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Research carried out by an automotive digital marketing firm has suggested that businesses aren’t harnessing the full potential offered by social media sites, according to an article published by Car Dealer Magazine.
Razsor’s survey found that while car dealers were active in their use of Facebook and Twitter for social media marketing campaigns, they were overlooking other sites, such as YouTube and LinkedIn.
Group director of digital marketing at Trader Media Group, Craig Stevens, commented on the findings of the survey.
He said: “There’s widespread agreement that in an increasingly competitive market, customer services is a key differentiator that can offer dealers the opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
“The last few years has seen significant growth in online activity, both for dealers and customers, but many dealers are still missing out on the opportunity to further engage with online customers. Social can be much more than just a Facebook page. With the right engagement dealers can receive in-depth reviews, feedback on their website and extend marketing campaigns beyond traditional channels,” he added.
Stevens concluded by adding: “The real value of social media doesn’t necessarily come from employing someone to “do social,” but from wider training, understanding and adoption of social media as a communications channel. With a few simple tools, a dealership can offer its customers a new level of customer service, engaging with them whenever they are online.”
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Unsurprisingly, a recent study has found that Facebook remains the most popular platform amongst advertisers and businesses looking to conduct social media marketing campaigns, according to an article published by ZDNet.
Conducted by Strata during the fourth quarter of 2011, the study displayed that 89 per cent of agencies said that they planned to utilise Facebook for their clients in the near future. Around 39 per cent responded by stating that they planned to use Twitter with 36 per cent opting for YouTube.
The majority (81 per cent) of agencies expect their approach to marketing to remain the same – representing an increase of 14 per cent compared to the same study carried out during the third quarter of 2011.
Commenting on the results of the study, Strata CEO and president, John Shelton, said: “The key word for advertisers in 2012 is growth.
“The STRATA Survey shows that many advertisers are confident that their business and the economy will return to a strong period by midyear. That sentiment, coupled with strong numbers from the political race provides an overall positive barometer for advertising in 2012.”
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There does seem to be a constant erosion of privacy by social networks, and the announcement this week that Google’s latest privacy changes will use data across the entire product set is already subject to criticism. LinkedIn introduced social ads last summer which had a default opt-out setting for your name and photo to be used publicly in advertising on the network. Facebook has caused untold furores with its many privacy changes and this week is ‘forcing’ users to adopt the new Timeline.
The need to monetise social networks and apps and services is of course standard business practice. However, the consumer created content which leads to the growth and potential of services such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube etc should not come as cheaply as it does to the network. The harvesting and use of personal details in order to attract advertisers is the payment that the users have to make in order to generate the profits for the network. This is not on a commission or affiliate level, but is ‘gifted’ freely to the network to do with as they choose. However, the depths to which some social networks seem willing to go in order to maximise this “free” content seems to increase rather than decrease over time. It is this seemingly never ending of the pushing of the limits of privacy decency with little respect for opt-in, permissions, or even the awareness of the users, that is worrying privacy advocates.
Despite protestations to the contrary, there would seem to be a casual yet ruthless attitude towards users’ privacy, mainly due to the cut throat market the networks are in. Facebook has been forced to add the strapline – it’s free and it always will be – after unfounded rumours that users would be charged to use the social site, leaving Facebook with one less route to capitalising on their enormous user base. (Friends Reunited, for instance, made its money by charging a nominal £4-5 per annum to access additional data on friends such as email addresses). However, the continuous drip drip introduction of default settings that require action by the user, rather than opt in, is telling about the attitudes which prevail amongst the internet giants.
LinkedIn require you to opt out from having your name and photo used on advertising across the site. Although this was introduced last summer, it is likely that a vast proportion of the users of LinkedIn remain unaware of the change. For many, the account and privacy settings on Facebook are simply too complex to work out what is being shown to whom. Google+ endeavoured to address these concerns by allowing you to choose precisely the people with whom you shared content, but the inclusion of Google+ posts in top search results, as well as the latest privacy changes across all of Google’s real estate, may have unravelled that feelgood strategy.
There have been users leaving the social networks in protest, but for many the privacy issue, or rather the possible results of such policies, is still unclear – what harm does it do me? Meanwhile, there are a number of start ups looking to create privacy enhanced and open source social networks, but the real benefit of social networks is when *everyone* you know is on them and a start up with limited members will struggle to compete with the phenomenal global user base that is Facebook today. (By the end of 2012, it is estimated that more than a billion people will be using Facebook).
How do you feel about the social networks use of your personal data? Would you leave a social network because of its privacy policy? What changes would be one step too far for you to stay?
Channel 4 has start a promotional push for the latest series of Skins, with the launch of a social media marketing campaign, according to an article published by Marketing Week.
The campaign will see each of the show’s main characters have a Facebook page, allowing fans to interact with them in between episodes.
Users that aren’t committed to following every character on Facebook will be able to visit a dedicated site – which will collect and display all updates from each characters’ page.
Twitter and YouTube will also be utilised in the campaign – as the characters will Tweet and post vlogs.
The firm Something Else is responsible for developing the campaign.
Executive producer of digital at the production company, Michelle Feuerlicht, said: “For fans who are signed up to the characters’ profiles, they’re constantly reminded of the show everyday because the updates are appearing in their news feeds.”
Feuerlicht went on to add that it was important for a show like Skins to offer fans the chance to get involved in interactive campaigns.
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Facebook has once again topped the US list for the most searched terms, according to research conducted by Experian Hitwise and cited in an article published by Search Engine Watch.
It’s the third year in a row that the social networking giant – a platform popular for social media marketing initiatives – has topped the annual list.
