by Stephanie Fasulo | Apr 26, 2013 | Latest, Social Media
The sharing of “the visual” over the internet is now widespread. When developing an internet campaign on Facebook or Twitter, there is one thing that media savvy writers take for granted and it is usually the visual effects. Twitter has proven you can lock interest and develop followers on good, solid content. But is that all it really takes? The internet landscape with the introduction of social media has evolved throughout the years and increasingly the importance of clear, crisp visuals paired with engaging content is vital. Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest and Flikr are all platforms purely based on sharing videos and photos personally and business wide.
Nike’s business platform has a strong visual internet platform on Instagram.
Although Instagram was developed and still primarily used as an app on a mobile device, after Facebook purchased Instagram last year, they have integrated a more web-friendly site. Here you can see the heading of Nike’s Social Media Site with over 570 pictures being shared worldwide.
A photo from Nike’s Instagram account featuring its line of baseball equipment and apparel. Comments and Likes show that Nike’s decision to focus on artistic advertising – like images works very well and is widely becoming the new normal. With over 1 million followers already, Nike has developed an Instagram space that solely shares its product, defines its target audience and successfully incorporates artistic photography, its current fashion appeal and its promise to be the best fitness apparel out there. So why does this matter? It matters because while you’re writing, someone else is writing and sharing a picture. It’s all about being up to date and keeping engaged with what people want to see, learn about and connect with. Visuals on a social media campaign can increase followers, likes, quality, authenticity, and generally attract more people and interest to your online brand. So start building those high-quality visuals and pair it up with your message. On many social platforms it is a must and sometimes you won’t have a choice.
by Jenna Elberson | Mar 26, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Social Media
You have a great Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest page. Your timeline photo, background image and profile pictures are eye catching. Your brand is engaging your fans/followers with compelling content, because as we know content is king. You have all the elements you need for great social media presence, do you have social media metrics to track and measure the growth and success on the social media landscape?
There’s more to social media metrics…
If your brand has a business page on Facebook tracking changes to your social media is easy, but that’s not always the metrics you need to go by. Even on sites like Google+, Twitter and Pinterest it can a little more complicated, but it’s do-able. Keep in mind that not every client or business is the same so measuring metrics and your ROI will vary.
Here are just a few ways you can measure the success of your social media and enhance it. First start with…
1. Track it!
Search the web and you will find a few social media templates that have likes, comments, RTs. You can easily make your own, ask your client or yourself what it is you’re trying to track. What is your objective with your social media campaign; retweets vs new followers? Once you have the items you want to track you’re good to go. Keep track of the weekly activity and at the end of the week visit the chart and see what works and what doesn’t.
2. Sales
You should keep a close eye on your sales when promoting on Social Media. Most companies see big gain in sales by doing a push on social media. Track which type of promo does best for your sales. Whether you offer a % discount vs. a BOGO etc AND also keep a watchful eye on which social platform you generate the most sales from. Pinterest always increases sale more when you promote and item like clothing or a gadget where as a % discount on a product will better suit you on Facebook and Twitter.
3. Engagement
Which stories or posts garnered the most comments? When your users engage with your brand or the content you aren’t necessarily gaining a fan you’re gaining interest from that person. Track their social media journey. Does a picture do better than a story or a video vs. a question. The social media chart should track this and by revisiting it find out what works and doesn’t with your brand and watch for an increase in engagement with your fans/followers. Another key ingredient here is how YOU engage with your followers. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to response, but that you respond! People want their voice to be heard, whether it’s in a positive way or negative make sure you are engaging with your fans and interacting with them.
All brands will have a different social media strategy when it comes to tracking their metrics and ROI. As long as you keep a close eye on what’s working and what’s not and act on it, you will see a positive change towards your social media campaign. Not all things work the first time, be patience you’re working towards a positive ROI outcome and at first you don’t succeed try, try again.
by Jenna Elberson | Mar 1, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Social Media
How many blogs have you read about how to create a successful social media campaign or what elements should go into a social media soup? There are hundreds of tips on how to create a successful social media strategy. But how do you do that and not risk of loosing focus for your brand.
Let’s face facts first: social media is here to stay. When you open up the gates to the wonderful world of social media, there are key ingredients that should be imbedded into your brain… forever. Like the golden rules of life, there are golden rules to social media. HOWEVER, these golden rules are always changing. The realm of social media is fluid and changing almost everyday. New and invigorating ideas comes out of the shadows to change social media. THAT is something to love about being a part of social media and marketing – if you can stay flexible!
