• The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Of "Social Service"
    As a customer service channel, transparency is the best and worse part about social media channels. The good, the bad, and the ugly is there for all to see -- at least until a brand blocks some egregious consumer behavior -- on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. So said panelists at MediaPost's Social Media Insider Summit, on Friday. When the comments and questions are good, Facebook works in a brand's favor, because that feed typically moves much slower than its Twitter feed. On Twitter, meanwhile, Ashley McGregor Dey, Social Media Manager at Indiegogo, said it was hard to see success …
  • Fail (!) To Win With New Social Platforms
    Failures equal success for a marketing industry trying to figure out popular new social platforms like Snapchat and Vine That's according to Dave Rolfe, Director of Integrated Production at BBDO. "If we rotate failure, that's the liberating [model]," he told attendees of MediaPost's Social Media Insider Summit, on Friday. That's not to say Rolfe isn't "mortified" by Snapchat and similarly untested networks. "If you use Snapchat, you're going to fail." In return, however, brands can improve their approaches, and, just maybe, discover their voices and what they want to say. Better yet, marketers that can adapt to an increasingly complicated …
  • Are Messaging Apps Just Good For Brand PR?
    With word this week that hot messaging app Snapchat will soon begin offering paid ad opportunities along with news content, a Friday panel at the Social Media Insider Summit addressed some of the benefits and challenges of newer platforms like Snapchat, Vine and Whatsapp. As one might expect, part of the appeal of jumping on one of these vehicles is as much about generating publicity as gaining new customers or brand awareness.  “These channels are almost interesting, if you get out front, and you’re smart about it, as a PR play,” said Jason Mitchell, co-founder of Movement Strategy. When there …
  • Are Messaging Apps Just Good For Brand PR?
    With word this week that hot messaging app Snapchat will soon begin offering paid ad opportunities along with news content, a Friday panel at the Social Media Insider Summit addressed some of the benefits and challenges of newer platforms like Snapchat, Vine and Whatsapp. As one might expect, part of the appeal of jumping on one of these vehicles is as much about generating publicity as gaining new customers or brand awareness.  “These channels are almost interesting, if you get out front, and you’re smart about it, as a PR play,” said Jason Mitchell, co-founder of Movement Strategy. When there …
  • Instagram & Pinterest -- Opposite Ends Of Purchase Funnel
    Instagram and Pinterest are both highly visual and open platforms. Compared to Facebook and Twitter -- where users are prone to preaching and complaining -- Instagram and Pinterest are also "very, very happy networks," according to Sharad Verma, co-founder and CEO of social analytics startup Piqora. From a marketing standpoint, however, the similarities end there, said panelists at MediaPost's Social Media Insider Summit, on Friday. Audiences on Pinterest skew older and far more female, noted Aliza Freud, founder and CEO of female-focused content network SheSpeaks. Pinterest is also much more like a product and design "wish list" for users. Put …
  • Engagement Is Great, But Social Is Really About Sales
    Engagement is great, but that shouldn't be the ultimate point of social marketing, according to Joe Klicsu, Senior Manager of Digital Brand Communications at Energizer. Rather, it's about sales, baby. Social is "the most efficient driver of sales," Klicsu told attendees of MediaPost's Social Media Insider Summit, on Friday. Much more efficient than TV, anyway. "If you have to spend $5 to $10 million for TV to work, is that efficient?" Klicsu asked. To actually connect social media activity to sales, Energizer defers to the data collection pros at Datalogic.
  • Millennials Rallying Against Facebook, And Other Privacy Bullies
    Sorry, but data- and insights-driven advertising (i.e., the only kind worth a dime) is a dead end for the entire media and tech industry. That's because privacy is emerging as a defining cause for an entire generation of millennials -- you know, those 18-to-34-year-olds who, in aggregate, will soon spend more than their parents, and shortly make up 70% of the workforce. That's according to Megan Meagher, Strategy Director at Red Peak Youth, a design and brand-consulting firm. According to Red Peak's findings, millennials are more afraid of marketers than the government, or any other prying, privacy-eroding, data-hungry body. Yes, …
  • Is Paid Media Killing Social?
    Is paid media killing social marketing? Panelists at MediaPost's Social Media Insider Summit don't think so, but paid, they all believe, is necessary to guarantee scaled reach. Take the case of HowFarAmIfromSharksRightNow.com-- a recent campaign for Travelocity, and concocted by McKinney, which wanted to ride the fins of "Shark Week" by telling people anywhere around the world exactly how far they were from sharks. (From the mountains of Tahoe, Raw Blog is currently 290 miles away from some big fish swimming in Capitola, CA.) Anyway. Clever as the tie-in was, however, McKinney didn't leave its success to chance. Rather, they …
  • Planned Earned Media? Really.
    What's your planned earned media strategy? Right. That's the slightly confusing question from Jeff Melton, Chief Analytics and Media Officer at MRY, for attendees of MediaPost's Social Media Insider Summit. At the risk of undermining the paid/earned/owned model we all know and "love," Melton says planned earned is simply about creating "sustainable earned media," rather than taking the popular "fingers-crossed" approach. What it definitely isn't is PR. Earned means people voluntarily syndicating your ad or content by liking, posting, re-posteing, or taking some other sharing action on social media. When it comes to planning for people to take such actions, …
  • Where The Wild Things Are
    Just so everyone knows where the after party is, post Social Media Insider Summit....
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