Online consumers are fickle. The minute you think you’ve won them over, they’ve vanished and moved on to the next sparkly distraction one website over. And that brings us to this week’s theme of keeping it fresh. To stay relevant and interesting in the crowded online world, you must be constantly thinking one step ahead. As you’ll read below, traditional TV ads don’t cut it anymore when it comes to engaging your community, Facebook fatigue is setting in, and Instagram is moving to the web. If you take one thing away from this week’s social media news, let it be this: What are you doing to stand out and be unique? The time is now to plan your next step.
Integrated Social/Traditional Marketing
Forbes: Marketing Meets Mobile During The Super Bowl – But Did It Work?
We never create a social strategy without repeatedly encouraging the use of Calls To Action (CTA) – which is exactly what Oreo did when they encouraged viewers to follow their Instagram account during their Super Bowl TV ad last weekend. The result? The brand started the night with a respectable 2,000 followers and 5 hours later, had over 34,000 followers. Pretty impressive! Not to mention, the residual relationships Oreo created from their integrated digital and traditional marketing strategy, which are arguably more valuable than an over-the-top 30 second TV ad that spikes immediate interest, then is easily forgotten the next day.
CNN Survey: Most Americans take breaks from Facebook
If you’re starting to get sick of Facebook, you’re not the only one. A new study found that 27 percent of Facebook users surveyed in the U.S. plan to spend less time on the site in 2013, compared with only three percent who plan to spend more time. Why the sudden fatigue? Lack of time, uninteresting content and security concerns were all mentioned. Could this mean Facebook is getting stale? We say that’s more reason than ever to refresh your social strategy for the site, identify other communities to engage with, and continually measure the effectiveness of your online messaging to ensure you’re cutting through the noise.
Content
DigiDay: Inside Patagonia’s Content Machine
We can all learn from Patagonia who doesn’t believe in the conflicting theory that a brand’s content either needs to be engaging or sell its products. In fact, they’ve found the sweet spot where their customers are naturally having engaging conversations about their products without being force-fed marketing messages. Perhaps a new goal for your team could be to emulate the same type of online community for your brand?
Digital Trends: Instagram is Officially Mobile-Only No More As It Introduces Feed for Web
After cutting loose from Twitter, Instagram has now officially launched its web product – meaning you can actually peruse photos on the web by logging in to Instagram.com. This new step allows more ease in browsing images, but as representatives state, the goal of the platform has not changed: “We do not offer the ability to upload from the Web as Instagram is about producing photos on the go, in the real world, in realtime.” With that mission in mind, are you leveraging Instagram in the way it’s truly meant to be used?
Infographic: Small Business Guide to Mobile Marketing
Turning a blind eye to mobile marketing may be tempting (it’s confusing enough to understand all of the social media platforms), but 2013 will most likely force you to take another long look. This infographic on small business mobile marketing will help give you an understanding of why you need to have a mobile strategy (even if you think it’s unnecessary) and what’s the best starting point for getting there.
