The hashtag-obsessed world that we live in has just claimed another victim. After seeing the success of the use of the # on Twitter, Facebook has now unveiled clickable hashtags on their platform.

The aim of hashtags on Facebook is to make it easier for users and advertisers to find hotspots of user activity around specific events or topics.

Of course, hashtags on Facebook are nothing new, as many people use them in their status updates. What has changed is now these hashtags are clickable. Users will now be able to search for a specific hashtag from the search bar, click on hashtags that originate on other platforms such as Instagram, and compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.

Using hashtags and seeing the conversations around a particular topic is nice, but to take it to the next level you need to see what is trending. Facebook is planning to roll out trending hashtags and deeper insights, which should be a big incentive for brands to get involved!

For brands using Facebook, clickable hashtags can only be a good thing, particularly for pages to reach an audience that is not their direct fan base. By piggybacking on trending and relevant topics brands can gain extra exposure and reach new people, something that was only previously available with Facebook advertising spend.

What are your thoughts on the new Facebook hashtags?

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Social media is constantly evolving. Every day there are reports of a brand new feature update or a new tool to try out, but how do you stay on top of all of the developments?

Other than following @iftweeter and reading our blog (obviously!) there are a number of ways to help, so you never miss out:

Google Alerts
Google alerts searches for content related to keywords you enter such as ‘social media’ and ‘Facebook’. It emails you anything that matches these keywords, at intervals of your choice.

Google Reader
Google Reader is a nifty little tool which allows you to subscribe to sites so that if anything is added, such as a new blog post, it pulls through to Google Reader, so you have everything all in one place. Unfortunately, Google are closing this service down in a couple of weeks, but listen out, as there are rumors that Facebook could be launching a similar service soon.

LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn is not just for connecting with individuals but also groups. Join groups where you can get involved in conversations, discuss the latest developments and share information with others.

Facebook and Twitter
Of course, you can also follow relevant people on Facebook and Twitter to get regular updates on the world of social media. Some suggestions would be @mashable @TheNextWeb @NewMediaBuzz and @mashsocialmedia

What ways do you use to stay on top of social media developments? Let us know in the comment box below!

Images courtesy of Google Alerts, Google Reader and Twitter

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Following in the footsteps of Twitter, Pinterest and Google+, Facebook announced yesterday that it would be launching verified accounts for an elite group of prominent brands and public figures.

Social Media accounts are rife with duplicate accounts and Facebook has notoriously had difficulties with the volume of fake accounts on the platform. For example, when searching for Justin Bieber on Facebook nearly 100 results are returned! This is a mix of duplicate pages and fan groups. The verified pages will therefore help fans to find the authentic accounts of high-profile people and businesses on the popular social network.

Facebook has been slow on the uptake of verified accounts; Twitter first launched this feature 4 years ago and other platforms have followed suit. Last year Facebook purged 83 million of its fake profiles, and verification of profiles is a further step towards the weeding out of false accounts.

For the elite few that have had their Facebook accounts pass the verifying process already, a small blue check mark will now be visible on their Timelines and in search results. At the moment, Facebook has not released details on their verification process, however, if you are looking to show followers that you  are a trustworthy source across your social media estates then have a look at this quick guide on how to get a verified account on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest!

Twitter

Similarly to Facebook, Twitter concentrates on high profile personalities and brands. They do not accept requests for verification from the general public. However, if you are not a superstar or a massive brand you can still show that your brand is authentic by linking to your Twitter profile from an official website; this is the easiest way to confirm the authenticity of your Twitter account.

Google+

Whilst the final verification is still up to Google, the process is more open. There are still certain steps that brands need to take before a Google+ account is verified:

- You must have 1000 followers
- Business website must be linked and contain the G+ badge
- Your email must be verified

Pinterest

Pinterest has a simpler process as you can self-verify your account simply by entering your web address in the Website field, then clicking ‘Verify Website’. You can then verify with an HTML file or a META tag.

