Posts tagged Facebook

Social Media Showdown: Facebook Versus Twitter

November 16, 2011 · Filed under Blogs & Vlogs, Emerging Media, Marketing & Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nearly a month ago, I posted on a recent (yet late) discovery— I had begun to realize the true power of the hashtag (#) on Twitter .

The power of the hashtag (#) was brought to light for me as I began to pay closer attention to television marketing efforts surrounding the iconic symbol.

The same has happened for me with Facebook – however, I like to think I am much more grounded in the practices of Facebook, as my foundation is stronger and longer on this medium than with Twitter.

Whereas TLC uses Twitter, the U.S. cable TV channel owned by NBCUniversal, BravoTV  uses Facebook links to encourage viewer participation through social media.

Nevertheless, the recent observations of differences in uses and users between the two social media platforms has caused me to take a deeper look into reasons why users might use one over the other.

Creating large followings on Facebook and Twitter have the potential to launch a brand to online popularity. And while both social networks are enormous in size and in opportunity, they are very different and must be approached in different ways.

From initial research and basic use, the differences are outlined relatively plainly—

  1. Twitter is Instantaneous and Related. Communication and flow of conversation seems to be more streamlined, and designed to foster a more fluid conversation. “Hashtag chats” create an in-site instant messenger that is utilized to discuss a particular brand or topic area that can be used by marketers to measure brand conversation.
  2. Facebook Brands. A larger percentage 45% (Facebook) versus 20% (Twitter) indicates that they follow a particular brand or brands on the site.
  3. Twitter Purchases. A larger percentage 67% (Twitter) versus 51% (Facebook) of users indicate that they will purchase the brands they follow on the site.
  4. Facebook Friendly. A total of 41% of Facebook users say that they log-in to their account daily, whereas only 27% of Twitter users say the same.
  5. Twitter is Active. Contrary to #4, 52% of Twitter users update their statuses every day. Facebook only has 12% of users to indicate the same.
  6. Facebook Builds Relationships. Facebook provides more room include your friends in your life—both personally and professionally—without even posting a status. Photo albums, lengthy bios and sections for special interests allow Facebook users to provide a more in-depth look into one’s “personal” space.
  7. Twitter Means Business. Brands flourish on Twitter. With the ability to fine-tune incoming messages, Twitter is a more brand-friendly space. The 140 character maximum limits posts to maintain less overwhelming and cluttered platform.

As a marketer, a brand leader, an independent brand—what do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of Facebook and Twitter?

In all, typically, the best mix is to utilize both platforms for maximum exposure and communication with audiences. What strategies do YOU use to maintain effective coverage on both sites?

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Google Search: Carrie Bowe

October 21, 2011 · Filed under Blogs & Vlogs, Marketing & Advertising, Search Engine Optimization · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Domination. Success.

Taking over the world, one post at a time.

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# is the new $

October 14, 2011 · Filed under Emerging Media, Marketing & Advertising, Social Media · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

In my first WordPress blog post, I was seeking to define and explore the concept of emerging media. The very definition and influence of emerging media lays the foundation for a successful outline of the advantages, opportunities and capabilities for companies and brands to explore a diverse marketplace more effectively than ever before.

A self-proclaimed late bloomer—with a long way to go—on Twitter, I never before realized the true power of the hashtag (#). As a fan of the cable television network TLC, I have begun to notice that virtually every television show during prime time references a hashtag intermittently throughout the program. I have now found myself tagging products, brands and television shows right along with everyone else in the Twitter-verse.

This once simple symbol now provides a valuable opportunity for these products and brands, as well as for advertisers by exploiting the inherit opportunities of this emerging media in two primary ways~

Advertising $ Potential

From and advertiser’s perspective, companies and brands have the potential to directly target individuals based upon hashtag trends. Facebook, on the contrary, allows advertisers to target users based on personal preferences, demographic characteristics and geographical specifications. Many times, Facebook ads prove themselves to be more of a “push” style to advertising—suggesting or pushing brands and products to users.

Twitter, in my view, has a much more meaningful opportunity to target users by identifying those individuals who are already talking to them or about them. In general, talking to people who are already engaged with a company, brand or product often has a much higher return on investment. The hashtag makes it possible for advertisers to identify those individuals much more easily and definitively.

A very unique and powerful thing about a discussion on Twitter about your brand is that you can monitor it continuously. Utilizing Twitter, companies and brands can analyze an almost instantaneous and ever-evolving audience.

The hashtag also allows for a more immediate option for measurement and evaluation. Measurement and evaluation are two of the most important functions of an effective marketing effort. In order to understand the success and/or failure of, the profitability of or future implications of a particular campaign or effort—processes must be in place to measure response and evaluate effectiveness.

