Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category
Friday, May 17th, 2013
 Nike Olympic inspired sneakers. Nike is the U.S. brand to beat for Socially Devoted fans, dominating Socialbakers top ten U.S. list with four different Nike handles in Q1 2013.
Socialbakers, the global leader in social media measurement and analytics, monitors the most responsive brands on social media each quarter.
While @JetBlueAirways, representing airlines, and @NokiaCareUS, for telecom, take the #2 and #4 spots, respectively, they are surrounded by brands in banking, sporting goods, food, cloud computing and, a Q1 favorite, tax prep.
On Facebook, the most Socially Devoted U.S. brands in Q1 2013 were uniformly telecoms and airlines, industries where online customer service has become critically important to their business.
“Twitter enables a certain open conversation, and allows brands to address their customers’ needs immediately and directly.
More brands using social, Twitter
 More and more brands are appreciating the value of utilizing social media, and Twitter in particular, to relate to their customers and address their concerns. These companies should be celebrated,” says Jan Rezab , CEO of Socialbakers.
Interestingly, @NikeSupport can also be found at #4 on the Worldwide list of Socially Devoted Twitter Brands, which is otherwise all telecom and airline.
Overall, worldwide, there has been an incredible increase in response rates on Twitter since Socialbakers began measuring (see graphic). Although the telecommunications, airline and finance industries tend to always score highly, the fashion and retail industries have been gaining traction too. It shows that companies now take Twitter seriously as a communication channel.
Here are the quarterly results:
Tags: airlines, banking, cloud computing, facebook, food, JetBlue Airlines, Nike, NoikiaCareUS, sporting goods, tax prep, telecom, twitter
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, social media, Twitter | No Comments »
Friday, May 17th, 2013
 With any luck, we won’t have to buy another car for a while, but when we do, we’ll definitely do online research before heading out to dealer lots. We have lots of company doing that.
Online dealership reviews on social media networks are now playing the most important role in the dealership selection process, according to the Spring 2013 Automotive Social Media and Reputation Trend Study released by Digital Air Strike, the nation’s leading automotive social media, online reputation and digital response company.
The bi-annual study included an in-depth analysis of how 650 U.S. dealers use social media and an online survey of 2,000 consumers who purchased a vehicle in the last 6 months.
The majority of car buyers said they consider review sites as “helpful” in their decision as to where to purchase a vehicle. The study found that 24% of consumers consider online review sites to be the “most helpful” factor, exceeding all other factors including the 15%of car buyers who consider dealership websites “most helpful”.
The study also showed that review sites are becoming increasingly important in organic search. 81% of car buyers who use review sites said they look at review scores in search results.
The dealer component of the study revealed that, on average, five review sites show up in search results. Car buyers use the top five sites 13% more than just 6 months ago.
Most popular review sites
The most popular review sites are Cars.com (61%, previously 55%), Edmunds.com (54%, previously 50%),), Google+ Local (37%, previously 44%), Yelp (14%, no change), and Yahoo (11%, no change) – the same rank order as the October 2012 study.
The study went on to reveal that there is a 43% probability that a consumer will search for a local dealer on Facebook using Facebook’s new Graph Search. The study revealed 67% of car buyers search for local business using mobile devices with 41% having “checked-in” to a local business using their mobile device.
Additional Facebook findings include:
- There is a 59% probability that a consumer will trust a review from a Facebook friend more than reviews on other sites.
- 27% of car buyers click on mobile ads on Facebook.
- There is a 45% probability that a consumer will view the dedicated feed for brands in the forthcoming Facebook News Feed.
- Clicks on automotive dealership Facebook ads more than doubled from October 2012 to April 2013 – from 16% up to 39%
Tags: car buyers, dealer review sites, Digital Air Strike, facebook, social media
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, social media, Tech life/Culture | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013
Facebook is intent on making money, but also, it seems at times, on alienating its consumers. Are you ready for video ads in your newsfeed that play automatically?
Starting in July, Facebook plans to start running auto-playing video ads in your newsfeed.
Ad Age originally reported that Facebook was considering the video ads.
The company may start the videos without audio and give the user the option of playing it with audio.
Reports say it is leaning toward 15-second rather than more traditional 30 second ads.
It’s clear that Facebook needs to come up with ways to generate revenue from its hordes of users. But with all the social networks out there now chipping away at its base, it might want to think twice about alienating users with intrusive advertising.
I don’t know about you, but I’m already a bit flummoxed when I see newsfeed ads when I’m trying to catch up with friends. They’re tolerable, but I suspect autoplay video ads might push some users over the desert the platform edge.
So what do you think? Is this a good move for the social network, or will it just cause more trouble for the already troubled top dog in the social networking kennel?
–Allan Maurer
Tags: auto-play video ads, facebook, newsfeed, revenue
Posted in Facebook, Marketing, social media | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
 If you’re job hunting, LinkedIn is the place recruiters are most likely to find you, not Facebook or Twitter.