Image courtesy of Georges Biard via Wikipedia

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In the sixth post of this Live Brand Social blog series we discovered that Facebook is the preferred network for sharing content, by 61% of consumers surveyed. There is more to be learned from this fact, however. The raw data also showed that 31% want to continue to hear from a brand on a social network after the event.

Knowing that and knowing where to connect with consumers offers up a wealth of new opportunities. Personalised interactions and branded content can be shared after the event so as to prolong the engagement and to fortify the relationship between consumer and brand.

The data also showed that 56% of survey respondents enjoy interacting and reading brand created posts and articles. As well as this, the report details that there is strong engagement with visual content on social. Videos and photos do particularly well online, which is reflected in the number of consumers that like to interact with brand images. 61% enjoy commenting on and looking at brand created photos.

It is satisfying to see that your experiential marketing is not just about creating user generated content opportunities in social media. Your customers positively welcome branded content. They are happy to interact with you; to enter your competitions, watch brand videos, read your posts and share your pictures. When planning, think about the assets you will release before, during and after the event.

In planning your content, look at how you can take the big idea and break it into smaller interactions and bite sized pieces. Don’t be shy and share prolifically, ensuring you have clear calls to action and make it easy for people to comment and pass on to friends.

Download the full report and share your thoughts on live brand social with us bit.ly/LiveBrandSocial #LiveBrandSocial 

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Already we have discovered that consumers are most likely to share on social media if the experience was unusual (71%), entertaining (69%) and relevant (65%). However, knowing which specific social platforms they are using tells you where you need to focus your attention. It can be hard to be active across all the social media platforms, not without unlimited resource and investment. It is much better to concentrate marketing efforts on a few platforms and do the job well – building ongoing relationships and increasing advocacy.

So when it comes to live experience what social networking sites have the closest affinity with real life social media? Are there platforms where we love to post form our mobile devices and do we prefer to share the live experience on specific sites only?

Mainstream platforms remain the favourite when it comes to live brand social sharing. Survey data revealed that 61% of consumers share content on Facebook, 25% on Twitter and 24% on YouTube. When it comes to devising material for your live experience it is important that you focus on content for these three social platforms in order to enjoy maximum return from your engagement with customers.

Although the research shows that visual content performs well with consumers, such as photos (51%) and videos (37%), comments remain the most popular. Facebook sees the most interaction so it is worth planning content that is easily shared. Still, that is not to suggest that user generated content will not do well. 68% will take the time to write a post or comment following a live experience, 60% will upload a photo and 30% will upload a video.

Smartphones present an easy solution for sharing visual content but it is interesting to note that the personal touch is not lost online. Comments, in particular comments on a friend’s post, remain the favourite way to engage and interact.

Download the full report and share your thoughts on live brand social with us bit.ly/LiveBrandSocial #LiveBrandSocial

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With such a large number of analytical tools for social media, it is understandable that you may feel overwhelmed with all of the data that is available. However, with some simple steps, you’ll be analysing the success of your social media campaigns in no time:

There are so many statistics, which ones are relevant to me?

Firstly, take a step back and think about what you want your social media campaigns to achieve. Do you want to gain more brand awareness, drive more website traffic, or would you like it to provide better customer service? Whatever its role, pick out the statistics which help show if you have been successful or not in working towards your aim. For example, if you’re looking at driving web traffic, create trackable links (you could use bitly) and see how many people have clicked on them. You could also look at Google Analytics, to see how much traffic has come to your website from social media.

Should I be measuring ‘Likes’ and followers?

Although it is great to see your follower numbers increase, what does this figure really show? A common way to increase followers is to run a competition. Although you get a sudden increase in fans, you may find that not all of these people are interested in your company, but just want to win a prize. These followers may also not be your target market and so although many companies still measure their social media success against this figure, it shouldn’t be your key focus.

What are the key statistics that I should be monitoring?

This depends on what you want to achieve. However, a good area to measure success is on customer interactions, so see how engaged your communities are. This can be seen through how many customers add a comment to one of your posts, ‘like’ or favourite a post, retweet or share a post and click on your post links. On Facebook, you also have a figure which shows how many people are ‘talking about this’ which is a good engagement indicator.