Brand Awareness $ Audience Involvement

A study from Cornell University revealed the amount of times Twitter users need to see a hashtag in order to use it themselves. The study found that a viewer needs to see a hashtag an average of four or five times to be interested enough to participate—the number of people who reuse a hashtag doesn’t increase until it gets their attention after four or five posts—evening out after that, giving it a strong, but short life. (Burton, 2011)

Exposure has the potential to lead to an increase in viewer interest, brand awareness, sales, equity, etc. Twitter offers a unique exposure that allows for an interaction between the brand and the viewer—known to strengthen the bond between the two.

Word-of-mouth is the most powerful method of advertising communication available. Twitter’s hashtags allow for two-way interactive word-of-mouth communication. Popular people, like celebrities, demand quite the following on social media sites like Twitter and often utilize the power of word-of-mouth by promoting causes, self-interests, social issues, brands, etc—through word-of-mouth.

Taking that as a cue, many brands have begun utilizing these viral spokespeople for reaching out to the Twitter community. By incorporating hashtags into our everyday lives, brands are making mental references and creating top-of-mind awareness for viewers.

What are some other ways that hashtags affect your everyday life? Share your best hashtag story, trick or tip!

Reference:

Burton, J. (2011, February 10). #Hashtag Proof of Twitter’s Ad Potential. Retrieved on October 14, 2011 from the website: http://www.scribbal.com/2011/02/hashtag-proof-of-twitters-ad-potential/

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Twitter Me This

February 18, 2011 · Filed under Social Media · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Since my latest quest in life is to become a social media “expert”, I decided that I had better jump on the wagon and join Twitter – @carriebowe - follow me!

I had withheld the desire to do so for quite some time. I figured that Facebook, WordPress and LinkedIn were enough to take up my time – but the best way to become better at anything is to do it, and to do it often.

My goal is to immerse myself into the world of social media – so that I may understand it more fully – in hopes to become a strategic consultant and the “go to gal” for all things social media.

All tips, tricks and advice is welcome and much appreciated!

Here’s to a new journey in life – The Queen of All Social Media - here I come!

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Social Media on Overdrive

February 11, 2011 · Filed under Social Media · Tagged , , , , ,

If it’s not bad enough that social media has taken over the Internet, and taken over our cell phones—it’s now made its way as a permanent fixture into our automobiles. I only wish I was kidding.

That’s right what started out as an in-car, hands free security communications service has now transformed into your very own on-the-spot Facebook status update. If you didn’t see the ad for the Chevy Cruze, here’s the gist: A guy and girl awkwardly kiss goodnight, he gets in his Chevy and drives away. He touches a button and an automated voice comes over his car intercom, announcing his Facebook news feed. Surprise! His date wrote a status update that reads, “Best first date ever.” He smiles. “The new Chevy Cruze with real-time Facebook status updates … When the good news just can’t wait.”

View it here:

Seriously? I mean, I understand that we have taken this social media, networking, need-for-constant contact thing to a whole other level, but was it completely necessary for Onstar to incorporate live news feed updates in the new Chevy models?

There’s just something incredibly unsettling about this to me. I think the good news can DEFINITELY wait.

What do you think? Have we finally gone over the edge?

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Ta-Da!

October 16, 2010 · Filed under Blogs & Vlogs, Digital Storytelling, Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Week 9: The Final Product

  • Submit your final work for a grade and provide links to all the locations in which you’re releasing your project

 

Carrie’s Blog—Carried Away—http://carriebowe.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/ta-da/

YouTube—MizzBowe—http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UTaDVfttgo

Facebook—Carrie Bowe—http://www.facebook.com

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Link Up

October 14, 2010 · Filed under Blogs & Vlogs, Digital Storytelling, Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Social Media · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Week 8: Channels of Delivery

  • Submit links committed to use for your project
  • Provide an explanation as to how/why each will be useful

While there are certainly many good and effective approaches of delivery for a short film, due to time and budget restrictions, and most appropriate for the scope of the class, the Internet will be the sole distribution channel.

In order to maximize the exposure for the film, as quickly (and realistically) as possible and considering budget constraints, the following websites have been determined to be used for film distribution:

Carrie’s Blog—Carried Away—carriebowe.wordpress.com

The true beauty of having a blog of this nature—especially with a relatively solid foundation of viewers to the site—is the ability to unlimited access to a highly interactive communication channel. Having primary ownership of the content flow on the site, information made available on the site is strictly under my own jurisdiction—this access offers the possibility for unrestricted information flow.

“Use your own personal website. This is free advertising and the best kind because it is international and sets great name recognition (CinemaRoll, 2009)”, and a wider, more diverse reach.

YouTube—MizzBowe— http://www.youtube.com/user/MizzBowe

“Put your trailer up in high definition on your website and on YouTube.com (CinemaRoll, 2009).”