According to the 2013 North American Social Recruiting Activity Report, only 22 percent of recruiters are using Facebook for recruiting in 2012, compared to a dominant 97 percent using LinkedIn and even 27 percent using Twitter.
The data, culled from actual social recruiting activity within the Bullhorn Reach user network of more than 160,000 recruiters, also showed that only 12 percent of recruiters were connected to all three major social networks – LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter – in 2012. With 14 percent of recruiters using a combination of LinkedIn and Twitter for recruiting versus eight percent using LinkedIn and Facebook, Twitter is once again more popular than Facebook as a recruiting channel.
Recruiters are more active on LinkedIn than on any other network. LinkedIn has the highest percentage of recruiters with enormous network sizes (15 percent have between 1,001-2,000 connections). Fifty percent of North American recruiters using Twitter for recruiting have fewer than 50 followers, and 26 percent of North American recruiters using Facebook have fewer than 200 Facebook friends.
Social recruiting gains momentum
“Social recruiting continues to gain momentum and it’s no surprise that LinkedIn remains the preferred network for recruiters given its early and fervent adoption,” said Art Papas, president and CEO of Bullhorn. “Social media helps recruiters reach a much larger pool of talent than they would through traditional means. In 2012, when we issued our first social recruiting activity report, it was mainly tech-savvy early adopters using Bullhorn Reach. Now it’s mainstream.”
In terms of views per job post in 2012, LinkedIn again led the pack. For any job posted on Facebook in 2012, Twitter drove 4.3 times more job views and LinkedIn drove 17.2 times more job views. In turn, LinkedIn drove 4 times more job views than Twitter did.
Interestingly, Facebook and Twitter drew a similar number of applications per job post despite Twitter job postings getting considerably more views. This suggests that while Facebook job posts get fewer average views, those who do view them may be more receptive to applying.
For recruiters utilizing all three social networks, the most heavily represented vertical was, by far, information technology. This was followed by recruiters in finance and banking, healthcare, and manufacturing. Information technology professionals are currently in very high demand in North America, which would account for recruiters specializing in information technology trying to reach as many potential candidates as possible through a variety of social networks.
To download the full report, please visit http://www.bullhornreach.com/content/resources/reports. To learn more about Bullhorn Reach, please visit www.BullhornReach.com.
Tags: facebook, job recruiters, LinkedIn, social recruiting, twitter
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, IT, LinkedIn, TechJobs, Twitter | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013
By Allan Maurer
 Jeff Sheehan So, how do you get 195,000 followers on Twitter? Buy them? Bribe them? Offer them ice cream cones?
“Honestly, I worked my tail off,” says Jeff Sheehan, a marketing and social media consultant at Sheehan Marketing Strategies, who is recognized as one of the Top 100 Marketers to Follow on Twitter, who now has more than 199,000 followers.
Sheehan, who has 30 years of high-tech global sales, marketing, and advertising experience marketing to Intel, Cisco, Apple, HP, and IBM, is a well known speaker in the Atlanta area on the use of Linkedin, Personal Branding, Social Media, and Marketing.
He’ll be talking about Linkedin at the Atlanta Digital Summit May 14-15, joining dozens of other digital media, marketing, advertising, and technology thought-leaders from brands such as Google, Twitter, AOL, Adobe, and many others.
“The power of social media is incredible,” Sheehan tells the TechJournal. “It levels the playing field and gives you the ability to position yourself regardless of your background. So anybody can be a somebody if they’re good at branding themselves online.”
Tips on using Linkedin
 An expert at using Linkedin, Sheehan offers these tips on using the social network:
First, he says, “Be credible. Put up the best profile you can.” That means also including appropriate keywords – although he rails against people who overdo it the way sites used to overuse keywords for SEO. On his blog for instance, he cites one unnamed job hunter who was in social media less than a year but includes a whole long paragraph with nothing but the phrase “Social media marketing.”
You should, though, include a professional photo and a complete picture of what you’ve done.
Next, Sheehan suggests, you have to build your network. “Find people with common interests and ask to join their network,” he says.
Once you’ve acquired endorsements and recommendations on LinkedIn, it adds to your credibility, he says, although we’ve heard some dissenting voices regarding the value of endorsements.
Like your own billboard
After you establish your identity, Sheehan notes, Linkedin is “Like your own billboard with a potential audience of 200 million people. You can display your work and provide your network with material you think is relevant, articles, news.”
He warns, however, “Don’t spam people.” One person in his network “Puts out post after post after post,” he says, so Sheehan used the Linkedin “hide” feature. That keeps the person in his network, but he’s not longer bothered by all those superfluous posts.
“You want to keep people in your network,” he says. “The more people you are connected to, the easier you can be found. So it’s important to retain the size and integrity of your network.”
Longer shelf life
On the other hand, used judiciously, you can “Get a lot of visibility via Linkedin updates,” which have a shelf life a bit longer than the rapidly moving Twitter stream.
