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Twitter: What’s NEW

Twitter Whats New

Just as soon as people started thinking Twitter was behind in its game, news sprouted up from social media channels about Twitter growing. At the moment Twitter has 241 million active users and it hasn’t been growing as fast as Facebook, Vine and YouTube. Time to play catch up?

Here’s a run down of what to expect and what has already popped up in Twitter News:

Last week Twitter rolled out a new platform for hosting video that gives iPhone and Android phone users previews of video clips in their feeds. With a single click you’re able to play the clip. This new feature on Twitter is called in-line video. You can see this feature being used on Vines. Twitter was behind in the video category and it was about time they started focusing on it.

It has been reported that Twitter is experimenting with the capability to see how many people have viewed your tweets, which at the moment only advertisers can see. The view count would be shown underneath each tweet, similar to how Facebook shows the amount of views underneath each Page post. How exciting is that?!

Tweet views will measure the reach of your tweets and help individuals and companies to recognize what they need to do or keep doing in order to get Re-Tweets and Favourites. Lots of views but no engagement says a whole lot to Social Media Managers. Fingers crossed this ‘experiment’ pulls through and every Twitter user can start benefiting from the data.

Twitter has also announced an update to its mobile apps that would give users more options when posting pictures. Many people on Twitter have already called Twitter out as copying Facebook because they changed the famous ‘Re-Tweet’ lingo to ‘Share’. I’m not a fan of changing the Twitter language, especially when so many users have gotten the hang of using RT. It’s one thing to expand, but changing something that isn’t broken. Not cool.

 

There was another update to twitter mobile apps that would give users more options when posting pictures. One being the ability to tag up to 10 people in photos without lowering the character count within your tweet. Also, users will be able to post up to four photos in a single tweet and join them together like a small collage. Sounds like Instagram to me.

In-line videos, with one click view like Vines, yay or nay? How can ‘tweet views’ help you or your business? Will you use the new picture features?

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Women: Social Media Leaders – Why are they on top of the Social industry?


Is it a big surprise that women are social media leaders today?

Women leaders in digital world


(P.S Happy International Women’s Day!)

Let me just dive right in. Historically it is proven that women understand emotions and are more nurturing than men. Women are known to have a higher emotional intelligence.

emotional intelligenceis regarded as a far stronger predictor of success – in work, love and life – than traditional measures of intelligence, with 90% of leadership success being attributed to a high EQ.*

I believe emotional intelligence plays a key role in social interactions. A huge aspect of social media is interacting and engaging with your audience. Emotionally captivating them to continue to follow you on which ever social platform it may be. Women love to nurture relationships and create a strong foundation for a long term relationship. Don’t get me wrong, there are men out there who can do exactly the same thing. But a higher percentage of women can do it better and it comes naturally.

Take a look at the below infographic and tell me what you see from an overall perspective. Do women spend more time leading the social media world than men do?:


women in social media





Could it be that women love their smartphones and social platforms more than men? The answer is YES. According to research compiled by FinanceOnline, which was taken from PEW, Nielsen, and Burst Media, women run the show when it comes to social media.


techcrunch The big concern now, is desktop usage is migrating to mobile use. Will men adopt to this change? Well, only time will tell. My solution, as social marketers we should be focused on how we can get men more excited about social. We need to see more studies on what captures their attention and then evolve.

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Events

Social Media Week: SMW Reporter Competition

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I’ve been following social media week ever since I attended my first Social Media Week (SMW) event in Toronto at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Yorkville. If you attend the seminars that can benefit you or the company you work for, than you really leave the event with great ideas and with a fresh outlook of what social media can do for you and where it’s going right now.

If you think about it, it’s a brilliant idea! Everyday there’s something new coming out. There’s so much social noise and no one to set the rules and help you understand it all. People new to social media are either looking the other way or just stunned, like a deer caught in the headlights. SMW brings it altogether in informative seminars, interactive workshops and live feeds.