Which social media analytics tools should I use?

There are a number of free and paid for tools available, each providing different statistics, however, to get you started, here are a few free tools to give you the basic data that you may need: Facebook  Insights, Twitter Counter, TweetStats, Pinpuff, Bitly, Klout.

Do you have any other tools that you have enjoyed using? Leave us a comment below to let us know your favourites!

Images courtesy of Facebook Insights

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It is one of the big players in the world of social media, with over 300 million active users and a place at the social media top table. Not content with being the world’s second largest social network and being used by 25 per cent of the global Internet population, Google+ is aiming for the next level.

This week at the I/O conference in San Francisco, Google announced that they are adding 41 new features to Google+; including a new look to the stream and profile pages, hashtags, trending topics, photo enhancement and greater integration with Hangouts.

Taking full advantage of the fact that visual content is key for brands on social media, Google has redesigned the news feed, giving it a bit of a spruce up in a style reminiscent of Pinterest and Facebook’s new design. When it comes to photos, the new features include Auto Enhance, which will improve your photo by tweaking the brightness, contrast and colour for maximum effect. Combine this with the new Auto Awesome feature, which allows users to merge photos together to create the perfect image.

This integration of editing features on Google+ could lead to an increase in the number of brands embracing the platform. Instead of just focusing on the search benefits of the platform, these new changes and a more user-friendly feel could work wonders.

Other new arrivals include the “What’s Hot” section, covering the trending hashtags to get involved with and supplying you with relevant communities to join. Hangouts also get an upgrade, as they will now be integrated with Google Chat to allow users to IM and video chat with their connections from the newsfeed.

This fresh redesign and the range of new features bodes well for Google+, as they borrow the best parts from other networks and bring it to their platform. So what do you think of the new Google+?

Image courtesy of Flickr

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Have you ever wondered how to merge the physical and digital worlds together? Mega-brewer Budweiser has figured it out and is doing just that. Budweiser Brazil is testing a new and innovative beer glass referred to as the “Buddy Cup”, which is integrated with Facebook via a microchip embedded at the bottom of the glass.

The concept will bring a whole new meaning to the clinking of glasses. When two glasses touch, the cupbearers instantly become Facebook friends! Facebook is the most popular social media platform among Budweiser fans and this new concept will allow users the opportunity to integrate their in-bar experience with their social media profile.

Let’s take a closer look at how it works:

• On the bottom of each cup is a QR code and drinkers must connect the cup with their Facebook accounts by taking a picture of the chip using the Budweiser Smartphone app.

• Once that is all set up the chip at the bottom of the glass, or “bump sensor”, will automatically send a Facebook friend request to the person you bump glasses with, making it a lot easier to meet people and exchange information. Nobody likes to waste time on a night out trying to take down someone’s details, and there’s no guarantee that you will remember them all in the morning.

The Buddy Cup is to be tested and used at major public events such as concerts and festivals to see how people take to it. But with the Buddy Cup offering the chance to eliminate awkward social moments when meeting new people on a night out, it is bound to be a hit!

Image courtesy of Flickr

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Whilst there may be a lot of talk in the social media world about Facebook losing its way and users proliferating to other platforms, it is still the big juggernaut – generating unrivaled engagement and reach for brands across the globe.

The winners have recently been announced for the Facebook Studio Awards 2013, judged by a prestigious panel (called the Facebook Creative Council), comprised of members from McCann, AKQA, Publicis and Buddy Media. Take a look at 3 of the best from the 2013 winners and shortlist:

Ted

For the movie launch of  Seth McFarlane’s first film (creator of Family Guy) Universal utilised a  network of 23 partner pages including Family Guy (50 millions fans), Scarface (7.5 million fans) and The Office (10 million fans) to extend the reach of memes and other great visual content. Ted-e-grams were also featured on the Playboy Facebook page (7.6 million fans). Fans were engaged through the “wild night with Ted” Facebook app which allowed users to create custom photos that were edited in the app, which integrated a photo gallery, voting and weekly competitions.

