You're doing Facebook Wrong

According to this neat little article there are some key trends you can use to better engage when using Facebook posts. It's clear that if you're using Facebook it should be as part of a joined up campaign across many channels. Facebook simply is one way of expressing the narrative that you've developed which answers direct business objectives. Facebook is a way of promoting that story, so if you're going to do it, do it right!

Know you're customer and how they interact with Facebook to help you craft a more effective campaign. The 'Buddy Media' article over at Mashable shows some key and easy to follow guidelines, namely:

- Don't forget the weekends
- Out of office hours see more interaction
- Want to take a day off? Wednesday might be best
- 1 to 2 posts are day see more interaction than 3+
- Use recognisable links.

Check it out here: http://mashable.com/2012/09/28/marketers-facebook-wrong/

Buffer : handling sharing on social media.

Found this neat free app for sharing on social media. The problem with propagating stories is that you have to have a good stock of them lined up and be able to schedule them at the right time otherwise the effect is somewhat lost. Bufferapp is able to stock up a 'buffer' of stories you find whenever you are browsing throughout the day and then publish them at your specified times.

Optimal tweets per day? See this article. Just add them to the buffer, set the times you want and you're off.

Link in multiple accounts or Facebook pages that you manage. Very good so far.

Essential dos of the Corporate Tweet

Following a study of some of the world's "biggest brands" a new study by Buddy Media has examined brand tweets from Dec. 11, 2011 to Feb. 23, 201 and revealed some essential dos of the corporate tweet.


- Tweet over the weekend
Twitter engagement rates for brands are 17% higher on Saturday and Sunday
- Tweets over the weekend should be between 8 am and 7 pm
The study shows tweets between these times have 30% higher engagement rates
- 4 tweets a day is optimal
More than this and you start getting diminishing returns
- Include a link
Linked tweets have an 86% higher retweet rate than tweets without links.
- Use hashtags (up to two)
Tweets with hashtags get twice the engagement of those without
Using one or even two hashtags in a tweet is fine, but if you add a third, you’ll begin to see an average 17% dropoff in engagement.
- Add an image
Posts with images have double the engagement of those without
- Ask followers to 'retweet'.
Asking followers to “RT,” will give 12X higher retweet rate than not. Using the word “retweet,” makes that rate jumps 23X.



Full article here: http://mashable.com/2012/06/26/marketers-failing-twitter-study/

The (Negative) Power of Social Media

Or, "there is such thing as bad publicity".

Just a quick comment on this hilariously cheesy and somewhat off-colour video which left Microsoft more than a little red in the face. It's an example of how social media can take over your event and trend in ways you just didn't think were possible!

I *particularly* enjoy the line in the song:
"I'm a software developer, I'm developing, And I'm here to party…"

But the really embarrassing lyric was yet to come…
The rap manages to proclaim, “The words MICRO and SOFT don’t apply to my penis.”

And of course this was tweeted immediately forcing Microsoft's Head of Communications to apologise.

Lessons for us all, I think…


Link/full story: http://pulse.me/s/a7MWC 

Attack Marketing and Social Media

Great story here that really highlights something I've been thinking of recently: using social media appropriately. Vibram, the funky shoe manufacturer, had been inundated with complaints from customers who thought they had bought genuine products only to find them quickly fall apart! Vibram soon realised that although the returned products looked like Vibram shoes they just weren't right.


After much thought Vibram decided not to wait for government help against counterfeiters but to act themselves. How?


"Candidly, you have to realise that intellectual property only gets you so far," says CEO Tony Post. "At the end of the day it's really about your relationship with the consumer."


They seem to have pulled off an amazing turnaround and in some part it's due to social media. But not only social media.


When I saw this graphic showing the complexity of social media tools I threw my hands up in the air. This graphic seemed to say that marketing is complex now. But it doesn't have to be. These are just tools you could use in order to better your relationship with your customer (as Vibram's CEO says). 


Marketing isn't about facebook, or LinkedIn or twitter (alone). It's about people. Sure these are tools that can reach your key stakeholders but honestly: would you use EVERY gardening tool you had to plant a seed? 


Just as Vibram did, you have to choose when to use social media and how to apply it to your goals. And of course, which tools will best reach your stakeholders.