Roughly 2 weeks ago SMW posted on their site and tweeted an opportunity for Social Media fanatics of the world for a chance to win a week-long adventure. They wanted to see how much you can do with only a few seconds of video on Vine, Instagram or YouTube. Three winners would have a chance to be a #SMWReporter in New York City! Even better, since Nokia is sponsoring SMW NYC, we’ll be bringing you the news with the awesome Nokia 1020. 41MP *drool*

smwnyc
Competing against the whole world I didn’t think I had a chance, but I did it because I enjoyed the challenge. After all, Vine, Instagram and YouTube are supposed to be fun. And that’s it. I had a lot of fun coming up with the story and compiling it together for one submission.

My take was that Social Media is EVERYWHERE. I found it everywhere I went. In the few days that I had, I tweeted different Vines of where I was finding SMW and on the last day put them together to tell the whole story on YouTube. Here’s the story:

UPDATE: I won the competition and I can’t wait to attend SMW NYC!
Check out Nicky Yates post about the SMW Reporter winners: here.

Follow the hashtag #SMWReporter on Twitter, Vine & Instagram to keep up with our live updates from the event. Those of you who are attending, see you there!

Follow up video of SMW 2014:

 

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Instagram for beginners: How To

You’ve decided to jump on the Instagram bandwagon and don’t know where to start. You’re wondering alright, another application to add to the rest. I’m sure you’ve come across at least one Insta picture without actually downloading the app or even knowing it. It’s everywhere!

instagram-facts

Your Instagram account can be whatever you want it to be.

Just put in thought to your posts and you’ll see your followers grow. If you’re not sure what to post on Instagram, try doing A/B testing. Post different pictures and see what your fans prefer. Whichever images get the most likes, that is your category to target.

Keep in mind not everyone on Instagram has the goal to gain followers or likes. Some are on Instagram to promote their products, brand, post their opinions, speak out for a cause or a place to be recognized for their awesome food pictures. What ever it may be, you’ll need to know how to use this application. Check out the below youtube tutorials. On a side note I finished recording these videos right before the Instagram update. So add this to your learnings from the videos:

Instagram direct is Instagram’s new update. It allows you to choose if you want to share your photo with all your followers or just a few. Click on the “Direct” tab, and select the followers you would like to share them with. The picture will not show up in your public feed, and just the users you selected will be able to see your photo.

 

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Social Marketing Universe

Have you thought about your social marketing strategy for 2014?

Be the master of your social universe. Right now the social marketing universe is expanding at an overwhelming rate. New networks are sprouting regularly. I bet you didn’t know about Jelly. The technology that ties them together also continues to advance. With its advancement comes great opportunities.

Those who are intimidated by it all will be tempted to avoid learning. The social followers will dive in headfirst and fail. Somewhere in between are the curious souls who do their research on how to master the social networks that their customers are on. That could be YOU!

Some people think all you need is a Twitter account, or a Facebook community/business page. Reality is social is a lot more than just one platform. In order to gain success in the social marketing universe, you need to be involved in more then one platform. The more platforms you’ve dipped into, the better. Not to be confused with making accounts on different social platforms and just leaving them bare. You need activity on all of your platforms. It’s easier than you think. Upon hearing this most people get scared and think “oh my goodness, ain’t nobody got time for that“.

The trick is, use one platform as your hub station for the social universe you’ll be creating. I recommend a website or a blog.
Whenever you create a new post or put up something on your website, use tweetdeck, hoot suite, or manual copy and paste to post it to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and whichever platforms you’re using. The point is, it’s all got to come back somewhere that has MORE content and information for your customers/fans/followers to engage with.

If you look at the social universe from this angle, you’ll be on your way to increasing your social network:

Foundation of your social community: Website/Blog
Social pushers of your content: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Visual stations: Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest and Flickr

(you don’t need to be set up with all of these platforms, as some are very similar)

Increase your social network with solid information and engaging content. If you can’t manage and differentiate the use of all of your social platforms then it would be best to start with less and do your best. Less posts but amazing content is better than more useless posts and crappy content. Check out the infographic below:

Social Universe

Join me on Twitter with hashtag #SMXChat on Tuesdays at 3pm EST.

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Mobile Marketing 2014

Mobile Marketing
is marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a smart phone. Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas.*

SMWTO Learnings

There was a recent study done on the psychological connections with users and their mobile screens. The study found some areas where companies could make connections with their customers overlooked.* Most companies were missing a connection with their consumers hearts. To build your brand you need to connect with your consumers, it isn’t about connecting with the mind with fancy wordplay anymore. Email blasts with Sale, Last Chance or 50% off just don’t do it anymore.