The Ted Facebook page generated over 7.5 million fans and engagement levels reached millions on a daily basis during the peak of the campaign. The memes distributed through the partner pages generated a whopping 30 million impressions! Over 160,000 images were created on the “wild night with Ted” Facebook app, and a total of 125,000 images were shared. In addition, the Talking Ted mobile app which was pushed via Facebook reached over 10 million downloads.

Nike Academy

The Nike Academy set out to narrow the gap between aspiring amateurs and the professionals. The mission was to give late-developing and unlucky kids a second chance to hit the big time, scoring a professional contract.

An on-site social media team at the Academy HQ at Loughborough University center of excellence gave 24/7 access to the aspiring professionals’ journey by creating a wealth of content, proliferated through the academy Facebook page.

The community grew to over 250,000 fans, a rate increase during the campaign of 260%. The Academy films amassed over 3 million views! Above all else, 10 Academy players have signed professional contracts as a result of the program.

Grey Poupon – society of good taste

 Grey Poupon mustard is for those of discerning taste. In the brand’s bid to help people celebrate good taste an application was created which would assess a user’s tastes based on their grammar, education, cities visited, books read, restaurant check-ins and more to define their membership to the exclusive club.

This quality over quantity approach saw users who did not “cut the mustard” removed from the page! A very unique approach. Those who made it into the highest percentile got access to member-only-benefits such as gift cards, books and merchandise.

The result was a super-engaged, super fan  community made up of members with “good taste”, the ideal target audience for the brand. Full marks for being so bold and flipping what is so often a numbers game completely on its head!

See all of the winners and those shortlisted or take a look in more detail and review the galleries and video content.

Images courtesy of Facebook Studio

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We’re living in times of integrated marketing. The distinction between social, e-mail, SEO and PPC does still exist, but it has become essential that different channels work in conjunction, not competition, towards the same goal. As a consequence, brand websites should reflect this integrated approach. There is a great opportunity for businesses to engage with site visitors socially, enabling brand advocacy and making the path to  purchase as easy as possible. Here’s some ideas on integrating web and social:

Signpost visitors to your social profiles

This may be quite an obvious one, and yet surprisingly not many brands have developed clear and noticeable links to their social profiles. One may argue that once the visitor is on site, the main call to action no longer should direct people away from the site. Sure, there is some truth to it. However, customer journey is a complex matter, and the likelihood is that in their initial visit people won’t convert immediately. Customers visit multiple sites multiple times in their consideration phase, and it is essential your brand nurtures this fragile relationship via social profiles, building trust, authenticity and opening easy channels of communication.

Here’s how John Lewis designed links to their social profiles:

Content share buttons

The perception of a brand more often than not is formed by the quality of its products and the experience of using them. Content share buttons therefore aren’t simply a fun and interactive addition to your site (though they are), but more importantly they provide substantial benefits to the brand as a whole:

• Instantaneous feedback. Product share buttons enable comparative analysis, revealing which products customers really like. That’s an invaluable piece of feedback which may even impact your long-term product strategy.
• Authentic advocacy. With content share buttons your customers become your marketing department! What can be better than that?

Here’s an example of nicely arranged share buttons on M&S social site:

Social sign-in

I’ve come across quite a few sites that require a login. To be honest, whenever I see a request to register on yet another site, I’ll do my best either to avoid the site or at least not to register. If you’ve decided registration is essential to your site, how do you increase the conversion rate? Social sign-in is a definite alternative to consider. It will provide you with a much greater understanding of your customer demographics than an on-site registration, that merely provides the basic demographic data. And the more information you ask from your customers, the less likely they are to register.

See how Starbucks provide a Facebook sign-in alternative to their in-house login system:

In conclusion

The opportunity brands have to build meaningful, data-driven, measurable relationships with their customers is unprecedented. Cross-platform, comprehensive integrated marketing strategy will maximise the value of your investment. Integrating web and social is just one example of a multitude of opportunities that are there to maximise awareness, conversion and advocacy. How are you taking advantage of these opportunities?

Images courtesy of John Lewis, M&S and Starbucks.

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