TAG | online marketing
Typewriter Robot by Jeremy Mayer
I’ve been asked to write a blog post.
A blog? Me? But I get PAID to write and to whip other people’s meandering brain-farts into glorious prose! Well, that is, I did until two weeks ago, when I was laid off from my job as editor at a book publisher. You know, moldy old books. Like, paper and ink and four-color printing and stuff.
I’ve been in print publishing for nearly 20 years, writing for and editing magazines and books on everything from international business news to music to architecture. Why should I stoop to a medium that’s attainable to any idiot with an iBook? I mean (to paraphrase the old joke about awards), blogs are like hemorrhoids: sooner or later, every asshole gets one.
The truth is, publishing now really is for everyone, from bloggers to tweeters to the right-place-at-the-right-time bystander who manages to capture breaking news with a cellphone camera.
This may be bad news for the professionals, that endlessly growing pool of talented, out-of-work journalists who are duking it out for the few available jobs at established publications. For everyone else, though, it means access to a wealth of opinions, points of view, and, yes, insane ramblings, which may inform, infuriate, call to act, or simply amuse.
The Web, with its accessibility and immediacy, lends itself intrinsically to writing of an egocentric nature. My own writings have never been personal; my professional duties have always been as a reporter or as an editor of other people’s work. I find it incredibly embarrassing to talk about myself; can’t we discuss that fascinating individual over there?
But clearly I need to get with the program. My profession has changed; hell, even the language we use to discuss it has changed. While I won’t stop looking for a job at a “legitimate” media outlet, in the meantime, I will begrudgingly learn to write snappy, snarky, first-person Web-speak, and to embrace the blogs and Twitters and Diggs and Wikis, and, yeah, I still don’t know what Foursquare is.
So, here’s my blog entry. Maybe some people will happen upon it. But for now, until I get used to the idea, one thing you can count on is that I won’t be posting a link for all of my friends on Facebook. Just give me a few weeks.
Social Media moves quickly. While the time lag between communications produced by more traditional media, like newspapers and television, can be long, taking anywhere from days to weeks to months, social media is virtually instantaneous. In fact, social media users can dissect and comment on an event as it is taking place.
Social Media makes the news just as quickly as it reports on it. On a week-to-week basis, the industry can rapidly shift gears, with new developments, mergers and innovation that define it.
Here’s what’s new this week:
YouTube now offers live video: Welcome to YouTube Live, which integrates live streaming capabilities and discovery tools directly into the YouTube platform for the first time. Users can search for the most compelling live events happening on YouTube and add these events to their personalized calendars, and customized homepages will notify customers of upcoming live streams. As of April 8, YouTube started gradually rolling out the live streaming beta platform, which allowed certain YouTube partners with “accounts in good standing” to stream live content on YouTube.
Walmart ventures into social media: Walmart announced this week that it is buying Mountain View-based Kosmix, a social media technology provider that has built a platform that “enables users to filter and organize content in social networks, in order to connect people with information that matters to them, in realtime.” The platform powers TweetBeat, a social media filter for live events. Walmart expects Kosmix, whose founders and team will now operate as @WalmartLabs, to create technologies and businesses around social and mobile commerce that will support its multi-channel strategy. Interesting fact: Kosmix’ founders Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman also created crowdsourcing Internet marketplace Amazon Mechanical Turk.
A tech boom is on the way: Seattle-based real estate mapper Zillow has become the latest Internet company to put an IPO into the pipeline. (An initial public offering, or IPO, is when a company issues common stock or shares to the public for the first time.) Zillow filed a statement with the SEC that will let it sell more than $50 million of stock. The company follows in the footsteps of Demand Media, LinkedIn and Pandora, all of which filed for an IPO within the last year. Facebook and Groupon are also expected to join the public market soon. With insiders debating the proximity of the next tech bubble, these IPOs could signify that we should expect it soon.
Twitter in talks to buy TweetDeck: Twitter is in talks to purchase TweetDeck Inc. for $50 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. TweetDeck is a hot commodity, as earlier this year, TechCrunch reported that UberMedia was in talks to purchase TweetDeck for $30 million. As one of the most popular third-party Twitter clients, TweetDeck displays your Twitter news feed, direct messages, etc. along with your Facebook feeds — all on the same screen, updating in real time.
Got any interesting social media news to share with us from the past few days? Please let us know in the comments!
*This is the second of a two-part series on social media platforms.