 Just call me Larry. Sheehan, who has called himself a “Twitteraholic,” says he also sees great potential in Google+. “Google is going to continue to invest in it,” he says.
Facebook, he says, “Is mostly for friends and family.”
Pinterest, which had quite a buzz last year, “Is not as universal” as the other social networks, he adds. “It’s audience is 85 percent female. But it has benefited a lot of businesses.”
There are so many social networking tools, with new ones such as Instagram and Vine popping up all the time, that no one has time to manage them all.
“Pick your poison and figure out where you’re going to focus,” he says.
Tags: Atlanta, Digital Summit, facebook, Google, Jeff Sheehan, LinkedIn, Pinterest
Posted in Events, Facebook, LinkedIn, social media, Twitter | No Comments »
Friday, April 19th, 2013
 The four most valuable social media brands in 2012 were able to defend their leading positions and increase their brand values, with Google+ rising fast.
The rankings are from the Department of Social Media Management of HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich, in cooperation with BV4 Certified Brand Valuation Experts.
Facebook takes the top of the current ranking with an estimated brand value of $ 34.320 billion, followed by YouTube with a brand value of $ 26.824 billion, and Twitter with $ 23.656 billion.
Less well known in the Western world is the Chinese network Qzone which, with a brand value of $ 16.336 billionn, is in fourth position.
 Top winner of this year’s ranking is Google+, which gained 14 ranks ($ 5.878 billionn).
Together, the thirty most valuable brands have a monetary value of nearly $ 200 bn
Trends positively influenced brand value growth
Actual social media trends had a positive influence on the strength and value development of the analyzed brands, fueling a growth of 59% compared to the top 30 brands in 2012: on one hand, the most successful social media brands such as Facebook and Twitter were able to further develop their dominance with regard to their financial brand values.
On the other hand, Chinese social media brands expanded their strength and value thanks to the impressive Chinese Internet usage statistics that are characterized by a rapidly increasing number of Internet users and an intensive daily use of social media networks.
Furthermore, the new brand arrivals Instagram ($ 2.101 bn, position 22) and Pinterest ($ 1.987 bn, position 24) clearly benefitted from users’ augmenting need to share pictures among their digital peers.
Finally, the trend of increasingly using mobile devices rather than PCs to access social media platforms is an additional factor that positively influenced the strength and value development of the most valuable social media brands in 2013.
The growing importance of social media brands
Brands are important intangible value drivers for consumer goods and service companies. Compared to corporate values, intangible values like brands are continually increasing.
This is also true for social network brands, which have spread rapidly throughout the world and were able to continue on this path to success. Some of the important value drivers of social media brands are global awareness, growing user numbers, omnipresence in the day-to-day life of consumers, as well as facilitation of simple and efficient communication.
The detailed report ”The Most Valuable Social Media Brands 2013″ can be obtained free of charge at http://www.fh-hwz.ch/fsmmand http://www.bv4.ch . Follow the hashtag #socialbrands13
Tags: brand value, facebook, Google, rankings, social media, twitter, YouTube
Posted in Facebook, Google, Internet/New Media, Twitter | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013
 Now that you’re in a happy, healthy relationship, there are some Facebook rules that need following to ensure it stays that way.
10 things to never do on Facebook if you are in a relationship:
1. Hide things from your spouse or significant other.
If you don’t want your partner seeing who you’re chatting with online, that’s not a good sign. Facebook should not be a secretive escape from your relationship.
2. Befriend someone of the opposite sex your partner is uncomfortable with.
If your partner is uncomfortable with you “liking” photos of your ex — or chatting with your super-flirty co-worker online — respect his/her wishes. Don’t engage in behavior that will feed insecurities or threaten your partner. If you’re not currently Facebook friends with an ex, don’t add him. Especially in a long-term commitment relationship, you should each trust and respect each other enough to let each other veto online friendships with members of the opposite sex you’re not comfortable with.
3. Keep up old photos of exes.
Even if you never go back and look at old photos, some of your friends might. Respect your new relationship and delete old online mementos of your past relationships.
4. Change your relationship status without talking to your partner.
Relationship statuses should be discussed prior to any online changes. (Don’t abuse the status, either. Wait until it’s serious enough that most of your friends already know you’re dating someone awesome.)
5. Deny the relationship.
If your Facebook page has zero evidence that you’re in a relationship — no pictures, statuses, links that hint that you’re attached — and your partner wants to be acknowledged, show him/her that you’re proud to be with him/her, and simultaneously let your flirtatious Facebook friends know that certain online behaviors are now officially off-limits, by giving an occasional nod to your significant other.
6. Add his/her friends or family as “friends” before you’ve met them.
This is just creepy.
7. Complain about your partner or make a fight public.
If you’re in a real relationship, have real conversations. Seek conflict resolution in person, not online — and especially not on a Facebook wall. Don’t use Facebook as a place to vent, be passive-aggressive, or to humiliate your partner. Ever.
