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Wednesday 27 March 2013

Who Should Your Business Follow On Twitter?


Following the right accounts on Twitter is just as important as tweeting the right content. Following certain accounts can increase your business’ profile, both on Twitter and in your area, by connecting your business with your customers and local media outlets.

By following trendsetters within your industry, you can stay abreast of interesting and important developments that may affect your company. Also, Twitter can be used to keep an eye on the activity of your main competitors, as well as the larger companies you want your own business to emulate.

You will be able to see all the public tweets of the people you follow in your stream. Follow a diverse group of accounts to ensure that you get the most out of the service.


Industry leaders


Look for some of the bigger businesses that work in your industry. If you are opening a bakery why not check out Millie’s Cookies, Cinnabon or Dunkin’ Donuts. If you run a sportswear shop, have a look at Nike, Adidas or Puma.

You can monitor the leaders in your industry by following their activity on Twitter . Perhaps they will use the service in a way that you hadn’t thought of to promote themselves. Imitate their more successful or innovative ideas.

Follow the companies that provide you with your stock. Big brands often tweet about new product releases. Say Nike football boots are one of your sports shop’s best selling products, if Nike were to tweet about a new football boot you could retweet it on your business page, alerting your followers.

You could then make sure that your shop was one of the first in your area to get the boot in stock and tweet about it, attracting more customers to your store.

Industry Voices and the Media

Follow the accounts of those in your industry whose views are respected. Look for the accounts with the most followers in your network and, perhaps more importantly, those that are getting the most retweets and favourites.

Following these accounts could lead to interactions with them, making their followers aware of your business. Their tweets may also prove to be very informative and useful to your business, tweets that you could retweet yourself.

Search for the Twitter accounts of the media sources in your local area. To do this, you can use the “Browse categories” list in the Discover tab, or you can use websites like Wefollow, Muck Rack and Twellow.

Building a relationship with newspapers, magazine publishers and radio stations on Twitter could persuade them to feature your business in articles and reviews.

Customers

When your business is just starting out on Twitter, it is a good idea to follow some of your current and favourite customers. Ask for your customers Twitter handles or email addresses, then use this information to search for them on the site.

People use Twitter to interact with brands and business. Following your customers will show them that you want to interact with them on the site, making them feel valued. Following customers will also make them aware that you are on Twitter and, if they thank you for the follow, it will make their followers aware of your business’ Twitter profile as well.

Competitors

Use Twitter to keep an eye on your competitors. Many of your rivals will already have Twitter accounts on which they will post company information and updates. If you can’t find a competitor type their email address into Twitter’s search engine, or have a look for their Twitter handle on their web page.

If you don’t want your competitors to necessarily know that you are following them, use a private Twitter list to keep tabs on them. You can follow lists without following the Twitter accounts listed within them.

Followers

There are two opposing schools of thought concerning follow-backs. Some say that businesses should follow all the users (those proven to be humans and not robots) that follow them, while others argue that businesses should only follow those more active and influential on Twitter.

The people who think that businesses should try to follow as many followers back as possible argue that not only does it show potential customers that the company appreciates their support and cares about their opinions, it also provides users with a way to communicate with companies privately on Twitter via direct messaging – a fantastic customer service tool.

The opposing argument, though obvious, is a good one: too many followed accounts clog up a business’ Twitter stream and bombard it with lower quality information.

If your company is not already on Twitter, it is unlikely that it is well-known. I suggest following as many people back as you can (having made certain that they are people) as this will help build your profile on Twitter, as well as off it.

Suggestions

On your Business’ Twitter home page there is a small list of suggestions entitled “Who To Follow”. In this list, Twitter collates accounts that you could follow based on your interests, activity and the people you follow. Clicking “follow” on one of the suggestions opens up a larger list of options: Twitter encourages users to follow as many accounts as possible to increase engagement and networking on the site.

There is also a longer list in the discover tab with even more suggestions of who your business should follow. Often these suggestions are very good, so it is worth having a look at this list – which is constantly updating itself – every week or so.

Others

Of course, you don’t just have to follow those within your industry or the people who follow you first. Why not follow the accounts of celebrities or people who interest you? Following interesting accounts may provide you with inspiration when you can’t think what to tweet, while interacting with celebrities might lead to an endorsement.