Last week, we discussed social media platforms that are used on a personal level, like Facebook and Digg. This week, we continue our conversation by highlighting some social media platforms in the business division.
Check out platforms like Buddy Media, a Facebook management system based on a scalable platform and simple tools. The Buddy Media Platform gives brands the opportunity to make the best use of the power of Facebook’s social connections. It allows global marketers to combine all of their Facebook assets into a single unified presence, across multiple countries and languages, in any language Facebook supports.
Also take a look at Wildfire. This brand marketer uses Facebook to build buzz for its clients, ranging from bloggers to corporations like Coca-Cola. The goal is to win “fans” who can choose to further interact with the advertiser. It also builds marketing campaigns that include contests, coupons, virtual gifts, etc.
Are you looking to customize your Facebook fan page? A “normal” fan page doesn’t cut it anymore, especially not when companies are running contests and posting interactive photo albums on their pages, at the least. Involver allows you to make your fan page stand out through easy-to-use applications. Simply choose which applications you want, click the Install button and enter your settings. The RSS tools found in the Facebook Application directory pale in comparison. The platform has three levels of membership: Free, Pro, and Premium and powers 250,000 applications.
Do you want to track fast-moving data? Try Meteor Solutions, which tracks data like email or video as it gets passed along. The platform allows advertisers and publishers to track the spread of their messages/content and gives them the option of advertising as well. As the tracked content spreads, Meteor Tracker creates a sharing graph that identifies each node and captures every single visit to a site that is generated by a user who sees the tracked content. Born out of a merger between Reach Machines and Fyreball, the platform’s analytics are available through a monthly subscription fee.
Ultimately, there are loads of business-oriented platforms out there; choose wisely and network frequently!
*This is the first of a two-part series on social media platforms.
The key to navigating the ever-growing world of social media is to divide and conquer. With three main types of social media platforms- those that help you network, the ones that help you promote, and those that help you share- ease of navigation is a necessity.
A platform that allows you to network, like Facebook or LinkedIn, is the most commonly used. Whether you’re interested in getting back in touch with an old flame or making new contacts in the business world, using a social networking site is the easiest way to do so.
Promoting platforms, like YouTube or personal blogs, allow you to do just that: promote. Oftentimes, it isn’t even clear what someone is promoting; personal-style blogs, for example, seem to be promoting nothing more than daily outfits. Upon closer look, however, many of these blogs feature the latest fashions, both in clothing form and through ads, and bloggers can be compensated, whether with money or gifts of clothing, etc.
Lastly, we have platforms that allow you to share, like Digg and Delicious. These platforms operate through closely-knit communities that are not easy to infiltrate. Try to get voted up on Digg and you’ll realize instantly that it takes months of interaction with other users to build up the trust needed to share within the community
If you’re a networker and you like sites like Twitter and LinkedIn, check out Quora. This platform is a sort of best-of the Q&A platform format; a combination of LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo Answers with the look, feel and simplicity of Twitter.
Also check out Color. The platform uses location-based services like GPS to allow users to share the photos on their handsets with people—both strangers and friends—nearby (within a 150-foot radius of a user). Users can also create albums and social groups for photos from a specific event, and can also comment on photos and shoot video.
If you like YouTube and WordPress, try Instagram. This is heaven for tech-junkies and social networking addicts. Snap a photo with your iPhone and then edit the photo as you like, choosing a filter to transform the look and feel. Then, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s photo sharing, reinvented.
If you like sites like Delicious because you enjoy the thrill of sharing sites with like-minded web users, try a social shopping experience in 2011. Sites like Svpply and Polyvore allow users to create inspiration boards, generate user feedback, and ultimately, mimic a real-time shopping experience, minus the long lines and annoying interactions.
Next week, we’ll discuss some more business-oriented social platforms, like Wildfire and Buddy Media.
In our last blog, we discussed social media success stories and what it takes to run a successful social media campaign. For every great social media campaign, however, there are multiple failures. Whether this is due to poor use of assets, a marketing screw up, misuse of celebrity or a lack of fan interaction, we can learn as much from these disappointments as we can from the well-executed promotions.
This year’s Academy Awards made well documented use of social media; specifically, host James Franco joined Twitter in early February and was a pro-tweeter by the time the show went live. He live-tweeted behind-the-scenes moments that let viewers feel like celebrities, and he took a video while walking out on stage and then streamed it to his fans. Twitter peaked just after the Oscars’ open with approximately 10,000 tweets/minute— 1.8 million overall. This was social media at its best.
