This week Facebook launched a new kind of advertising a plug in for WordPress that is too complicated for most of us non techies to understand and re-named it’s camera app as camera*. I’m ignoring most of that, although you will find my own post on Facebook promoted posts below. I also left out the Buoy that Tweets although I was tempted to include it. Check out @galwaybouy on Twitter if you want to know more about that.
Instead I found some interesting stories about saying sorry, a great Irish tourism campaign and a wonderful post for blogging newbies from Chris Brogan. Have a great weekend.
Twitter #tag pages
Twitter ran it’s first TV ad. It seems strange that whilst other companies are trying to find ways to include Tweeting in their ad’s Twitter is buying television advertising space. In some ways it makes sense, when we watch TV we do so with others, tweeting with the #tag for the show, Twitter advertising their new #tag pages in this space might turn it on it’s head but it brings traditional and new media even closer together.
The first #tag page was for the NASCAR event, this is a new kind of Twitter premium product that will collate stories about a particular topic on a branded page. I can’t really see what’s in it for brands though, it’s already possible to display a #tag feed, I’m yet to understand the benefit of paying for it on Twitter. I’m sure all will become obvious soon enough. More on the new pages and how they worked for NASCAR here.
Twitter personalises trending topics
Trending topics as we know them could become a thing from the past. Twitter has announced trending topics tailored to users, now instead of just being able to see what is trending in a specific area you will see topics that are trending amongst the people you are following. In many ways this is a good thing, you are more likely to be interested in topics that are discussed by those you follow, those who have been selective about those they connect to will see the most benefit as only the most relevent stuff, the stuff you really are interested in will trend. On the other hand I’m not sure how this will effect the #tag, and the amusing #tags that you often see pop up in trending topics. It will be interesting to see how they evolve after they are rolled out. Here’s Twitter’s announcement about the update.
Tourism Ireland trust one couples holiday to their social media followers
One of the most innovative industries in social media has to be tourism, we see some great campaigns coming from hotels and airlines, we’ve seen some great competitions sending couples on dream honeymoons or trips of a life time. The latest campaign from Tourism Ireland is allowing the British public to direct the holiday of one couple in Ireland. It’s unclear quite how much control the public will have. There are mentions of voting on specific destinations or tasks but it does sound a bit more like a choose your own adventure than giving complete control to the social media crowd, that’s something I’m sure the couple in question are releived about. I’ll be keeping my eye on their progress. More on the campaign here.
Chris Brogan’s blogging primer
Getting started with blogging can often be the hardest step, and when you’ve stared you need to make sure you don’t stop. That’s why I’ve chosen to share this wonderful little post from Chris Brogan. 21 tips on getting blogging and keeping blogging. If you’ve been putting off starting read this post now and get started! I’m wondering is this post from Chris Brogan going to be one that fits in to his tip 15.
My best (most popular) posts were the ones I spent the least time writing.
Five types of Facebook fans
There is no doubt about it, marketing on Facebook isn’t easy anymore, with so many businesses competiing for the same audience getting someone to Like your page let alone seeing them intereact or buy from you business takes work and we need to be more creative in order to shine. For me step one has to be understanding your audience, if you know what they want you can connect with them better. Even if you do know your customers and feel you understand them it’s important to know they are not all the same. Different sorts of Facebook fans have different needs and that’s where this article on Social Media Today helps, it describes 5 different types of fans and the best ways to reach them.
Saying sorry
I picked this story out this week as it’s an example of how simple responses in social media can mean a lot. I’ve been reading some stuff on companies that were planning on automating their customer service tweets and Facebook updates. This in my mind is a terrible idea. I recently asked people on my Facebook page where they turned with customer service queries, the replies were split mostly generationally, with the younger people saying Twitter and social media and the older generation using the phone as they believed they were more likely to talk to a human being. Although age wise I belong to the older generation I turn to Twitter or Facebook for customer service. Interestingly I do so because I feel I am going to get a response from a Human being and probably a better response too. This story about American Airlines outlines how you can buy the loyalty and endorsement of a customer simply by communicating and saying sorry. If you are a company thinking of automating your customer service via social media please don’t, we all appreciate the human touch and it’s the only real way to learn from your customer.
How social media helped save the Troy Library
This is a great watch, the story how one Library in the states raised funds using a clever campaign and social media. All the more amazing for it requiring people to vote to increase their taxes!
And from Spiderworking.com this week
Embed Tweets, Facebook & Google+ updates on your blog
This weeks cool toolSocialDitto is very handy for Bloggers who like to quote or show examples from social networks like Twitter and Facebook. You simply input the URL for the post you want to share and it generates embed code for you. More here.
Facebook’s newest advertising solution – Promoted posts
Facebook recently added a new type of advertising for business pages. Now you can pay for a particular update to appear in more of your fans newsfeeds. I was interested in this option as a way to recharge a stale audience or to perhaps promote a special offer. But how many people could you reach? How would they work? I experimented with it myself and this is what happened.
