making your content accessible on social media makes it available to more people in a way that allows your message to spread faster.
• The Google honeymoon period means that new websites (fresh) get prioritized for a few weeks. Social Media is a way to keep them fresh.
• Facebook Like is similar to social bookmarks like Digg,Stumbleupon and Delicious, but offers greater viral spread through your friend network.
• Google is getting more social with Buzz and easy to use filters that segment content types, giving you up to 8 opportunities to rank at the top of a SERP.
• Read more about Winning Search Engine Oscars with Social Media

How to harness video content for a local yet global social media campaign – @KeaRossco

My guess is we will be learning about:

Pass it On: Help share the best of New Zealand with the rest of the world.  Watch the introductory video. This looks like a great viral campaign that properly leverages social media. I look forward to learning how successful it has been so far and also what measurement infrastructure is in place.

Using Social Media effectively from an advertising perspective international best practice from MySpace – @AndrewCordwell

I found this presentation that talks about Coca Cola’s foray into social media, but there is no mention of MySpace. I look forward to learning how MySpace fits into the picture.

You might also like to read: A Recap of Social Media Junction.

@kunalkripalani