At its worst? This is 2011, and the only way the actual awards show integrated social media was through James Franco. Most of the effort was made by him, and while his tweets and backstage glimpses were fun and successful, imagine the difference that would have been made if this had been incorporated by the Academy itself.
Another social media flop: Fashion brand Cheap Monday has a plethora of social media assets, but only a few of them appear to be functioning. Tip: If you’re going to offer your fans social media outlets to explore, make sure they work. No one wants to check out pre-written tweets that consist of only a URL, or blindly search for a Facebook page that is named something different than your brand (in this case, the brand is “Cheap Monday” and the page is under “Cheap Mondays.” This difference may seem negligible, but under a Facebook search, this could be detrimental).
Although dated, Ad Age described a classic social media fail: The Chevy Tahoe campaign of 2006, run by GM. The campaign was meant to tie in to the television show The Apprentice, and it allowed regular folks at home to create their own Chevy Tahoe ads. The higher-ups at the company failed to anticipate the negative reaction they’d receive to their gas-guzzling car at a time of climbing oil prices and the war in Iraq. They were met with harsh language and unbridled anger, and while GM denied their social media fail, the company went into bankruptcy a few years later.
Among some of last year’s losing social media moves were: Starbucks’ social media nightmare in Hungary, Dr. Pepper’s status-takeover campaign on Facebook , Kenneth Cole’s off-color remarks about Egypt , and CVS_Cares’ locked twitter account More snafus here.
In the world of social media, especially since internet users are more savvy and aware than ever before, every move is noticed and scrutinized. Here are some ways to avoid making some of these gaffes:
- Adapt to your social media environment: Take Twitter for example. Don’t over-intellectualize; you have 140 characters, so get to the point with short words and great content.
- Understand ROI: The more you pay, the better the…payoff will be. Yes, you will have to pay for marketing even in social media; get rid of the mindset that all social media marketing is free marketing.
- Engage with your audience: These are the people who will make your campaign a success or a failure, and you have the chance to interact with them, to answer their questions, to ask them for feedback. Make use of that.
- Get Formal: Social media is less formal than traditional media in some aspects, but that does not mean this isn’t still business. Treat your social media assets professionally.
- Get Exciting: Bland social media is the worst; you will depress your audience and lose them. Plan ahead, hire a dynamic community manager and make an effort.
More moves to avoid here. And remember, without failure, success wouldn’t shine so brightly.
The most successful social media campaigns have had certain characteristics in common. Whether the campaign has been centered on the launch of a big brand’s newest product, or simply consists of the revival of a decades-old favorite, success cannot be attained if all the brand has to offer is… its product. Durability comes from other factors, including personalization, discussion, novelty and buzz.
Personalization: Facebook capitalizes on the fact that its users are impulsive and restless. It’s just as easy to click on a link, a page, or a group as it is to close out of that tab and move on the next one. Therefore, in order for a brand to capture the attention of these most fickle of internet users, it must offer a personalized experience. The main difference between a traditional campaign and a social media campaign is the level of interaction the latter can offer users. Take, for example, IKEA’s wildly successful Facebook campaign in 2009. The campaign used one of Facebook’s most popular features, tagging, to encourage people to tag themselves in photos of IKEA showrooms. The company offered users the chance to win tagged items for free, and as word of the campaign spread, photos were tagged within seconds of being uploaded. Without the store rolling out a costly campaign, their products were personally promoted by their audience. People also felt a personal connection to the brand, picking and choosing pieces of furniture they would want in their own homes.
Discussion: Encouraging discussion on Facebook, or any other social network, is tricky, especially when the discussion is initially based on a single product. For the Wrigley’s Extra Facebook campaign, the Wrigley’s team took a different approach. Instead of focusing solely on the product at hand (gum), the page capitalized on the current “foodie” trend and prompted discussions about good food and eating. The page was created with the premise that strongly flavored food and drink, while one of life’s pleasures, are not necessarily things we wish to carry with us for the rest of the day on our breath. The message, then, doesn’t directly rely on the product itself, and is designed to continue conversation for as long as people eat and drink. Discussions on the Facebook page, which has more than 150,000 “Likes,” range from favorite Valentine’s Day food to the best pie flavor. Asking questions like, “Do real men eat quiche?” and “What do you reckon’s your CPM (chews per minute) rate?” provoke interesting, lively and continuous conversation that shouldn’t die down when buzz about the new gum does.