You should be using Twitter to display how interesting and multifaceted your business can be, so following the right mix of people can really help imbue your company’s Twitter account with more personality.

Who do you follow on Twitter? How does it help your business?

Monday 25 March 2013

Google+ Now Has “Photos” Search Filter

imageGoogle+ has added a new filter to its search engine, “Photos”, allowing users to search for just photos using keywords.

There are now seven categorical options for filtering searches: Everything, People and Pages, Communities, Google+ posts, Hangouts, Photos and events.

To use the filter, users must first search for whatever they are looking for, then select “Photos” from the drop-down box.

Users will be able to see any photos shared publicly, or they can choose to view just the photos that they have uploaded themselves, photos which have been sent to them or photos from people in their circles.



Like Facebook, with its proposed news feed redesign, Google+ is becoming more and more image-focused. Google+’s recently updated profile pages, for example, feature enormous cover photos, which grab the viewers attention and take up almost the entirety of the screen.

In fact, Google+ has become a great forum for photographers, both amateur and professional, to share their work. Dave Cohen, the Google employee who announced the update on his Google+ page, suggested some great searches for photography enthusiasts:
- Long exposure: https://plus.google.com/s/long%20exposure/photos
- Steel wool: https://plus.google.com/s/steel%20wool/photos
- Cartoons: https://plus.google.com/s/cartoons/photos
The new Photos search filter should be available to all users.

Do you post many photos on Google+? Have you found any great photos using the new search filter?

Friday 22 March 2013

What YouTube's 1 Billion Monthly Active Users Milestone Means For Marketers


imageYouTube has announced on its blog that the video sharing and streaming site has surpassed the 1 billion monthly active users mark, the second social media site after Facebook to reach this milestone.

Like Facebook, YouTube took eight years, from its conception in February 2005, to hit 1 billion MAUs. Twitter, in comparison, has just celebrated its seventh birthday and has just over 200 million monthly active users.

So, 1 billion, that is a mindboggling amount of viewers! In the announcement post on the YouTube blog, the YouTube team have put that enormous figure into perspective, asking “What does a billion people tuning into YouTube look like?

  • Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits YouTube.
  • Our monthly viewership is the equivalent of roughly ten Super Bowl audiences.
  • If YouTube were a country, we’d be the third largest in the world after China and India.
  • PSY and Madonna would have to repeat their Madison Square Garden performance in front of a packed house 200,000 more times. That’s a lot of Gangnam Style!”
What is powering this growth?

In another post on parent company Google’s Agency Blog, Advertising Research Director Gunnard Johnson explains that Generation C, a phrase coined by Nielsen to describe a demographic “defined by the Internet, mobile, and social - consuming content when and where they want”, is to thank for YouTube’s high viewing figures.

Generation C, or Gen C for short, is the name given to a group of primarily young adults who are defined by their constant access to multiple devices, often having a screen in their living room, their office, their bag and their pocket, with each one capable of accessing the internet at any time.

”On YouTube,” says Johnson, “this generation thrives on 4Cs:

  • Connection - Gen C watches YouTube on all screens, constantly switching between devices.
  • Creation - Gen C is deeply engaged with online video, watching, creating and uploading videos on YouTube.
  • Community - Gen C thrive on community, defining what’s popular on YouTube by sharing videos with friends and family.
  • Curation - Gen C is made up of expert curators who care about finding content that matters to them.”
In the United States 76% of 18-34 year olds (the main demographic constituting Generation C) own smartphones, as opposed to 60% of the general population. Gen C spent 74% more of their time than last year accessing YouTube on these smartphones.

The percentage of Gen C watching YouTube on more than one device has also increased: 67% of Gen C watch YouTube on more than one device, while 15% access it during commercial breaks on television.



YouTube has created a handy infographic illustrating all the statistical information above. To see it visit Think With Google.

What does this mean for YouTube marketers?

It is vital that YouTube marketers tap into Generation C as a potential target audience and, therefore, a huge source of revenue. Gen C’s potential as a source of revenue is backed up by a statistic Johnson quotes on the blog post: “Gen C is a powerful demographic”, he says, “not only are they cultural tastemakers, they influence $500B of spending a year in the U.S”.

Top marketers have already seen the potential for YouTube marketing, with every single one of AdAge’s Top 100 brands posting content on YouTube.