8. Gush too much.
You’re in love. That’s great. But use terms of endearment and “I have the best boyfriend in the world!” statuses in moderation. Don’t alienate your loved ones — or incite major eye-rolling — by using Facebook strictly as an excuse to brag about your recent endorphin surge.
9. Post racy pics.
Don’t upload on-vacation bikini shots. Don’t share photos of your new man “just waking up.” Keep it classy. Respect your partner by not seeking attention from others with sexy poses and provocative statuses.
10. Have a shared Facebook profile.
Even if you’re married, the whole “2 become 1″ thing does not apply to Facebook. An old classmate might want to say hi without wondering which of you he’s talking to.
Tags: eHarmony, facebook, relationships
Posted in Facebook, Tech life/Culture, Viewpoint | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013
Collective Bias, a social shopper media startup, has closed a Series A investment round led by Updata Partners for $10.5 million.
Based in Bentonville, Arkansas, Collective Bias is a social shopper media company that weaves organic social content into engaging, real-life stories to create millions of impressions leading to increased share of voice, SEO, and ultimately sales for brands and retailers such as Tyson, Nestle and Smart & Final. The company has satellite offices in New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Toronto and London.
Collective Bias was named one of America’s Most Promising Companies in 2013 by Forbes.
The company concluded 2012 with its third consecutive year of triple-digit growth, along with validation from major Fortune 500 companies.
We only cover a handful of startup funding stories at the TechJournal these days, but Collective Bias touches a lot of the bases we cover here, social media, ecommerce, and Southeast and Southwest startups.
Social shopper marketing evolution
“We believe that social shopper marketing is the evolution of shopper media, and supplants tired traditional media like FSI’s, retail circulars and digital display advertising,” said John Andrews, co-founder and CEO of Collective Bias.
“This investment round provides Collective Bias with runway to extend our four year leadership role in this new media category. We will employ these dollars to robustly enhance our Social Fabric content management platform, enter new markets and grow our team.”
Technorati’s 2013 Digital Influence Report indicates that “consumers are turning to blogs when looking to make a purchase.”
Collective Bias is based on the insight of Andrews and co-founder Amy Callahan that advertisers could create greater engagement with their shoppers through the channels in which they engage today – be it Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or a simple, pre-shop search.
Drive brand recognition
“Harnessing the power of social media to drive brand recognition, loyalty and sales are C-level priorities for consumer-focused companies, and Collective Bias has a record of delivering impressive results for its customers,” said Jon Seeber of Updata Partners.
James Socas, a general partner at Updata Partners, added, “Collective Bias’ combination of shopper marketing expertise and brand and retail experience are a powerful combination in the new era of marketing, and we look forward to helping them drive even more value and growth.”
Collective Bias operates Social Fabric, a proprietary community of over 1,400 shopping-focused influencers, blending members’ shopping experience and product usage through engaging stories that are published online and shared with like-minded friends and followers.
With an aggregate multichannel reach of more than 50 million, the Social Fabric community represents a true extension of the Collective Bias team, providing continuous, valuable feedback that has redefined the relationship between brands, retail clients and consumers.
The financing process was facilitated by Gridley & Company, LLC, a New York-based boutique investment bank that provides financial advisory services to companies in the digital and information services industries.
Social Fabric is a proprietary community consisting of approximately 1,400 shopping-focused influencers with an aggregate multichannel reach in excess of 50 million.
Tags: A round, Arkansas, blogs, Collective Bias, facebook, financing, social shoppers, Startups, twitter, Updata Partners
Posted in Ecommerce, Facebook, Internet/New Media, Money | No Comments »
Monday, April 1st, 2013
 Mobile phones are expected to remain the main driver of advertising revenue growth for Internet information providers such as Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), and AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL).
With more and more people switching to smartphones and tablets, the shift to mobile is expected to grow even more. As a result, advertisers are likely to allocate more of their budgets to mobile advertising.
While we don’t generally cover the stock market this specifically at the TechJournal, we thought these reports would be of interest to many of you in digital marketing and other tech areas in which these firms are major players.
On Thursday, which was the final trading day of the month of March and the first quarter, shares of Internet information providers ended on a mixed note even as the broad market posted gains.
StockCall has taken an interest in these companies and you can now sign up to download the free technical research on YHOO, ZNGA, LNKD, FB, and AOL at
http://www.stockcall.com/registration
Yahoo!
 Yahoo! Inc.’s shares struggled in Thursday’s trading session even as the broad market edged higher. Shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based company closed 0.26% lower at $23.53 on above average volume of 17.61 million.