Also, when someone tells you “I’m a social media expert”, don’t believe them. Why? As has been stated, social media is always changing. With change comes new knowledge and an expert is someone who knows and understands everything about that subject matter.
When you come to that point where you are ready to plan your social media calendar there are a few things that are small, but make a world of difference for your brand and followers. Take the time to evaluate your plan after you’ve read these 3 tips.
1. Understand what you know.
It’s simple. The best way to do this is to create a writer’s web (see image below). We use these to help build characters, story lines and just basic writing ideas. When you have a good grasp of your brand content, ideas will be coming out of your brain like a rocket.
Start in the middle. What is your brand, what do you do or provide? Next spread out to things your audience know about your brand and why they follow you. Continue to grow the web to content your audience would like to have that you might need a 3rd party come in to help with. This will give you some support and help you produce content.
2. Focus
There are many social media outlets out there and from my experience, focus is very important. You need to understand and see benefits only to those outlets you have researched that fit with your brand. By putting all you eggs in one basket you’re losing focus and often enough will get overwhelm. Let’s say you are a clothing retailer; Pinterest is a great place to tap into. Companies who post their products on Pinterest saw big growth on their online sales on top of their already prosperous sales. If you’re like us we blog; posting our blogs on twitter and following relevant companies and influential people is key to gaining growth. By knowing what social site you will benefit from will help pull focus and engagement to your fans.
3. Timing
Time is money. Do you know when the best time to post content is? Did you know that 4:00pm during the week is the best time to post on Twitter for RTs? It may be a small thing to keep in mind, but it can make a big different. To get you to wrap your head around this idea here is a great infographic to give you some timing ideas.
Monitor the engagement you get when posting, not all these times will work best for your brand. Depending on your audience you should tweak your post times accordingly.
Overall, understand what your goals are and why you’re using social media for your brand. Integrate these 3 tips and they will help you generate content and get the engagement you are [hopefully] looking for and open up new networks for your business.
Have any more tips for me? Let me know in the comments below!
by Miriam Hara | Feb 25, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Latest
There’s been a lot of changes in the last 25 years, not only in the agency business but in business in general. I will be predictable and say it has all come about because of the computer. That would be right to a certain extent. However, I believe it’s the way in which business and people have embraced the computer and its technology that is responsible for the majority of the business shifts.
Here’s my list of what has changed at 3H over the last 25 years:
The space a designer needs: It really seems like yesterday I was trying to fit one more large drafting table in the studio… let alone purchasing one more Art Director Marker set and art pads and sketch pads to bring in a new designer. Gone are those days!
Our inspiration tools: Gone are the days of flipping through Creative Source or Illustration Guild books to get inspired for the next big idea. At 3H, we use to have a library of creative and resource books… now we have half a shelf…and that’s going too! Image banks are the tools of inspirations nowadays and there’s nothing wrong with that… until those images become the concept!
How concepts are presented: With the advent of the computer and printers, now mock ups seem complete and already done. Clients have a difficult time in processing that what is in front of them is “conceptual”… not complete. That even if we could purchase the image on our mock ups, artwork has to be created, images have to be prepped, copy has to be finalized… etc… At times, I lament over marker renderings where it was obvious the person in an ad was a place holder for an image of a person that was yet to be casted, chosen and photographed!
Time to develop: If the speed of business is fast and faster… the agency business is at warp speed! There’s a belief by business in general that since everything is computer driven, it should take less time. That is very rarely the case, if ever. Computers in the creative world have provided creative types and agencies with the ability to expand on the possibilities and to show them in more concise ways. It still takes the time it takes to come up with an idea and to develop it!
The definition of a designer: What really is a designer? In my way of thinking, designers need to be conceptual thinkers in the visual medium. This is just my opinion… but find, many designers today know technology and yet have no conceptual vibe. They rely on image to create a concept rather than using the image as a resource too. More and more the designers out of school today think inside the screen and not inside their minds! Again… my opinion.
Relationship building: Time is at a premium. With the speed of business coupled with, restructuring, right-sizing, down-sizing or whatever hip term is currently out there… clients don’t have the time nor the inclination to go for lunch. But for those of us who do have a relationship with our business partners (yes, I mean clients!), the relationship is stronger… texting, emailing and yes even face timing. It has allowed us to reach out in snippets…by the sentence, being integrated in the day to day fabric.
Cold calling: Cold zinging you mean! Getting someone on the phone to talk to you when they don’t even know you is more difficult. How we get leads… and follow up on them is totally different. On line lead generation, web site lead generation and e-zines are now the “in” thing to do in cold calling. That means efforts can be more streamlined both in time and money. A warm lead is much better than a cold one…so rather than spend your efforts and money on cold and warm alike, you can double your efforts on the ones that have expressed an interest…or following.
