Tag Archives: facebook

Shock horror – Facebook ads really do work, possibly

By June 13 2012, 4:53 pm Leave a comment

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

 

First GM pulled back on Facebook advertising. Then the high-profile FB flotation stumbled. The vultures began to circle. But now a new comScore study could herald an about turn. Or, at least, give us food for thought. It shows that fans and friends-of-fans were more likely to buy a product they cherished than not. Which seems to have some blindly obvious circular logic to it! Specifically, the people exposed to one company’s message on FB were almost 40% more likely than a typical user to make a purchase in the following month.

Read more »

Brain surgery on Twitter? It’s hardly rocket science.

By May 14 2012, 8:31 am Leave a comment

Where’s your head at? Over 14million people’s smart phone screens if you’re a 21 year old from Houston, Texas! That’s because her operation was featured in a groundbreaking as-it-happens Tweet-a-logue from the States.

Read more »

Are you biggin’ up your bum?

By April 24 2012, 1:13 pm Leave a comment

Everything’s about ‘dialogue’ these days. No more lecturing from on high. Just listening, taking heed and constantly reformulating to meet customers’ changing expectations. But this doesn’t mean being timid and tepid. Take an innovative new Aussie Facebook app from Dove, for instance. This gives women – and men – the power to replace body-bashing and insecurity-preying ads with new empowering ones. Perhaps the originals are clever ‘plants’? Who knows, but now you can rebuild your battered self-esteem with feelgood messages like, ‘The perfect bum is the one you’re sitting on’.

Read more »

NEW Real-time Facebook Insights for the first time ever!

By March 26 2012, 11:29 am Leave a comment

We all know that data is everything. But not if it’s a week out of date – especially in the wonderful world of digital. It’s virtually worthless. A nice little history lesson, but only of use for the next campaign. Nowadays we demand the ability to tweak our campaigns in real-time; engage in the ongoing conversation with our customers and go where they’re going. So it’s perhaps surprising that social media goliath Facebook has been left wanting with its own feedback. In fact, one cheeky website actually logs how long the Insight lag is, in real-time, of course… www.WhyIsFacebookInsightsNotWorking.com and gives you the chance to share it (not via Facebook though). So, how fast are the updates? Well, you’re now looking at every 5 to 10 minutes rather than weeks. Of course, with better analytics, you’ll now be more tempted to buy from Facebook’s latest ad formats and test Timeline for Brand. But, and here’s the key point, faster data is only valuable if you use it! How many brands run all kinds of analytics but are simply too scared to act on the data? And, if they do, the moment has often passed and the bandwagon has left town. With superfast Facebook feedback the onus will now be on us marketers. It’s all about acting quickly – moving posts around, changing posts, removing posts. This could be the real-time brand/customer conversation we dreamed of. Are you ready for it?

Read more »

Move over Facebook, here comes Geekbook!

By March 16 2011, 12:02 pm Leave a comment

Actually, it’s called Quora – and
it’ll give you direct access to the next Steve Jobs and Bill
Gates. Read more »

Big money in social media- quite literally!

By February 15 2011, 11:24 am 2 Comments

If the buzz across the social sphere is to be believed, Facebook and Google executives have entered initial acquisition talks with Twitter, estimating the value of the microblogging site upwards of £10 billion. Combine this with LinkedIn’s recent IPO announcement and we have proof beyond Facebook that there is big money in social media – quite literally. Read more »

Read more »

Just what is Facebook’s “best before” date?

By December 7 2010, 11:29 am 1 Comment

At SMX London earlier this year there was a social media panel on the final day taking lots of questions. One question was along the lines of “which social network will we be discussing this time next year – apart from Facebook, obviously”. The 64 thousand dollar question? Or the 500 million user question? Read more »

Conversation not Broadcast

By October 26 2010, 10:39 am 3 Comments

In the first digital generation, marketing employed a system which favoured interruption and direct sale. Brands would force their stories onto unsuspecting spectators, purchasing online real estate in mass and appearing, without warning,….and it worked!

 

Read more »

Are you Facebook’s ‘Billy No Mates?’

By October 19 2010, 8:23 am 2 Comments

Who are your
friends on Facebook? Probably a weird old mish-mash of Aunt Renee, Bob from accounts
and that woman you met on a drunken bus ride back from Fife.
In fact, you’re probably so popular that you’ve got upwards of a
hundred mates.

Read more »

It’s a boy. We’re getting divorced. She’s dead.

By September 11 2009, 9:22 am 1 Comment

What exactly is/isn’t acceptable fodder for announcing via social media? A pregnancy – complete with scans on Facebook? A compressed critique of landlord failings via Twitter? A video diary of your kidney stone op via YouTube?

Your viewpoint, like most questions of broadcasting ‘good taste’, will probably be influenced by your age and moral standing. However, the truth is that the question of acceptable ‘netiquette’ changes by the day. We’re all getting used to the brash immediacy that new technology brings. It’ll also differ according to the social media you use and how you use it. For instance, do you really count a loose amalgam of Facebook buddies as ‘friends’ or are they just acquaintances? Like real life, it’s more to do with what’s acceptable within your particular group than the medium itself. What if that group is made up of your mum, your manager and your childhood sweetheart though? Even worse, what’s the netiquette for announcing news second-hand? Could you be sued for disseminating the ‘secret’ forthcoming divorce of a close friend? It’s a minefield and one that the law will find hard to keep pace with. 

Read more »