Shares of the company had an excellent run in the first quarter of 2013, gaining more than 18%. In the last one year, the stock has now gained more than 50%, which makes it one of the best performing technology stocks. Yahoo’s shares are currently trading well above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Sign up today to read the free research report on YHOO at
http://www.StockCall.com/YHOO040113.pdf
Zynga
Zynga Inc.’s shares posted modest gains in trading on Thursday. The stock closed 0.30% higher at $3.36 on volume of 9.38 million. Shares of ZNGA are trading nearly 75% below their 52-week high of $13.15. However, the stock has had an excellent run in 2013, gaining more than 42%. The company’s shares currently face stiff resistance at around $4. Register to download the free technical analysis on ZNGA at
http://www.StockCall.com/ZNGA040113.pdf
LinkedIn
LinkedIn Corp.’s shares fell sharply on Thursday. The stock touched an intra-day low of $175.12 before finishing the day 1.02% lower at $176.06 on volume of 1.23 million. LinkedIn’s shares fell nearly 3% last week even as the broad market posted gains for the week.
For the first quarter, however, shares of LNKD gained more than 53%, compared to a gain of more than 10% for the S&P 500. The company’s shares are trading above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. However, the stock’s MACD has slipped below the signal line, which suggests that market sentiment is bearish on the stock. Free report on LNKD can be accessed by registering at
http://www.StockCall.com/LNKD040113.pdf
Facebook
Shares of Facebook Inc. tumbled in trading on Thursday even as the broad market posted gains. The stock ended the day 1.95% lower at $25.58 on volume of 28.59 million. Facebook’s shares finished nearly 0.60% lower for the week. Its shares are currently trading below their 50-day moving average. The stock currently faces resistance at around $26. Register with StockCall and download the research on FB for free at
http://www.StockCall.com/FB040113.pdf
AOL
 AOL Inc.’s shares struggled in trading on Thursday. The stock fell to an intra-day low of $38.14 before finishing the day 1.81% lower at $38.49.
Despite the sharp decline in the session, AOL’s shares have gained more than 7% in the last three trading days. The stock has gained nearly 30% in 2013 so far, easily outperforming the broad market. Read the full free research on AOL by signing up to StockCall at
http://www.StockCall.com/AOL040113.pdf
Tags: AOL, facebook, LinkedIn, mobile phones, revenue growth, stock reports, Yahoo, Zynga
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, LinkedIn, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Zynga | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 26th, 2013
Small businesses spend between $1,000 and $2,500 on their social media marketing. Marketing Weekly has created an infographic suggesting how small businesses can make the most of their advertising on Facebook.
According to a study by Vertical Response, 90 percent of small businesses use Facebook and 32 percent of companies post at least once per day. Enterprises don’t often have a lot of money to spend on marketing and have to make the most of cost-efficient initiatives and best practices.
You can find a larger version here. Click on infographic on the right.
Tags: Best Practices, Facebook advertising, infographic, Marketing
Posted in Facebook, infographic, Marketing | No Comments »
Monday, March 25th, 2013
Facebook now has a total of 15 million pages run by small businesses globally, a sizeable increase over the 13 million recorded at the end of 2012.
“Local businesses are playing a key part in Pages’ growth, with active local pages up 40% in 2012,” says Marco Reuter, business development manager at Numero Uno Web Solutions.
“In addition, the social network’s Pages Manager mobile application has attracted more than eight million users since launching in the fourth quarter of last year.”
Helps businesses become more discoverable
“Facebook Pages’ impressive increase among small- and medium-sized businesses cements its use as a potential SEO technique that can help local businesses become more discoverable and gain greater exposure on search engines like Google,” Reuter observes.
According to the experts at Numero Uno Web Solutions, Google answers approximately 100 billion searches per month—more than three billion searches a day—and 43% of all Google searches are local.
Claim your online real estate
This means the “what” (business category, brand, product) and “where” (address, city, province or geographic coordinates) are equally important. Furthermore, 74% of local searches on Google are done on mobile devices.
As the SEO experts conclude, in an effort to drive consumer traffic and increase search engine page results, small- and mid-sized businesses need to claim their online real estate on web sites that promote local information, like Facebook Pages.
Doing so is a great way for these businesses to connect with existing and potential customers who are using search engines like Google to find local information.
Tags: Facebook pages, local discovery, SEO, small business
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, March 14th, 2013
 Google has awarded a multi-year grant to Polytechnic Institute of New York University’s (NYU-Poly) Oded Nov to further his study of the role of design in shaping online behavior.
Nov, an assistant professor in the Department of Technology Management and Innovation, has long focused on social media, and the behavioral aspects of information systems. Working with Mor Naaman of the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information, he will embark on an ambitious new two-year project to examine the factors that impact users’ interactions with and contributions to social media.
“In particular, we will focus on the impact of social traces created by users’ feedback and inputs – the social cues about the attributes of the users, their opinions and the community they form,” Nov said. “As in the physical world, your behavior online changes depending on the others around you.”
While in no way connected, this comes on the heels of Facebook reporting that your “likes” on the site reveal much about you – possibly your I.Q., sexual and political persuasion, and even drug use. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that social media’s interactive nature affects much as other communities we may belong to in the real world.
We’ll be interested to see if this study addresses how the apparently never-ending design changes on Facebook, Google+ and other social networks affects their use (other than sparking cries of protest).