Novelty: Creating a social media campaign that draws a broad audience is tough when your product is a standard household item, like the toothbrush. It becomes even tougher when you’re trying to generate buzz for a new mini disposable toothbrush called The Wisp. In designing their social media campaign for this product, Colgate knew they’d have to think out of the box to generate any kind of attention. Hence, the brand took a fresh approach and came up with the “Be More Kissable” creative platform, which rerouted the issue at hand from dental hygiene to a topic that was more fun, social and sexy. At the heart of the campaign strategy were online videos, and a series of online videos were released that cinched into the comedy and how-to market. The brand also ran a photo contest, looking for “The Most Kissable Person in America,” and created a Facebook app called Spin the Wisp. Once the app was installed, it had the names of the consumer’s Facebook friends and provided them with an experience similar to Spin the Bottle. Ultimately, there were more than 100,000 engagements and 40,000 + installations of the widget and more than 1 million unique impressions of the widget. Overall, as of May, 2010, Big Fuel reported 6 million+ total engagements with the Wisp campaign (widget installs, video views, game plays, pass-alongs). The campaign succeeded not because it was led by a big brand, but because it took a fresh and new approach to something as stale as toothbrushes.
Buzz: Even with all of the components above, a social media campaign cannot be successful without buzz. Word-of-mouth gears social media; as an example, let’s discuss the buzz that the Red Cross accidentally generated a few weeks ago with an unintentional tweet. An employee with access to the @RedCross Twitter account had accidentally posted about their night of drinking Dogfish Head Midas Touch and tagged the message #gettngslizzerd. Within moments of the tweet going out, it was like a social media avalanche. While The Red Cross has about 270,000 followers subscribing to that account, hundreds of re-tweets and tweets about the post put that number well into the millions. Although the Red Cross later deleted the tweet and replaced it with one that read,“We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys,” it didn’t stop this non-campaign from generating buzz. In fact, the Red Cross reports that the incident actually resulted in slight raise in donations and interest in giving blood. Everyone, including Beer brand Dogfish, has now blogged about the incident and it just goes to show- if an accidental tweet can generate this much buzz, how much attention can an intentional, well-played tweet get?
Ultimately, social media case studies allow us to look back and move forward more successfully. We can see the numbers and the views and decide for ourselves which brands were triumphant in what they did.
The modern mom: She is educated, nurturing, career and family oriented and today, she’s a business powerhouse. She values brands like Target and Ikea, which are family-oriented and proud of it; places that fulfill all of her needs in one space. The modern mom is a powerful consumer; she knows what she wants, and she knows that there are plenty of places where she can get it.
Family dynamics have certainly changed in the past few decades; no need to watch Mad Men to confirm this. The 1950’s dad-as-dictator framework has collapsed, and today we’ve even surpassed the 90’s model of mom and dad ruling together. In 2011, households are democracies; kids, mom, and dad all have a say, but mom is more powerful than ever. Mothers today have higher salaries and many are college educated. They are more involved mothers and ultimately, more informed consumers.
“I wish every product were like the iPod,” one mom said in a recent survey. “It is the one thing in the house that means as much to me as it does to my daughter…we share music. I can’t imagine sharing music with my parents when I was a kid.”
Mommy bloggers, as they’re called, have taken over the web. These women are a powerful force in the blogosphere, often peppering their sites with coupons that fit the needs of the thousands of other moms who scour their sites daily. With topics ranging from pregnancy, parenting and motherhood to household tips, these blogs are relevant, targeted, and successful.
So successful, in fact, that a new wave of “daddy bloggers” is now attempting to catch up. It’ll be tough, however, to catch up in this race, as mom bloggers take on roles varying from that of Entrpreuner Mom to Tech Mom to Photographer Mom. Hardly anyone, especially in the online world, is just “Mom” anymore. In 2011, brands will continue to frequently court these powerful bloggers, no longer dismissing them as bored, stay-at-home moms. Aware that women make 85 percent of consumer purchasing decisions, major brands do not take lightly the fact that 23 million women read, write or comment on blogs weekly. The power of the mom blogger can no longer be disputed.
Pepsi, Wal-mart, and ConAgra are just a few of the companies that have formed relationships with them. On the negative side, just last year, mommy bloggers encouraged drama which included a Nestle boycott, dissatisfaction with Air Canada, vilification of corn syrup, and outrage at Amazon’s choice to sell a book about pedophiles, among other issues.