Brands marketing themselves on YouTube must be constantly aware of the 4Cs if they wish to leverage Generation C’s influence over YouTube popularity:

Connection: Generation C is active on YouTube across all devices. In fact, Gen C’s activity on smartphones and on desktop devices peaks at roughly the same points during the day. Marketers need to create content that can be played on both desktop and mobile devices. If a video is best viewed in high-definition, it will be wasted on smartphone audiences. Also, any hyperlinks on the video must take smartphone users to sites that are compatible with mobile devices.

Creation: marketers should stay abreast of what’s popular and topical on YouTube. Most recently the Harlem Shake was YouTube’s big thing and millions of versions were uploaded to the site. Brands like Red Bull and Manchester City FC did their own Harlem Shake videos, both of which received millions of views.

Community: according to Johnson, viewers are “discovering videos socially - 9% of respondents said they watched a video on their smartphone because it was shared by friends in an email, while 18% watched a video because it was shared on a social network.” Marketers should encourage viewers to share their videos, incorporating hashtags for use on Twitter, or posting them on Facebook and Google Plus.

Curation: Members of Generation C love discovering something new and sharing it with their friends. 47% of Generation C find the majority of the videos they watch using search. Marketers need to give their videos titles which are both relevant and eye-catching. They also need to post regularly and during peak periods to ensure that the right demographics view their videos. Generation C only recommends the best videos to friends and family members, so brands and marketers need to make sure that their content is creative and original.



Johnson recommends two YouTube tools for brands who want to market their adverts across multiple devices:YouTube’s One Channel design ensures that brand channels are compatible with all devices, while TrueView video ads are cost effective adverts that charge marketers only if and when they are viewed.

In 2012, YouTube recorded almost the same viewing figures on smartphone devices as it did on desktop devices. To take advantage of the growing generation of viewers who can access YouTube 24 hours a day, whether on a computer, a laptop, a tablet or a phone, YouTube marketers need to ensure that they get the best out of YouTube’s advertising services, and that they upload the best advertising content possible onto YouTube.

Do you consider yourself to be part of Generation C? If so, what are your YouTube habits?

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Twitter Adds New Services To Ads Self-Service Platform


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Twitter has made huge improvements to its self-service platform for America-based Twitter advertisers, the microblogging site announced on its advertising blog yesterday. Twitter advertisers with access to the self-service platform now have new targeting options and access to Twitter’s advanced interface.


On Twitter’s self-service ads platform, businesses can pay to promote accounts and tweets, as well as view analytics showing how successful their promotions are. Advertisers must first be invited by Twitter to use the platform, then they can choose a location and a target audience, targeting by interests. Advertisers have to set a daily spending limit and will only be charged for what works.

Since yesterday, advertisers with access to the platform have had more detailed targeting options and access the advanced interface. According to the advertising blog, Twitter made the changes after listening to feedback from users:
As we listened to feedback, two requests kept coming up: marketers wanted access to more robust targeting tools, as well as a pathway to all the bells and whistles of our advanced interface if they desired it.
Self-service advertisers are now given two options when targeting Twitter users by interest: firstly, they can target users with similar interests to the followers of a specific Twitter handle. For example, if a camera manufacturer wanted to target amateur photographers, it could choose to promote tweets and accounts on the pages of people with similar interest to those who followed @PhotoMonthly or @LATimesPhotos.


Secondly, advertisers now have a list of over 350 different options to choose from when selecting which interests to target, from car racing, to birdwatching, to golf.

Advertisers can also specify on which devices their adverts will appear, choosing from a list of five tick-box options: desktop, iOS, Android, Blackberry and other mobile devices. This new feature is particularly helpful for app developers who create platform-specific applications: for example, the developer of an Android-only app can target Twitter uses solely on Android devices.

There is now the option to target a specific gender with advertising. Twitter extrapolates a user’s gender based on public user signals, surmising whether a user is male or female based on their activity on Twitter. A group of human testers discovered the system to be 90% accurate.


Twitter has made its advanced interface available to self-service advertisers, although they only advise more experienced advertisers to use it:
Self-service advertisers who are more experienced with online advertising can now choose to use our advanced interface’s deeper campaign controls, detailed reporting and analytics, and multi-campaign optimization, which help them run more complex campaigns and optimize in real time. The pricing remains the same, and you can start and stop campaigns at any time in both interfaces.
Advertisers new to the platform will be given the option to use the advanced interface after they have signed in, set up a promotion and entered their billing information. For advertisers who are already signed on, a link entitled “Switch to Advanced” will appear at the top of their dashboard after they have logged in.