Google bestows the Focused Research Award, as the unrestricted grant is known, upon scientists working in areas of key interest to the company as well as to the broader research community.
Tags: design, facebook, Google, NYU-Poly, Rutgers, social media, social traces
Posted in Facebook, Google, Internet/New Media, social media, University Tech | No Comments »
Monday, February 25th, 2013
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Graph Search on Jan. 15, and already marketers say it could be a vital tool, particularly for local businesses.
Although in its infancy, search experts at Sinai Marketing, a dental and legal marketing firm, are considering its SEO implications.
Graph Search is a new service where Facebook users can search their connections for information. Search results are based on information shared by friends and other users. Example: Planning a trip to Chicago? Conduct a Graph Search to find friends who live there.
Graph Search generates results based on data that is completed on users’ personal and business pages. The more friends and likes there are, the greater the chance a personal account or page will appear in relevant Graph Search results.
Lorrie Walker , an SEO writer at Sinai Marketing, shares tips for helping a page appear prominently in Graph Search for searches related to a business:
- Users should fill in as much information as possible about their business including keywords.
- Encourage others to like the page.
- Update often with photographs, links and comments.
Doing these things is similar to SEO techniques for websites, says Saeed Khosravi, Sinai’s operations manager.
- Getting likes for a Facebook page is like getting backlinks for a website.
- Using keywords on a Facebook page is like on – page optimization.
- Being active on a page is like updating a website with fresh content.
A vital role for business?
“I think Facebook Graph Search is going to play a vital role for businesses because the results it gathers can be tailored based on where you live,” he says.
One characteristic that sets Graph Search apart from Web search, Khosravi says, is Web search helps people discover information on the Internet, while Graph Search enables people to explore information shared on Facebook.
It’s early in the Graph Search game, so determining its long – term SEO role is premature, Walker says.
A question she predicts will need to be addressed in the future is whether Graph Search will become important enough for SEO companies to track it along with Google and Bing.
Tags: facebook, Graph Search, keywords, local business, SEO, Sinai Marketing
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, February 22nd, 2013
 One-third (34%) of affluent investors are using social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and company blogs specifically for personal finance and investing (PF&I) purposes.
While most investors continue to rely on a variety of resources for investment information, nearly 70% have reallocated investments, or began or altered relationships with investment providers based on content found through social media, thus reflecting the importance of a strong social media strategy for asset managers and distributors.
These and other findings are included in a new report, Social Media’s Impact on Personal Finance and Investing, recently released by Cogent Research. The report is based on a nationally representative survey of over 4,000 investors with more than $100,000 in investable assets.
Investors using social media for research
Investors who use social media for PF&I purposes are using various platforms to form first impressions about providers, and their decision to use a firm’s investment solutions. Regardless of the platform, investors primarily turn to social media to conduct research on investing, products, and companies or to seek advice regarding investment decisions.
“Today’s investors’ are scrutinizing ‘traditional’ sources with content and commentary they are finding through social networks, and are becoming much more critical and conversant when it comes to their investment choices,” said Remy Domler Morrison, Project Director and co-author of the report.
A double-edged sword
“On a positive note, social media is also motivating investors to engage more with their advisors and investment firm representatives, which can lead to more asset gathering opportunities for providers.”
For financial companies, investors’ use of social media for PF&I can be a double-edged sword. While engaging in social media presents the opportunity to increase and develop relationships and trust, it also presents the risk of getting negative feedback.
“For every positive comment and favorable investment decision comes the possibility for damaging content. However, the larger risk to a firm is ignoring negative comments that may already exist.
Overall, there are significant opportunities to strengthen brand equity for firms that regularly pursue strategies to foster positive relationships with brand followers and address negative sentiment,” says Tony Ferreira, Managing Director at Cogent Research.
In general, investors recall a higher ratio of favorable to adverse brand-related content for several firms on social media, including Fidelity Investments, ING, and Vanguard.
Top 10 Brands with the Highest Ratio of Positive to Negative Impressions Via Social Media
BASE: Among investors exposed to respective brands on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter
| Rank |
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Provider |
| 1. |
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Fidelity Investments |
| 2. |
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ING |
| 3. |
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Vanguard |
| 4. |
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USAA |
| 5. |
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Charles Schwab |
| 6. |
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John Hancock |
| 7. |
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American Funds |
| 8. |
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Wells Fargo |
| 9. |
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T. Rowe Price |
| 10. |
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Janus |
Tags: facebook, investor decisions, LinkedIn, negative impressions, positive impressions, research, social media, top 10 brands, twitter, YouTube
Posted in Facebook, LinkedIn, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Twitter | No Comments »
Monday, February 18th, 2013
One if five websites now use Facebook’s “Like” button, which amounts to more than 125 million sites globally. But did you know that on average, people who like websites on Facebook have 2.4 times more friends?
Here’s an infographic taking a look at the power of Facebook’s “Like” button.