The Pepsi Mommy Blogger case study is an interesting one; Pepsi has been working on an image makeover and has therefore reached out to mothers, playing up the importance of their Tropicana, Quaker and Dole brands, which currently only make up 18% of total revenue. Pepsi appeared at the 2010 BlogHer conference, and is sponsoring the 2011 Social Media Week, during which it will unveil its Women’s Inspiration Network (WIN). By covering topics that would be of interest to females, and more specifically, to mothers, Pepsi is hoping to corner the Mom market and gain from their influence. These “feminine” topics include the environment, sustainability, health, and stories of inspirational women.
It’s safe to say, then, that the stereotype of the Mommy Blogger has gone out the window. In the blogosphere and elsewhere, these women have power. Mommy bloggers have realized this power, hosting meetings and conferences frequently.
Also read 2011 Predictions for Mommy Bloggers and about Some up-and-coming Mom Bloggers.
With 2011 fast approaching, it is time for a social media recap of 2010, global-style. This was the year that Facebook took over the globe, and we end the year with almost 600 million users around the world. While Facebook might be the most popular social network, however, it certainly isn’t the only one with worldwide appeal.
Italian blogger Vincenzo Cosenza has, for the second time, published a visual map that portrays the most popular social networks around the world. The map is based on the most recent traffic data (December 2010) as measured by Alexa & Google Trends for Websites.
According to Cosenza, since June of this year, Facebook has “stolen” important nations from previously strong competitors, so much so that 115 out of 132 countries analyzed name Facebook as their market leader. Notably, Hungary, Poland, and even Mongolia have switched over from local strongholds to the global site.
We’re also seeing a rise of interest in Twitter and not surprisingly, in LinkedIn. While Facebook spans generations, however, Twitter has previously been identified as a “younger” social networking tool. Its growth against MySpace in Australia, Germany, Italy and Canada, then, doesn’t do much to prove that Twitter has gained the all-ages following it needs to compete with Facebook in global market domination.
Twitter’s appeal is undeniable: The visibility of its most frequent users, celebrities, excites “normal” users. Then, even for non-celebrity tweeters, a sense of voyeurism continues to remain with the site. The site is more energetic and fast-paced than MySpace, and while “tweets” can give away crucial information about participants, the site isn’t as sleazy as Myspace was in its heyday.
LinkedIn’s rise was inevitable. Why wouldn’t other countries jump to embrace a site that provides free networking in a career-oriented atmosphere? LinkedIn gives employers the benefit of screening employees before they even request an interview and in this way, it tightens up the hiring process. It also gives employees the chance to present themselves in a professional manner online, and countries like Australia, Canada, and the UK have embraced this.
Ultimately, while Facebook, Twitter and MySpace continue to dominate most of the world’s social networking market, there is tremendous room for growth in the new media sector.
New Media expert Brian Solis breaks down social web involvement by country, and the results prove that each country has a unique dynamic within their social networks.
17.6 million Americans blog, compared to the Netherlands 1.3 million and China’s 89.7 million. Are these numbers surprising to you?
As Facebook continues to grow, businesses, both small and large, are also learning how to best use the site in terms of business growth. Despite public dissatisfaction regarding Facebook’s privacy controls and shared information, most users can ultimately find satisfaction with the site, because it is an essential addition to any web working toolbox. The Facebook social networking experience is customizable, so it can be exactly what you need it to be. For a college student, this might mean that Facebook becomes the easiest way to meet people in the dorm, but for a company like Gap or Starbucks, Facebook offers an inexpensive way to attract new customers and interact with old ones.
The first step to Facebook success, in terms of business usage, is to understand the difference between a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group.
Facebook Fan Pages, unlike groups, are visible to unregistered people and are thus indexed. Groups, however, allow the user to send out “bulk” invites, inviting all of your friends to join the group in one time-saving swoop. While many users have figured out ways to get around this feature by using a simple, google-able code to send mass invites on pages, this feature (or lack thereof) on pages often leads to complaints.
Both pages and groups lend themselves well to hosting discussions, messaging to all members, and video and photo exchange. In terms of social media, however, pages seem to be more useful. On a page, users can promote their business using social, targeted ads, and a page administrator also has access to “page insights,” which chart visitor statistics and prove useful to anyone looking to grow a larger Facebook following.
Read more on the difference between Facebook pages and groups.