Although the self-service ads platform is only available to stateside companies at the moment, and even then only by invitation, international advertisers should be given access later this year.

Have you used Twitter’s self-service platform? What are the improvements like?

Friday 8 March 2013

Google Redesigns Google+ Profile Page

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Today, Facebook is unveiling its first News Feed redesign in over a year and, earlier this week, they began testing a new-look Timeline. Google has beaten its rival to the punch, having released a new Google+ profile page earlier today.

The first thing users will notice when they go on their Google+ profile page today is a prompt to update the cover photo. Cover photos are now a lot bigger than they were before, up to 2120px by 1192px and displaying in 16x9.

Profile photos are now circles instead of squares, but they still sit in the bottom left-hand corner of the cover photo, remaining roughly the same size as before. The new cover photo provides businesses and individuals with a larger canvas on which to personalize their page and promote their brand.

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A “Reviews” tab has been added to the toolbar, where users can post reviews of local places and highlight their favourite restaurants. The Reviews tab can be hidden using the Google+ settings.

Finally, the “About” tab has been updated, so each section is clearly separated. People, Story, Work, Education, Basic Information, Places, Contact Information, Apps and Links are all in distinct boxes. Users can easily edit each box thanks to an “edit” link at the bottom.

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According to the announcement post on Google+, the updates will be “rolling out gradually”.

Do you like the redesigned Google+ profile page?

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Google Improves Accessibility In Google+ Hangouts


Last week, Google improved accessibility in Google+ Hangouts, adding a Sign Language Interpreter app and Improving keyboard shortcuts.

Hangouts already has a number of features to improve accessibility to the deaf, the hard of hearing, the blind and the partially sighted, two of which were mentioned in the announcement post on the Google+ page of Anna Cavender, a member of the Hangouts team:
The Hangout Captions app, for example, enables live transcription services for the deaf and hard of hearing (http://goo.gl/4RujF). And "Take the Floor" makes it easier for sign language speakers to do a Hangout together (http://goo.gl/chyKS).
The Sign Language Interpreter app lets the deaf or hard of hearing invite interpreters to speak or sign for them during Hangouts. The interpreter appears in the top right hand corner of the hangout window, or becomes the focus whenever they translate sign. The app can be installed from this link: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_?gid=532733437531.

There are also a number of new keyboard shortcuts for Hangout users who don’t want to use their mouse:
For example: muting your microphone is now as simple as Ctrl+D (PC) or Command+D (Mac), and you can start chatting with Ctrl+B (PC) or Command+B (Mac). To view the full list of keyboard shortcuts just type '?' while in a Hangout, or visit this page: support.google.com/plus/bin/answer.py?answer=2752487.
Both the features will be rolling out worldwide gradually.

Are you excited to try out Google+ Hangouts new features?

Monday 4 March 2013

Facebook Extending Exchange For Advertisers



Facebook is increasing the reach of its Facebook Exchange service for advertisers on the site, with plans to move into Asia and America.

Facebook Exchange, a five month-old service with 1,300 current customers, tracks users with cookies offsite and sells the information in real-time to Facebook Marketers.
The idea, which head of ad products Gokul Rajaram first proposed to CCO Sheryl Sandberg in April 2012, was designed to appease advertisers who wanted Facebook to be part of the display-advertisement market.

The extended service is expected to generate $460 million in sales revenue this year, analyst Brian Weiser told Bloomberg, closing the gap with search giants Google Inc. who lead the way in online advertising.

Google currently claims around 50% of the $15 billion U.S. display-advertising market, but with the expansion of Exchange, Facebook is expected to earn a large chunk of the projected $7.06 billion in revenue from real-time bidding in 2016, according to eMarketer.

Rajaram has described Facebook Exchange as “a break from past thinking […] It really changes the kinds of ads that people see on Facebook, because it’s not just based on your likes, your interests.”

There are concerns that Facebook Exchange invades the user’s privacy, but the service has been specifically designed to keep all information anonymous.

Do you think that Facebook could compete with Google in advertising revenue?