Tags: facebook, infographic, Like button
Posted in Facebook, infographic | No Comments »
Friday, February 8th, 2013
 Due to the strengthening relationship between Bing and Facebook, businesses should consider combining SEO and social media strategies to help improve overall visibility in Facebook Graph Search, recommends integrated SEO, social media and PR company Punch Communications.
Whilst Google continues to be the global search market leader, brands’ SEO agencies must also value Bing’s search results to ensure visibility in Facebook Graph Search is maximised. In addition to the new social search feature returning Page information, Graph Search can also offer users relevant webpages from Bing, when appropriate to a search.
Graph Search results not only differ for each search, but also for each individual user. Facebook assesses the number of connections between the profile of the person searching and the query and displays results relating to the searcher’s own profile activities and photos first, before displaying other results from friends, public profiles, Pages and Bing search.
Facebook may grab search market share from Google
Prioritizing results by what it deems most relevant, Facebook recognizes that while people are most likely to using Graph Search for internal results, external webpages will also be valuable information for many.
In time, depending on how frequently Graph Search serves results directly from Bing, Facebook may acquire a percentage of the search market from Google.
In order to capitalise on this potential to have a website visible to Facebook Graph Search users, in-house and agency SEO teams must make sure search activity doesn’t focus solely on Google and they must start to work more closely with social media managers. With Graph Search still in its early stages, the full impact it will have on Bing’s search traffic is still yet to be understood, but it is clear the opportunity must not be overlooked.
Pete Goold , managing director of integrated PR, SEO and social media agency Punch Communications, said, “Brands could really benefit from integrating SEO and social media strategies to ensure both Facebook Pages and websites are visible in Graph Search. While Google is the number one global search tool, Bing has its foot in the social search door due to its relationship with Facebook and its own social sidebar. This means Microsoft’s search engine must not be ignored.
“Both SEO and social media professionals should carefully watch the evolution of Graph Search as in time it could see people using Facebook more frequently for external web searches.”
Tags: Facebook graph, SEO, social media strategy, visibility
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, February 7th, 2013
Can you guess which brand has the most loyal fans on Facebook? While familiar names such as Facebook itself, Google, Walt Disney World and Starbucks make the top 20 list, a non-profit is number one, according to LoudDoor, a Facebook Insights Preferred Marketing Developer.
Brand Satisfaction, a new dashboard powered by over 1 million monthly survey responses. The largest market research of its kind, Brand Satisfaction tracks every major brand on Facebook and how likely Fans are to recommend those brands to friends or colleagues.
For its first study, Brand Satisfaction compiled millions of responses from Facebook Fans of over 15,000 Facebook pages to determine the Top 20 brands with the most loyal Fans.
The surprising survey findings reveal that a non-profit tops the list over brand stalwarts Facebook and Google:
1. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
2. Facebook
3. Google
4. Walt Disney World
5. ALDI USA
6. Xbox
7. Starbucks Frappuccino
8.  Google Chrome
9. Duncan Hines
10. Adobe Photoshop
11. Tim Hortons
12. Hershey’s
13. In-N-Out Burger
14. Dove Chocolates
15. NFL
16. Portillo’s
17. BRAVO
18. Disneyland
19. Dollar Tree
20. AMC Theatre
“Demographic and behavioral data is the cornerstone to understanding a brand’s Facebook audience and powering game-changing marketing decisions,” says David Guy , CEO of LoudDoor, a leading research and audience targeting platform on Facebook.
“Rather than relying on highly subjective social chatter or experimental ‘listening’ technologies, Brand Satisfaction does the hard work of asking brands’ Fans directly about their attitudes, behaviors and motivations. We then package this powerful data in a simple dashboard interface to empower brands to harness their Facebook asset.”
Survey methodology
Starting January 1, 2013, Brand Satisfaction asked consumers to rate how likely they are to recommend a brand page they “like” on Facebook.
Participants also completed a demographic, behavioral and attitudinal survey. Millions of anonymous responses are summarized in a user-friendly Brand Satisfaction insights dashboard currently in limited beta release.
Adds Guy, “We’ll be conducting our study every month and releasing new brand insights and tips with the goal of making marketing professionals that Follow brands on the Brand Satisfaction platform the smartest people in the room about the brands they care about on Facebook.”
Eligibility for the Brand Satisfaction Top-20 list requires that the brand page have at least 50,000 Fans and a minimum of 300 completed surveys on the brand.
For more information and to sign up for a private Beta invitation, visit www.BrandSatisfaction.com.
Tags: Adobe Photoshop, ALDI USA, Duncan Hines, facebook, Google, LoudDoor, most loyal fans, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Starbucks, top 20 brands, Walt Disney World, Xbox
Posted in Facebook, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 6th, 2013
 Two-thirds of U.S. adults online use Facebook, but many of them take breaks from the site and 20 percent of online adults not using it now once did. This shows that while Facebook is the dominant social networking site in America, it’s user base is fluid, says the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.