Facebook login and Facebook.com also featured in the top five, which was rounded out by YouTube and Craigslist.
Simon Bradstock, general manager at Experian Hitwise attempted to explain the search trends of 2011 and how the company’s data could benefit marketing professionals.
He said: “Navigational searches dominated the top search results as users typed in terms versus typing in the URL in the browser bar. Hitwise saw 11 per cent growth of single-word searches in 2011 as terms like “face” and “you” made the top 50 searches.
“Marketers need to be particularly brand-savvy when managing their search optimization campaigns because of this behavior, which is a result of predictive search functionality across major search engines,” Bradstock continued.
He concluded, adding: “Other top 2011 searches reflect ongoing fascination with celebrities online, and many of the top fast-moving searches centered on natural disasters or notable personalities passing away.”
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New research has revealed that MySpace might not be the best place to go to host a social media marketing campaign.
The research, carried out by Experian Hitwise, and referenced in an article published by Marketing Magazine, has shown that MySpace has fallen out of the top ten most visited social media sites in the UK.
A former giant in social networking, MySpace has been replaced in the top ten by Stumble Upon; other sites in the top ten retained their previous positions, however Twitter, Gumtree and LinkedIn saw their share of the market drop when compared to October’s results.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s popularity continues to grow – with it now accounting for a huge 53 per cent of visits to social media sites in the UK.
Market research analyst for Experian Hitwise, James Murray commented on the results.
He said: “MySpace traffic has been on the decline for at least three years now but this is the first time the social network has fallen out of the top ten.
“As the social media landscape continues to evolve, brands need to be aware of the fast moving trends and which social sites people are visiting.”
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Mobile service provider O2 has unveiled its latest social media marketing campaign, which will provide customers with a personal message from Santa, according to an article published by New Media Age.
Using Twitter, consumers can send their messages to the O2 Santa.
The O2 Santa will then create a personal video message for the sender – which can be shared amongst friends.
Designed to provide a little festive joy, consumers can participate by tweeting the official O2 Twitter account, @O2 with the hashtag #O2santa.
All of the video messages created by the O2 Santa will be hosted on YouTube to be watched again and again.
Head of social media at O2, Alex Pearmain, commented on this latest social media marketing initiative.
He said: “Our social channels seemed the ideal platform to cheer customers up and we hope this campaign will help to cut through some of the current consumer gloom and spread some festive cheer.”
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Nokia has released the official figures regarding its latest social media marketing campaign – created to promote the launch of the latest Lumia smart phone range – according to an article published by New Media Age.
The major highlight of the campaign – entitled Amazing Everyday – so far featured a spectacular 4D light show, beamed onto the Millbank Tower, London.
Marking the launch of the Lumia range, the light show was also accompanied by a performance from DeadMau5 – which was simultaneously broadcast on Nokia’s Facebook page.
Since the event, Nokia has revealed that their Facebook fan base had risen by 13 per cent.
The Lumia’s spectacular launch event saw 145,000 live streams and a further 410,000 views on YouTube since November 29.
Nokia’s UK head of brand and campaigns, Adam Johnson, said: “Prior to last Monday (November 28), the number of Facebook fans grew 50 per cent from the initial activity (from late November).
“Fan acquisition is pretty easy to do but what really counts is engagement,” he continued.
“Engagement scores (such as reposts, etc) have been tens times the industry standard and that’s great for engaging passive users,” Johnson added.
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Google have given YouTube a makeover, offering a new layout to make finding content an easier task.
At the moment this is not live, but if you want to give it a go, it’s very simple.
Go to youtube.com and click Ctrl, shift and J (Chrome) or Ctrl, Shift, K (Firefox) to open the developer tools.
Click on Console.
Then type in the following (you may need to clear the error log first)
document.cookie=”VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=ST1Ti53r4fU”;
Reload the site and you get the new layout.
In other words, YouTube has become far more personal and is encouraging you to subscribe to channels to keep up with content you may enjoy more than the content from categories that Google shows by default currently.
For businesses, it is now even more important to create video content and to have a channel which your customers and audience can subscribe to. Regularly adding new content will drive your viewers back through their own personal subscriptions page, giving you an additional mechanism for reaching potential fans, friends, followers etc.
Encourage those who watch your videos to like, recommend and share your content, and don’t make it all a one way street. When people subscribe to your channel, check out theirs. You never know what gems you may find and there are always opportunities for comments and dialogue that will help to improve the view that YouTube (and hence Google) has concerning your content and activity.
We shall be looking at Google’s ‘new’ algorithm this week and video is just one part of it.
In all search engine optimisation strategies, the main goal is to get your site ranking as close to that coveted top spot as you can for certain keywords.
While the goal itself might be clear, the way in which it can be achieved is less so.
Kristi Hines, writing for Search Engine Watch, has suggested employing optimisation methods on other sites if your strategy to achieve a higher ranking is stuttering.
Ensuring your content on other sites is source-recognisable and ranking well could provide you with a slight boost.
YouTube Videos -
As YouTube is a site under Google ownership, videos featured on the site will have an increased chance of ranking well amongst SERP’s (search engine results pages).
Implementing the following will improve your video’s page optimisation:
SEO Title - Without doubt the most important feature on the page. To rank well, you should include the name of your brand with your special keywords.
Meta Description – This item is pulled from the video description. If you can produce a description that is rich in keywords, you will be in good stead.
Meta Keywords - Meta keywords will increase the chance of your video being located on YouTube. As YouTube uses a process that separates keyword phrases with a space, you should be sure to give each of your keyword phrases quotation marks.
H1 Tags - The H1 tag is the title you will have given to your video.
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