Mindjumpers » Social Network

New Twitter Features Summed Up

Anne Herngaard — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:42:53 +0000

Last week, Twitter announced some major changes that will affect how both users and businesses use and spend time on the site. In general, Twitter is being designed to make it easier for people to follow and discover stories, news, debates or other things they care about and over time giving better opportunities for brands to connect with consumers.

Here’s a sum up of the most prominent changes:

Twitter redesign

The new design is a much bigger change than last time, which now has more of the same feel as when using an app. The change is focused on keeping people a longer time on Twitter to follow conversations and see how they evolve.

’Home’ is still your feed as you know it, but now with better options to keep track of replies, retweets and embedded media.

In the new ‘Connect’, it is now possible to distinguish between interactions and the @mentions. This way it is easier to keep track of who is retweeting you and following up on conversations.

The biggest change is to be found in the ’Discover’ function that provides you with information customized for you depending on your interests. As you use Twitter, the feature will be better at serving you content.

Also mobile and web apps have had new interface design rolled out. According to Twitter, if you install the new version on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, you will be updated to the new version next time you log on. This seems to have worked for a lot of people, but not yet for me :-(

You can read more about the new design at fly.twitter.com

Launches brand pages

Along with the redesign, brands will now have a better opportunity to use Twitter with ‘brand pages.’ So far there has been no difference between regular profiles and the many brands with a Twitter profile.

According to Adage, the new brand pages will of course have the redesigned feel, but it will also be possible to customize a large header image to display a logo or a tagline. Another option available to brands is to have a “sticky” tweet stay on top of the page’s timeline that will appear auto-expanded to greet viewers with whatever content is displayed. Moreover, @ replies and mentions will be separated to make it easier for brands to drive customer-service oriented conversations.

So far, the brand pages are being launched together with 21 commercial partners. It is still not clear when or whether the brand pages will be open for other brands or whether it will be possible to convert a regular profile into a branded page.

But still – looks like Twitter is stepping up the competition to Google+ and Linkedin, who has also recently created space for special brand presences – and of course Facebook who has been there for some time now.

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How To Create a Presence on Google+

Anne Herngaard — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:01:19 +0000

On November 7 2011, Google+ launched their highly anticipated pages. For long, Google’s message to business has been to “hold your horses”, while they were creating a proper solution for businesses and brands.

Of course the reasons for having a Page on Google+ are those that we already know from Facebook: To build relations and to connect with your network. Pages work almost similar to Google+ Profiles in the sense that you can add people to circles and mention them, share content, make +1 and comments and create hangouts.

The benefits of a Google+ presence

Google is of course difficult to overlook when it comes to their powerful search engine and the large array of services they provide. I guess many of these services will be integrated to a Google+ Page too. For instance, an integration with Google Analytics seems like an inevitable feature when it comes to measuring the performance of your page.

Most importantly, your Google+ Page will be included in search results. The feature called Direct Connect lets users to easily navigate to a Google+ Page when searching. Add a ‘+’ in front of your search query, for instance ‘+Pepsi’ or ‘+Burberry’ and you will be navigated directly to the page. However, Google is still working on this feature and so far, it only works for a limited number of pages and users.

What are the differences between pages and profiles?

It is possible to create pages within five different categories. Pages are recognized through a small icon and publishing is set to public as a default. Unlike profiles, pages can’t add people to circles until the page is added first or mentioned. This secures that you cannot push your page and content to people, but letting those interested come to you instead. Also, Pages have a +1 button to allow for people to easily follow you. Of course you don’t have the option to do stuff that you would normally do from a personal profile, such as playing games, hangout on mobile devices or +1 things on the web.

When you have created a page you can swap between posting as a profile or page. Posts, comments and notifications will then be from the page. The smart thing about Google+ is the ability to divide your network into circles, which gives you more control over your communication. For instance have customers, stakeholders and collaborators divided into circles, so that you can post information that are relevant to them. This way, instead of having a page for external communication and a group for internal communication as many have on Facebook, now you can have one page for everything.

On the other hand, it is not possible to geo-target your updates and if you want to post outside of your circles, the only option is to go public. Neither is it yet possible to assign admin rights to other profiles, and I really lack the ability to create a vanity URL too.

Create a page

1. Sign in to your Google profile and click create page: plus.google.com/pages/create. Create your page within a chosen category.

2. Upload a profile image and photos to be displayed on your page. Edit and fill out your information to show who you are and add contact details etc.