Mobile allows targeting specific consumers who want to see unique content. The average user that looks at their mobile device looks in seconds. If it’s not interesting, consumer is lost.

Brands that are leveraging content know how to use vine, instagram, twitter, facebook etc to push content and gain new audience and in some cases re-establish their brands, especially in markets that didn’t exist before. Social media is about building an asset. Create a strong foundation for the next generation of consumers who will interact with your brand via mobile.

Engaging content is getting smaller and smaller. What started off at 50 second videos, are now 6 seconds on Vine. Consumers love it! The future of mobile video content = shorter attention spans. Content delivered through applications may be considered “less intrusive” than banner ads. Yes, banner ads are impersonal. Then here we have corporations saying “I don’t know if we should invest in mobile..” Ask those who are living in this generation. Do some studies of your own and you’ll be surprised to see that investing in mobile is your best bet. Consumers are also opting in receiving real time messages on their mobile devices.

So you’ve decided to get into Mobile Marketing. You need a full strategy if you’re building your brand on a social aspect. Content is key, but brands need to remember to be responsive to tweets and posts as well. Minimal content is better than lots of crappy content.
minimalcontent

People focused content needs to be well thought out. Every company is a media company and therefore, every company is a publishing company. Did you know there’s  Social Media Content pieces of content created every day?! The best people to talk to for free research are customer service. Have them make notes of what customers are calling in about. Customer service understands the customer journey. Let’s face it. It’s not about helping the seller to sell, it’s about how we help the buyer buy. 75% Canadians grab their phones at 4pm. Whether it’s to check what they’ll be having or making for dinner, check their facebook, instagram or other social platforms. What is your company posting to that 75% at 4pm? Are you sending promotion texts, updating your apps and social media profiles?

To move your buyer down the path to purchasing, your content should answer a consumers question before they’ve even asked. And then don’t just answer the questions no one is asking, maybe work on finding out what people are asking.

Mobile is predicted to surpass desktop usage in 2014. Consumer phone and smartphone usage is continuing to rise, and in 2014, content marketers will need to ensure that the huge online community they’ve built, need to be getting the same brand experiences on their phones as well. Prepare a mobile marketing strategy now if you haven’t already.

EffectivenessOfMobileMarketing2

*SMWTO Content & Creativity Achieving Mobile Success with Content
SMWTO People Focused Content Strategy
Wikipedia

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Social Media Week

 

Social Media Week Toronto took place this year from September 23-27th. The theme for 2013 was “Looking Ahead to 2015″.
All the seminars were in some way about what changes and trends would be coming up in the next 12-15 months. The Windsor Arms Hotel, a beautiful petite boutique, was the venue for Social Media Week.
Day 1 was kind of like the first day of school. Everyone following the calendar board to see what seminars they wanted to go to next and which rooms they were held in. The first day buzz of being around like minded social media people was exciting. The first tweet using the #SWTO hashtag, purchasing a snack from the cafe to donate money towards Social Media Week and sitting in that extremely hot with no air circulation, St.Thomas room. Just a few of my fond memories of that week. My first day schedule, was a half day due to some work meetings I had that morning.

Day 1:
Tracking Visual Data; Measurement Without Words
Preempt Me: The Future of Marketing and Marketing Communications
Comedy is the Currency of the Internet
Social Media Isolation

Day 2:
Peer to Peer Strategy: How Koodo Leverages its Online Community to Reduce Support Costs
Content and Creativity: Achieving Mobile Success with Content
Big Data, Small Data, Data that Totally Rocks
Small Data. Big Wins.

Day 3:
The Death of the Home Page
Social Media goes to University
People Focused Content Strategy
The Crowdfunding Success Pattern
Why Behavioral Data is Key to Social Selling Success

Day 4:
Campaign to Commitment. Social Media, Brands and Long Ideas
The Pitch Powered by Cision and Umbra
After Party with Idea Rebel
Social Media Barometer

Day 5:
The Danger of Dusty Ideas
Big Data meets Social Commerce
Creating Constructive Content Calendars

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