Brand reaching capabilities: The ways in reach we reach our target markets… and how niche we can go is astounding and becoming more so each and everyday. Through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, tumblr, Youtube, Linkedin), online properties, blogs, blogging, traditional media the options available to local, small, big and global advertisers are numerous and very exciting! Some of these channels don’t require design, but all require time and know how…that hasn’t changed a bit!
3H launched in 1988 with its corporate logo in Purple and Mustard. We had become synonymous with Purple because of our Mustard accents… and then we changed our accent to Titanium to speak to the digital and technology…to change our clients’ perception of what it is we do… but still remaining in the Purple so to speak. I am not sure what the next 5 to 10 years will hold, but I have often been heard saying “Complacency in business means death”… and I believe it.
Over the last 25 years, the ability to change has changed. Businesses are constantly looking for the new opportunity and are more than ever, open to the next best thing… even though embracing it still takes a little time.
by Matina Singh | Feb 1, 2013 | Branding, Interactive, Latest, Social Media
It wasn’t so long ago that when you ran a contest the only way people could enter the contest was to take the time to fill out an entry form and then whether mail it in or drop it off in a ballot box. The Internet has made things easier, but still, the consumer has to find their way to your website. Social Media properties such as Facebook has added a layer of ease to the process: Consumers are already on Facebook engaging and talking to their communities. More importantly, consumers have join in and subscribed to contest and promotional sites such as Red Flag Deals or Contest Forums. If the promotion looks interesting enough, clicking on a link that takes the consumer to a contest landing page and asks them to fill out an online form, isn’t that big a deal.
It doesn’t make any difference what type of business you have; running a contest on Facebook is a powerful and effective approach in building awareness, and engagement as well as generating more followers. As appealing as it may seem, Facebook contests can only be effective if it is properly promoted.
Here are 5 simple ways to get the best out of your Facebook contest:
1. Timeline photo
Your timeline photo can be used to tell people about your contest. Not only is this a ‘premium’ advertising space for your contest, there will also be an update to your fans about the changes of your timeline photo. A well-designed timeline cover is a good alternative to promote your contest.
2. Promoted post
In general, only 16% of your Facebook fans see your wall posts. Facebook enrolled the Promoted Post option, where a specific post can be promoted to reach a higher audience. If you recall that caused quite a stir in the business and corporate communities. However, it is here and the fact is that it can cost as little as $5 to reach your community target to get them engaged.
3. Advocate engagement
Have you noticed a particularly engaging fan that frequently shows support for your brand? Engaging with these fans to participate and promote your contest is an effective way to instantly build buzz. It is a form of word-of-mouth marketing that we all know can be influential.
4. Cross promote
Broadcast your contest on Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Linkedin and any other Social Media. Your audience is everywhere, so if you do not promote everywhere else, then your contest is probably not reaching its maximum potential.
5. Choose the prize that fits
Instead of offering some big-ticket prize that doesn’t relate to our business, how about giving away one of your own products? If your business is sevice-based rather than product-based, offer the winner a free month of service. The goal of a contest is to find more people who are interested in your business, not just a prize.
That said, here is a very good examples of a Facebook contest…and how you can leverage the impact and reach of Facebook.
Being Human: The Salman Khan Foundation is a registered charitable trust set up by Salman Khan (famous actor in India) for helping the cause of the underprivileged in two main areas: education and healthcare.
The timeline photo changed before the launch of the contest:
The Teaser Campaign Approach: Get your audience curious by adding some pre-promotion. Here we can clearly see the brand is trying to get engagement from their fans by asking and not telling their consumers what the was coming. They have to wait 4 days to find out….
Build and Leverage the Momentum.
In this case, each day a new count down image was posted. The Foundation got their consumers intrigued and made them come back to see the comment, what was new and that all leads to greater engagement.
The Grand Finalé… The Day of the Draw….
Finally here! A total of 31,416 likes, 1,124 shares and 6,170 comments were received! Fans were encouraged to create an outfit for the celebrity and from those comments a 3 random people would win.
Everyday another Timeline photo was posted promoting the new clothing line of Being Human.
Closing the loop… showcasing the winners:
A perfect end to show that this was not only a promotion stunt but the winners actually got to meet the celebrity.
Do you have a favourite contest that ran or is being run right now? Share with us any other great contests that you have seen on Facebook here. We’d love to know!