Like other methods of Internet delivery, YouTube is cost free. YouTube videos can be uploaded and viewed for free. There is no required budget for a campaign and no cost per view or click.

The audience is global and has a “viral effect”—“ Interesting YouTube videos that evoke any kind of positive response from viewers are usually shared by viewers with their friends and family members. As a result, soon your popularity increases with minimum effort on your video. You simply have to upload a good video and your job is done (Hilton, 2009).”
Another very important and interesting advantage of using YouTube is for search engine marketing purposes. “Climbing up the ladder in Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) – As the video on YouTube highlights the URL of your main website; many viewers are often prompted to visit the site to know more about the services or products that are on offer. So, the hits on your site increases by leaps and bounds with YouTube marketing which enhances your search engine rankings (Hilton, 2009).”

Facebook—Carrie Bowe—http://www.facebook.com

A very powerful way of message delivery is by way of social media—specifically for this project, incorporating Facebook into the communication process. Utilize “Facebook for your film. Make friends (CinemaRoll, 2009).”

Along with similar advantages as a blog or YouTube, Facebook has grown to possess some advantages of its own. Facebook is assumingly relevant, as the site has an extremely diverse audience. It is highly likely that the audience on the site would have commonality to the audience being sought after for the YMCA film. With millions of active users every day, Facebook has become an incredibly effective method to utilize word-of-mouth marketing—since the basis of the site is socialization, it is a natural progression for information to be passed from one person to the next.

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Who Do You Trust? You Might Be Surprised…

May 5, 2010 · Filed under E-mail Marketing, Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Mobile Marketing, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My last post on privacy made me realize, that although I and others have concerns about the security of our information, at the same time we are so willing to trust the same media that we attempt to protect ourselves from.

We as consumers sign up for mailing lists, memberships, submit our credit card information over the Internet for purchases and give out our contact information for many different reasons…

…and while emerging media are certainly “emerging” in regard to consumer trust, overwhelmingly, more traditional media and methods still reign supreme –surprising to me, even with the younger “Internet” generation.

According to the results of a Nielsen Online survey, published by eMarketer, word-of-mouth still proves to be the most powerful and trusted method to reach 20-and-under Internet-using consumers, with ninety-two percent (92%) indicating “completely” or “somewhat”.

Not surprising is the impact that the Internet is playing in establishing trust for these young users—consumer opinions posted online (72%), brand Web sites (69%) and e-mails signed up for (67%).

What is surprising to me is the part that traditional media still plays for these younger consumers—newspaper article, ads in newspapers, brand sponsorships, ads in magazines, on TV and on the radio all had a significant response.

The platforms that really need to work on establishing credibility and earning consumer trust are the media we’ve been discussing throughout this course—emerging media. Online video ads, banner ads and mobile text advertising were among the lowest trusted forms of advertising tactics.

It could be that these methods are simply newer, so it will take more time to gain trust and establish a trustworthy reputation.

So the next time you entertain advertising, on whatever medium it rears its head, ask yourself…who do you trust? You might be surprised.

 ***

 The marketing moral of this story—regardless the force of the “new media” movement, do not completely abandon traditional media for advertising your product or brand, instead integrate newer, emerging methods with those proven traditional media to create a well-balanced mix for a comprehensive integrated marketing campaign.

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Privacy, please!?

May 3, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Social Media · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

As with any medium, there are potential disadvantages to utilizing certain platforms for marketing, including: the possibility for inconsistent experience (online vs. offline), damage of brand integrity or reputation, not a “fit” for a particular brand, improper use/underused of medium and of course privacy/security issues.

There is a potential for failure of security in both personal and business context. Businesses and individuals alike have the possibility of being over-exposed and under-protected when utilizing social media sites—stricter guidelines could help to regulate information sharing.

And for those of you (including myself) that are avid users of the social networking site, Facebook—our privacy may be threatened now, more than ever.

Facebook launched its “Open Graph Platform” that extends the social net’s web across third-party sites—Facebook now automatically shares user data with third-party sites, as well displaying user activities on those sites in the Facebook environment.

And this privacy threat is certainly not being taken lightly—by users or by Washington.

In fact, two days after the site announced its changes, Sen. Charles Schumer wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission in response to the launch of new features on Facebook. Schumer said new privacy policies limit the ability of users to control how much about themselves gets shared with sites that partner with Facebook. He said the FTC should set guidelines for how social networking sites use and share private information.” Vera-Phillips, 2010

And it’s not just Facebook—a federal regulation would extend to all online advertising. Online advertising is facing the very real possibility that it will be regulated in the form of privacy legislation that would require publishers, networks or marketers to receive specific consent to use consumer data for a variety of purposes on the web.