3. Distribute your page: Google+ has added a ‘spread the word’ functionality to encourage you to share your new page on your personal profile with an update to it. It is also possible to create a badge to place on your website. Finally, it is of course also possible to create an Adwords campaign.

4. Add people who follow you to your circles: Check the ‘people who’ve added you’ section in Circles. It however possible to add other pages to your circles before they have added you.

5. Maintain your page with relevant content

Checkout some of the Pages on Google+

· Angry Birds
· Burberry
· Dallas Cowboys
· H&M
· Macy’s
· Pepsi
· Save the Children
· Toyota
· Train
· X Games
· Zen Bikes

> Want to read more about Google+ Pages, go through Google’s Help Center

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Facebook by the Numbers [infographic]

Marlene Friis — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:13:16 +0000

The online social media news site, Mashable, has put together a very nice infographic giving an overview of the current state of the social platform Facebook.

We all probably know that more than 800 million active users are currently on Facebook, but what we should especially notice is that more than 50% of these log into Facebook every day.

For brands on Facebook, this is something that establishes how important and effective it can be for your business to be present with a Facebook page. With more than 2 billion posts liked and commented on every day, there’s a good chance to connect and engage with customers online. Further, I’m sure that it’s pretty much expected by customers that they can find all of their favourite brands in social media, if they want to know more about the brand or have a question they need answered.

Actually, a recent study made by MarketTools shows that 23% of firms offer customers support on Facebook, which means that it’s becoming more mainstream. The study included 331 companies with an annual revenue of more than $10 million, and it found that 23 percent of them provide customer service and support via the social network. However, 34 percent of the executives who responded were aware that customers use social media to comment on or complain about products and services, but just one quarter of those respondents said companies always respond. And this is definitely something to take notice of.

To get back to the infographic, some more stats in the infographic says that 75% of Facebook users are situated outside the US, but the average US Facebook users spends 7 hours and 46 minutes on Facebook per month. Further, the infograhic shows top 5 lists of for instance most liked pages, non-internet brands by likes etc. And then some more fun facts are included as well, illustrating how 83% of women are annoyed by their Facebook friends or how 48% of people say that they look at their ex’s profile too often.

But take a look at the infographic here – and let us know what you think :)

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LOOKK: Community That Connects Designers With Consumers

Charu Dwivedi — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 07:23:14 +0000

Social media is used in different industries in different ways. So why should the fashion industry be left behind? We all know that London Fashion Week showcased how to use social media to its full potential with competitions, updates and photos on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

But here is a really cool community called LOOKK that connects young designers with consumers through an open social network.

What is LOOKK?

LOOKK aims to fundamentally change the way young designers and labels enter the fashion market by providing a platform for them to showcase their designs to a community of fashion lovers.

All the community members have the opportunity to give feedback on what they love and directly influence the items that are produced for sale within the LOOKK Webshop.

How does it work?

Designers can upload a single design or showcase an entire collection with each item having the potential to be discovered.

By garnering support from the LOOKK community as well as their own social networks, they can increase their level of exposure. They have the opportunity to be identified by an expert fashion panel who, using data to estimate market demand, will ultimately choose which items are put into production.

By providing an open network for designers to engage directly with consumers, LOOKK gives every new fashion graduate or aspiring designer the chance to be discovered and become successful on their own merits, making visible a section of the industry that has tough entry barriers to overcome.

What’s so great about it?

Personally, I think it is a great concept and a good use of social media to help fresh designers test waters and discover their style. So for me, this is one of many good cases where social media is used in an innovative way to connect people to make a business sense.

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Localized Communication:The Key to Social Media Success Globally

Charu Dwivedi — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 07:29:06 +0000

With businesses aiming to be global and extending their presence across countries, there has been a pressing need to connect with people of different cultures and tastes. In such cases, social media becomes an integral part of any company’s communication strategy. The extent of localization of the global brand’s communication could be the key to their social media success.

On our blog we have already written about how to select the social media channels for your brand as well as social media trends in Asia. In this post I will try to highlight a few things, which can help a global brand become more local and connect with its target customers.

Social media is a people driven culture, so it is good to understand the buying behavior and internet usage patterns of your target customers before you start. Here are some suggestions you must keep in mind before jumping in or cross check if you are already there:

Compare social media channels across the world: The best way to succeed in establishing social media presence abroad is to do ample of research on the popular social media channels and what do people expect on them. It is always good to track the user behavior on the popular channels and target them accordingly.