Have you taken long breaks from using Facebook? It’s clear to us that a number of our friends do. They disappear from our news stream periodically. We frequently take breaks ourselves when work or weekend activities interfere, but we’re seldom gone more than a few days. Even that will adversely affect your scores on measures of your social media activity, such as a Klout score, if you care about such things.
Among Pew’s findings:
- 61% of current Facebook users say that at one time or another in the past they have voluntarily taken a break from using Facebook for a period of several weeks or more.
- 20% of the online adults who do not currently use Facebook say they once used the site but no longer do so.
- 8% of online adults who do not currently use Facebook are interested in becoming Facebook users in the future.
Pew asked the 61% of Facebook users who have taken a break from using the site to tell us in their own words why they did so, and they mentioned a variety of reasons.
The largest group (21%) said that their “Facebook vacation” was a result of being too busy with other demands or not having time to spend on the site. Others pointed toward a general lack of interest in the site itself (10% mentioned this in one way or another), an absence of compelling content (10%), excessive gossip or “drama” from their friends (9%), or concerns that they were spending too much time on the site and needed to take a break (8%).
We’ve seldom noticed a lack of compelling content on Facebook. Quite the contrary. It can be more interesting than more pressing duties, like washing the dishes or doing the laundry or writing that article. Since social media marketing is part of our job (as it is to most people in the media), we have to use multiple social networks, and it does become a job in and of itself keeping up with them.
How about you? Experiencing Facebook fatigue?
(Comments by TechJournal Editor Allan Maurer)
Tags: breaks, dominant social network, facebook, Pew Internet
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Monday, February 4th, 2013
 Small and medium size businesses are embracing social media as a key strategy in their marketing programs internationally, according to SocialMediopolis.com, a website for social media marketers.
“While most people think of major consumer marketers as driving the growth of social media venues such as Facebook, Twitter Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Twitter and other platforms, the reality is that many more small and medium size businesses are now successfully driving social media marketing programs,” said Michael Crosson, who publishes the site.
Crosson states that a key venue leading this increase is LinkedIn.com, which recently passed the 200,000,000 member mark. “We have seen a significant increase in companies from one to 100 joining the Social Media Marketing group over the previous year. More importantly, these companies have expanded their use of social media into other services besides Facebook and Twitter. We have seen incredibly strong growth in Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr, for example.” Said Crosson.
The survey can be seen in its entirety here: http://www.SocialMediopolis.com/resources/research
Some of the highlights from this study include:
- The U.S. represents 65.7%, and the rest of world is 34.3% of responses. (Infographic #1)
- Independent consultants and Small/Medium Size Businesses (up to 100 employees) comprise the large bulk of the responses: 80.4%. (Infographic #2)
- The various social media venues such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others are fairly even divided, but MySpace continues to lag far behind at 4%. (Infographic #4)
- 54.7% are primary decision makers. (Infographic #4)
“This survey is a good snapshot of the international social media playing field at the moment. Members of our Social Media Marketing group on LinkedIn.com, which has over 500,000 members, participated. The group is growing by an average of 1,100+ new members every day, and we poll them annually,” continued Crosson. The full results of the survey are available at http://www.SocialMediopolis.com/resources/research
Tags: facebook, Pinterest, SMBs, social media marketing, Tumblr, twitter
Posted in Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Friday, February 1st, 2013
Social media not only influences IT purchase decisions, it drives many of them, according to UBM Tech‘s annual Social Media @Work research. The study found that social media now plays a critical role in the business technology market.
Study highlights include:
- Social media influences and drives IT purchase decisions: 66% of tech professionals say that they have used social networking sites to obtain information for a technology purchase.
- 92% of IT respondents have taken one or more actions as a result of using social media, including visiting a vendor web site, or contacting a vendor directly for more information, and registering to download content such as research or a white paper.
- Social media is gaining credibility among IT professionals: 42% of respondents say that social media is “productive” — an increase from 36% two years ago. The percentage of respondents who describe it as simply “fun” decreased by 6 points.
- Social media has also gained credibility with tech marketers – the majority of tech marketers surveyed now have a business presence on all four of the major social networking platforms, with close to 90% maintaining a business presence on Twitter and Facebook, 84% who have a business presence on LinkedIn, and about three-quarters on YouTube.
“Social media is now completely ingrained into the workflow of business technology decision makers,” said Scott Vaughan , UBM Tech’s Chief Marketing Officer. “This poses challenges for tech marketers who lack resources to develop and execute effective, cohesive social media strategies. Our report incorporates practical tips to help even the most time-strapped tech marketers leverage social media as part of their overall marketing strategies.”
The full report, including strategies that marketers can use to maximize social media to engage IT decision makers, can be downloaded from CreateYourNextCustomer.com, an online resource for technology marketing best practices, research and solutions. Access the free report at http://bit.ly/WzkiMy; registration is required.
Tags: business technology, buying decisions, facebook, IT, LinkedIn, social media, Social Media@work, twitter, UBM Tech report, YouTube
Posted in Facebook, IT, LinkedIn, Marketing, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Twitter | No Comments »
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