Some 20% of online ads are targeted based on online behavior, but that’s just the beginning. A new generation of companies, including Facebook and Twitter as well as Foursquare and GroupOn, are on the cusp of a new wave of location-based marketing. It’s not about where you are or where you’ve been on the web — it’s about who you are connected to and where you’ve shopped, dined out or just browsed shelves. Learmonth, 2010

 Also from the article:

The company sits on one of the most valuable troves of user information; not just interests but human connections — thought to be the single most powerful determinant of consumer behavior. Facebook has, in many ways, been circumspect about monetizing that and generally puts the consumer experience first in everything it does. But for a company all about sharing information, it has shown remarkable clumsiness in communicating what it is doing to the public.

In fact, Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg has been quoted saying that the site basically offers little to no privacy. Todd Dagres, partner at Spark Capital noted “The Facebook presumption is that privacy is not important — so if you really want privacy you have to opt-in and turn the dials to get the privacy you want. The issue becomes when people have different expectations of what privacy is.”

One former Schumer staffer told Ad Age the senator has a strong bias toward “opt-in” — that consumers should be asked before their data is used.

That said, the thought is that Mr. Schumer may determine that in the open web, there’s no expectation of privacy, and that “opt-in” presents too big a burden on the emerging online ad industry.

I’m more concerned about my rights then the “burden” it might cause to the online ad and social networking industries—as a service to its participants, privacy should be respected and rights upheld.

What do you think?

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Keeping It Real

April 27, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Social Media, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The focus of our lesson this week was marketing via social media. Companies, following consumers are present on social networking sites now more than ever.

In fact, in 2006 marketers spent over $280 million on advertising and marketing on social networking sites in the U.S., and an additional $70 million internationally.

In light of the economic downturn, however, marketing dollars have reduced across the board. What is not slowing is the increase in market share internet marketing is taking away from more traditional marketing media. In a new report, PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimates that internet marketing with be 36% of all marketing dollars spent by 2013.

And while marketing dollars toward social media increases, many companies still lack the necessary tools and understanding of how to effectively position themselves in the growing digital environment.

In terms of Facebook, the most common mistake is whether to create a profile, a group or a fan page—in general, profiles are ideal for regular users with an individual identities and should never be for commercial and marketing purposes—and actually, this is a direct violation of Facebook’s TOS. Experts have differing opinions about fan pages versus groups. There are certainly pros and cons of each.

My boss, Skip Lineberg and I got into a brief conversation on this very topic. It is vital for companies and non-consumer entities to grasp the most valuable methods in reaching audiences on social networking sites—in Skip’s own words, they need to work on “Keeping  it Real”.

Along these lines, research for this week’s discussion post uncovered Sarah Evans’s opinion business’ online identity—

“…your online personality is not only part of your overall brand, it becomes an interactive experience for you and your business… Just as you create branding guidelines and key messaging guides, so too should you dedicate time to creating your social media personality. There are multiple combinations that you can use to increase your brand visibility and converse with your customers.”

First on the list of “do’s and don’ts”—Keeping it Real. The entirety of the list includes a list of steps companies can take to efficiently utilize their online presence:

  1. Be transparent and authentic. Be human: Social media for business is about return on engagement. Connect with people, build opportunities through dialogue which would not have otherwise occurred, then connect them with your business.
  2. A profile pic is worth a thousand tweets: A major part of your social media personality is your avatar and your profile bio. The first rule for avatars and bios is to stay consistent across social platforms. If you’re sharing information from your business account, decide whether you want your avatar to be your company logo or the face of the president. Each sends a completely different message and requires a different messaging and branding approach.
  3. Leaving a legacy: Your social media personality becomes part of your brand’s legacy. Don’t brand your personality for the day, the month or the year. This is serious stuff. What you post stays around for a pretty long time and the information (good and bad) isn’t too hard to find. This means what you share today should reinforce your brand tomorrow.
  4. Don’t be a social schizo: Multiple personality disorders do not work well in social media. If you confuse, you lose. If you are a business expert one day, a media maven the next and live news feed after that, people will ultimately stop connecting. The same concept applies across multiple networks—Keep the same personality for each
  5. Social climbing not the best approach: It makes sense to engage the “big dogs” of social media, but it’s even better to connect with other quality audiences. Spending too much time looking for the big fish may take away from an entire school passing you by. Go grassroots and begin to build your personality one social media platform at a time.
  6. It’s not a one-stop shop: There is no one-size fits all personality for your brand…social media isn’t an opportunity to reinvent a brand, but to widen the reach. People should get the same experience offline as they do online
  7. Return on Engagement: tracking traffic, RSS feeds, subscribers, fans, linkbacks

Like any other measure to expand a companies’ presence—be it online or offline, extensive research, careful planning and continual evaluation will ensure a more successful, valuable and significant execution and meaningful outcome.

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