Here is a map of dominant social media channels in the world for a ready reference :

One size doesn’t fit all: While working on establishing a media presence in a country, it is always important to keep the media and messaging relevant and in sync with cultural as well as regulatory environment. It is advisable to identify your target market in the country and the dominant media channel used by them. It is good to identify the social media behaviors and what people use media sites for. For example in Europe, the highest engagement is generated through blogs and pictures.

The linguistic and cultural differences have to be kept in mind while doing so. Its good to have content in the local language to enable better brand engagement. Sometimes, the translated content needs to be cross checked so as to encompass the cultural difference. It is best to understand that what may be acceptable in one country may not work in another and can portray a negative brand image.

Messaging: It is best to keep the message concise and relevant to the audience of your target country. As mentioned earlier, the more local the better. Also the maxims of quality have to be established. The content should not be too much or too little. Always the cultural and religious views of the audience should be kept in mind while creating any content. Another important part here, is to include a lot of visuals (images or videos) which give your brand a local feel. The best way to gain attention is to use pictures of locals using your product.

Regional team: In order to give a local feel to your brand, its best to have a regional marketing team or agency that understands what people want and which are the social media objects (games, videos and content ) that can trigger user attention and increase the engagement levels with the brand.

In such cases it is best to create a brand communication manual that defines the do’s and dont’s of the communication, tone of voice and the brand values, because even though the communication across countries may differ, the brand values which translate into communication remain the same.

These are things which I thought are important while creating a global brand presence, would love to know anything that I might have missed out here !

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How to Choose the Right Social Media Platform to Connect With Customers

Marlene Friis — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:12:54 +0000

When taking the first step and starting out with social media, there are some basic things worth considering for creating the right foundation for your presence. Here, the different social media format options come into the picture, which are some of the first elements to take hold of during your social media planning.

Searching the web, I stumbled across this schedule made by Heidi Cohen, which provides an overview of the social media format options by exploring the pros and cons of different social platforms. It’s quite simple, but I think it can be very helpful for businesses taking the social step.

The schedule shows the pros and cons of both blogging, having a YouTube channel, Facebook, Twitter and a LinkedIn presence. Depending on your business and your preferred target audience, it’s crucial to decide whether you’re looking for a content rich presence with limited user interaction (like running a blog) or whether it would be more appropriate to go with the short form content channel like Twitter with a greater possibility of selecting your own audience. And here, the schedule can be of good help:

Taking the next step towards going social
Having decided on what kind of presence is the best one for your business, the next step should be to take a look at some of the ground rules that apply when building presence across each of the platforms:

Be present: Running a social media channel, I don’t think there’s any news in the fact that you need to be there. Having set up a social business channel, this should not be forgotten. You need to be updated on what is being said about your product and brand – and not least be ready and try to engage with people. Nobody wants to follow a blog or a Facebook page where nothing is being said.

Know what you do: Working with social media, you need to make sure that the employees involved in your online presence know what to do. What are your company’s guidelines for social media? What can be said, and what should not be shared with the public? This is something that really needs to be clear in order to avoid any unfortunate incidents.

Be human and define tone of voice: Like you need to be monitoring your social media channel and be present among your target audience, you also need to establish a human presence. Don’t be afraid to show who you are and make sure to have a defined tone of voice on beforehand which your social media team is also involved in. Remember that everything should be in coherence with your overall business strategy and social plan.

Make a schedule: To make it as simple and manageable as possible to maintain your brand’s social media presence, there’s a good reason to create a schedule. In order to have a continuous flow of content, it can be of great help to plan a supply of information that goes beyond promotion.

Spread the word: Like any other business initiative, you must let customers and the public know about your social media presence. Therefore, it’s a good idea to use your existing communication channels to market your social media. This can be on your website, in your e-mail signature, newsletters etc.

If still thinking that you could use some more advice on getting social, we have earlier written about a list of rules to remember when engaging in social media. Click here to see more.

And please, let us know if you have anything to add on the list.

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Foursquare Has Hit The 10 Mill Mark [infographic]

Anne Herngaard — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:41:50 +0000

Foursquare has just announced on their blog that they have reached 10 million users, thus being the first location-based social network to do so.

For Foursquare, it’s a major milestone to have 10 million users. It shows that the service for sure has gained a foothold, not only among early adopters but also among the general public.

To celebrate this milestone, Foursquare has created an animated infographic that shows a world map with the spread of users.