Facebook users can promote a Facebook page in a variety of ways. Below, we suggest five tactics:
- Have Good Content: This should go unsaid, but it is surprising how many businesses try to promote Facebook Pages that are…lacking. No matter how many ads you buy, or how often you tweet special deals on your FB page and mention it on your LinkedIn account, if the content on your page is stale, no one will be interested. Look at it this way: You can find basic information about Starbucks on their main website, right? If you’re interested in the drinks they serve and how much they cost, or if you’re looking for a drive-thru location, look no further than the main site. The Starbucks Facebook Page, however, which is “Liked” by almost 19 million people, allows fans to virtually “check in” to Starbucks. It features photos of Starbucks fans from around the world, it allows fans of the coffee company to suggest their ideas, and it features oft-updated deals and specials. In other words, it has become a community that isn’t frequented by only die-hard fans. It’s a place that someone who may not even like coffee visits because of the fun material.
- Cross Promote: Once you have exciting material on your Page, don’t be afraid to cross promote. Whether you want to link to your Twitter account or your LinkedIn page, or you want to link to your YouTube account, take advantage of the multiple social networks you have access to. Some businesses will Tweet about special deals they have available only on their Facebook Page, leading Twitter followers to check out the page. In order to have access to the special deal, these users must then “Like” the page and viola, another follower is gained. Post YouTube videos on your Facebook as well, and you’ll be surprised at the new followers you’ll gain.
- Update Frequently: Say you start out with great content and cross promote, and you end up being “liked” by 20,000 people. That’s a great start, and although there isn’t a maximum number of pages a person can “like,” most businesses are surprised to find that Facebook users are fickle. They “unlike” pages (oh yes, they can do that) just as quickly as they like them, and while it is more difficult to gain followers than to lose them, disengaged users are the kiss of death. By updating frequently, you give people a reason not just to visit your site, but to look forward to new content, new images, maybe even new deals.
- Incentivize Your Page: You’ll be facing competition from mega-companies like Fusion Beauty, who can afford to offer the first 10,000 “likes” on their page a free tube of lip gloss. Not every incentive has to be a free product, however. Whether you’re offering ten percent off of a cup of coffee or access to a behind-the-scenes video, your followers want to feel like they are getting something exclusive.
- Personalize It: Facebook Fan Pages in the beauty sector, such as the page for MAC Cosmetics , often feature a section dedicated solely to user photo uploads. Now, this personalizes the MAC page in many ways; most effectively, it allows users to feel personally connected to the giant cosmetic company through the simple act of uploading their own photo. The page for Eat Pray Love doesn’t feature that perk, but it asks users, “What is one thing in life your friends said you could/would never do, but you did it anyway?” It starts conversations, and that is what makes it special to the people who “like” it.
Also check out 12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally and 7 Reasons Why You NEED A Facebook Fan Page.
And once you’re really comfortable using the Facebook Fan Page, post on other user’s walls AS the page, not as yourself.
This weekend, Black Friday shoppers spent an average of $365.34, up from last year’s average of $343.31 per customer. Total spending for Black Friday 2010: An estimated $45 billion. http://bit.ly/f5OWYe
In this age of the internet, however, retailers are expecting even more financial success on Cyber Monday, a more recent phenomenon. Since 2005, the Monday after Black Friday has been called the “Biggest Online Shopping Day of the Year,” with many consumers making their purchases from home or (more likely) from office computers.
The most trending topic on the web on Thanksgiving Day was “Black Friday Ads.” Not surprisingly, this year, retailers are taking advantage of social media to increase their sales. If you “like” certain retailers’ Facebook pages, you’ll have access to special deals.
If you like the Sears’ Facebook page, for example, you’ll also “have the power to unlock great deals.”
When you check into Sports Authority using Foursquare, you can win a $500 gift certificate.
Many small retailers have also been using Cyber Monday as a chance to connect with consumers using personalized tweets, moving past the assumption in earlier years that this online shopping day is for big businesses only.
In fact, this Cyber Monday is looking to be the perfect time for many under-the-radar businesses to launch themselves into a bigger market by using their social media savvy. Here, some tips for businesses on how to incorporate social media into their Black Monday advertising: http://www.fruitzoom.com/2010/11/cyber-monday-37-tips-to-leverage-social-media-zoom-monday-sales/ By leveraging social media and internet marketing for both online and offline traffic, businesses can up profits and internet presence.
This week, Best Buy has used Twitter to inform shoppers of bargains, but in a more resourceful use of social media, they are also using Twitter as an instant customer service solution. The company has their Twitter accounts staffed and ready to answer questions about problem purchases … all in 140 characters or less.
Check out the best deals, from electronics to sporting goods and apparel to gardening supplies, on http://www.cybermonday.com/