Social media. It’s no longer an optional addition to your marketing strategy that you can delegate to a freshly minted intern. It’s an integral part of your marketing efforts and worth substantial budgets, strategic-thinking, and talented management.
The below articles in this week’s curated social media reads underscore the importance of having an integrated and strategic online approach for your brand. What have you done lately with your social media strategy to catapult your message and product?
Social Strategy
AdWeek: In Monopoly’s Battle of the Brands, Carnival Crushes Coke, Nestlé and More
To promote its new brand-centric Monopoly game, Hasbro launched a contest to see which big brand (think Coca-Cola, Chevy, and JetBlue among many other heavy brand hitters) could get to 5,000 Facebook Likes first. The winner ended up being a brand with a lot less fans than its competitors (Carnival Cruise Lines, if you’re keeping track). The takeaway? Fewer, more passionate and engaged fans are often times much more valuable than thousands of lukewarm supporters. Keep that in mind the next time you’re identifying your social media success metrics.
DigiDay: Denver Museum Wants You to Tweet at a Plant
When it comes to online campaigns, thinking outside of your comfort zone can yield great results. Take a cue from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science who is testing the theory that if you talk to a plant, it might cause it to grow faster. The Museum is asking people to tweet to a plant via www.talktoaplant.com, which will then cause a robot to read your message out loud to the leafy specimen. Pretty nifty.
AdAge: ANA Meeting Takeaway: Social Is Now a Core Driver of Strategy
At last week’s Association of National Advertisers conference it became clear that social media is not just a nice-to-have addition, but “the engine that powers substantial market-share-driving campaigns for grown-up brands.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Worth noting in this article are the key takeaways from the conference, including utilizing social content over advertising.
Mashable: Pinterest’s First Ads Go Live
Pinterest is no longer ad-free. Promoted Pins were unveiled to a limited set of users this week and they work similarly to Twitter’s Promoted Tweets and Facebook’s Promoted Posts. If your target audience gravitates toward Pinterest, it may be worth paying to show certain pins from your brand at the top of search results.
Infographics
Wired: 13 of the Year’s Best Infographics
If you’re a fan of infographics, this list is for you. In this compilation, pulled together by the editor of the first volume of The Best American Infographics, you’ll find 13 pieces that all have the following in common: “intellectual power, aesthetic sophistication, and emotional impact.” One critical element we fully agree with as infographic-producers ourselves? The need for the infographic to fully understand the questions it’s trying to answer and guide the readers to find the answers themselves.
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