The infographic also provides different statistics, for instance:

• There have been 358 million checkins made outside the US
• More than 78 thousands mayors gets ousted each day
• There are 1105 beer halls in Germany
• There are 1061 birth announcements on hospital check-ins

For brands it is also a great opportunity for expose when people checkin at your location. Some of the most popular chains that people check in to across the US includes H&M, 7-eleven, IKEA and Target.

Check out all the stats in the infographic:

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Social Media Trends in Asia [Infographic]

Charu Dwivedi — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:00:28 +0000

Recently I found an interesting infographic complied by Edelman Digital, (PR agency) on the social media use and trends in Asia. This infographic gives us some interesting insights into social media habits and platforms for better targeting in this part of the world. The social networking sites used in Asia are little different from the ones used Europe, US and UK, though Facebook still remains the dominant!

The 5 popular platforms are: Facebook, Renren (Chinese network), Twitter, Cyworld (South Korean network service) and Wretch (Taiwanese). Infographic also shows the internet using habits in Asia which determines what people exactly prefer to do on these networks. As marketers, it would be a good idea to make use of these trends and design our promotions through preferred channels. For example, video viewing was a highlight, so its better to make video based campaigns.

Key observations:

Facebook continues to dominate the region with a strong presence in 9 out of the 13 countries featured in the map.
While in countries like China, South Korea and Taiwan are dominated by a local social networking service. Renren, social networking website from China also walks away with a huge chunk of users.
It can also be concluded that video viewing takes up the majority of Asia’s time online, while blogging falls a close second in most countries.

Take a look:

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YouTube Has Turned 6!

Charu Dwivedi — Thu, 26 May 2011 08:03:01 +0000

6 years ago, back in May 2005, YouTube was launched and since then it has been revolutionizing the way in which marketing can work virally. “Broadcast yourself” it said and really it did broadcast everything imaginable under the sun. Today, amidst its birthday hustle, YouTube announced 2 new landmarks: users are now uploading more than 48 hours of video footage per minute, and accounting for more than 3 billion videos per day!

Well thats really big considering the views increased by 50% since last year, as reported by official YouTube blog. Global daily views have gone up up 37 percent in the past six months. The company names three main reasons for this growth:

an increase in live streaming events
longer upload times
faster upload processing times

YouTube’s first video was uploaded on April 23, 2005. This video is with YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of a herd of elephants at San Diego Zoo. The site was initially opened to beta testers in May 2005 and in October 2006 it was acquired by Google for $1.65bn.

YouTube is undergoing another major transformation. With Google TV as its main platform, YouTube is attempting to transition to users’ living rooms to gobble some of the five hours of TV U.S. consumers are watching each day.

Here is an interesting infographic released by YouTube on the growth statistics. The platform started with users uploading 8hours of video per minute in 2007 moving on to24 hrs in 2009 and then 35hrs in 2010. It now targets 72 hours a minute, or 4 billion views a day and I’m sure this will be achieved in no time, way to go YouTube and Happy Birthday!

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New Tool Converts Your Facebook Profile Into a Page

Marlene Friis — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:44:49 +0000

Yet again, we’re seeing some changes on the Facebook platform. This time it’s about how personal Facebook profiles can be converted into business pages. The social network has never really announced this new feature, but Facebook’s help center now explains how to convert a profile to a page. Actually, it appears as if it’s a feature that has been an option the entire time, but it doesn’t seem that a lot of people know about this.

However, when choosing to convert your personal profile into a page, your friend list will be converted into a list of fans. But all other information gets lost in the process, if you don’t copy and save all of your personal information on your computer at first. Thus, as a user you have to remember, if converting your profile into a page there’s no way back! Facebook does not allow going through the process the other way around.

The purpose of the new Facebook tool
Thinking of how personal profiles and pages were recently redesigned, this new feature probably is not that a big surprise to some of the platform’s users. The only question is who this new feature should be targeted at? Which individuals want to make use of this possibility thinking that it’s not possible to go back to your former personal profile?

Well, converting a profile into a page would definitely suit someone who is more interested in maintaining a business presence on the platform than a personal one. This new feature also opens the door for businesses that originally created the wrong type of profile to change into a page. In addition, Facebook has stated that maintaining a profile for anything other than an individual person actually is a violation of its rules. And when pushing businesses towards pages, the content of Facebook will appear a lot more organized and structured, helping businesses connect with users in a much more appropriate way.

What do you think of this new possibility of converting your personal profile into a business page? Is it something that you would do?

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