Below are the key takeaways from the social media articles we found to be the most relevant this week:

Facebook Will Launch Content-Specific News Feeds, Bigger Photos And Ads On Thursday
Key Takeaways:

• Facebook is announcing on Thursday new ways to filter the news feed, including specific feeds for photos and music.
• Dedicated photo feed will offer greater integration of Instagram images.
• To help create a “richer” News feed, Facebook will begin displaying images and link posts in a larger format.

19 Sure-Fire Ways to Amplify Your Social Reach
Key Takeaways:

• Tailor your content not only for social media, but also each specific platform such as Facebook and Twitter.
• Include social sharing and follow buttons links on all marketing collateral, ensuring that these buttons are visible on mobile devices.
• Create high quality content and maintain a daily posting frequency to engage your audience.

Facebook explains how 20% text overlay policy for ads is enforced
Key Takeaways:

• Facebook’s rule is to allow no more than 20 percent text on ad images.
• Text on actual products doesn’t count toward the 20 percent text rule.
• Facebook is developing an external version of its grid-based tool to help designers detect whether images comply with the rule or not.

What do you think? Are there any other great stories we missed? Let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or the comments below!

Below are the social media articles that we found to be the most relevant for this week. Read the articles below with our key takeaways:

Secrets of a Lucrative Social Media Campaign
Key Takeaways:

• Main challenge for the campaign was to make a medical insurance company relate to younger people in a highly competitive industry.
• Results from their social media campaign lead to a 96% growth in revenue.
• The company found people have an expectation of how they want to interact with a brand. Instead of a hard sell, relate to your customers and their interests.

How My Site Gets Tons of Traffic From Pinterest
Key Takeaways:

• Don’t use just “good” or “great” images, but the best images available.
• Put the article title on BOTH the description and the image.
• Organize your brand’s pinboards. As customer’s may not want to follow each board, so be sure to curate boards with well defined categories.

Instagram and Top Brands: Engagement Up as Audiences Grow
Key Takeaways:

• 59% of Interbrand Top 100 brands use Instagram, up 5% from November 2012.
• 41% of these brands post at least one image per week, an increase in activity on the platform.
• Facebook is still critical to the growth and engagement of a brand’s Instagram account. 98% of the images created by the top brands were also shared on Facebook.

What do you think? Are there any other great stories we missed? Let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or the comments below!

Here are our picks for the top social media stories for this week. These articles are timely, relevant and informative. We have also included our key takeaways for each article:

Losing Likes on Your Page? Don’t Worry, It’s Just Facebook Cleaning House
Key Takeaways:

• Facebook is purging “fake likes” from pages, leading to a temporary decrease in fans for some pages.
• The accounts being deleted include accounts derived from malware, duplicate accounts and compromised accounts.
• Facebook is improving their security systems to prevent further fake accounts and increase greater site integrity.

An App That Shows Why Videos Go Viral
Key Takeaways:

• TubeRank combines meta deta with YouTube video content and shows why viral content was shared, who shared it and how many times.
• Tool does not provide viral ideas, but is focused on being an “inspiration filter.”
• Tools aim to create a framework for creating future viral videos.

Free Vine Reporting Tool
Key Takeaways:

• Free report from Simply Measured which includes comprehensive Twitter data for accounts up to 100,000 followers.
• Analyzes how Vine content compares to Instagram, YouTube and other visual media on Twitter.
• Reports on how Vine is engaging your followers and which videos are being shared the most.

What do you think? Any articles we missed? Let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or the comments below!

Bonfire Marketing is expanding and needs an enthusiastic professional with a passion for digital marketing and a continual thirst for learning. The ideal candidate is an enthusiastic integrated marketing expert, saavy Community Manager, and skilled copywriter with a strong understanding of social media application in business. SEO, Adwords and email marketing integration a huge plus.

Position Details
Hours per week: Full time
Compensation: Determined by Qualifications
Title: Community Manager
Location: Bonfire Offices at 222 NW Davis

Primary duties include:

• Account management and client services for reputable brands
• Project management of all duties and tasks
• Responsible for success of individual promotions and reaching targeted campaign goals
• Developing and launching multi-faceted digital promotions
• Development and management of strategies for social, website, online reputation management, video, and digital advertising
• Customizing and working with WordPress blogs
• Written and verbal communication with clients
• Data analysis and reporting
• Developing and managing Facebook Pages
• Developing and managing Twitter profiles
• Managing Facebook Ad campaigns
• Creating interactive content – photo albums, slideshows, etc.

We’re looking for someone with the following skills:

• B2B and B2C marketing experience
• SEO and SEM experience
• Local business listing experience
• Experience developing and managing digital advertising
• Ability to conceive and work to implement detailed marketing campaigns and strategies
• Customer service and/or client management experience
• Strong verbal communication skills
• Strong writing  and copy editing skills
• Meticulous, pro-active project management skills
• Organized, thorough, detail oriented, and deadline focused
• Data analysis skills and ability to develop actionable insights from various data sets
• Experience with social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and YouTube etc.
• Experience engaging with social communities
• Tactical knowledge of social media timing and measurement
• Image formatting skills and knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite
• (Must like dogs)

Please send the following to contact@bonfiresmm.com

• Cover letter explaining why you want to work for Bonfire
• Resume that clearly illustrates your ability to execute this position
• Writing samples that demonstrate your ability to develop compelling content
• Links to your personal blog, content portfolio or anything else that would illustrate your abilities

Bonfire Marketing is a digital marketing agency with a focus on emerging mediums. Our client base includes both B2B and B2C Fortune 500 companies as well as Small/Medium sized national businesses. We are a team of curious marketers with a primary focus on relevant results for our clients.

Bonfire Marketing is looking for a seasoned agency professional for our Account Director position. The idea candidate will posses the following character and skills:

• Bachelor’s degree (BS/BA)

• Minimum of 5 years of direct leadership or managerial experience.

• Minimum of 10 years working in a client service environment preferred.

• Working knowledge of Human Resource functions: payroll, benefits, HR.

• Proven ability to develop and execute business processes and procedures.

• Proven leadership skills, team-orientation, and a proactive and optimistic management style.

• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally to solve complex problems and improve quality and service.

• High level of business acumen.

• Ability to succeed in a fast-paced, demanding environment and manage sensitive, confidential issues.

• Strategic mindset but ability and willingness to be hands-on.

• Excellent verbal/written communication skills, including presentation skills.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc.) required.

• Strong understanding of digital marketing and measurement

Responsibilities:

• Manage a team of 6 Account and Community Managers to perform at a high level.

• Communicate with clients and delegate needed deliverables for fulfillment

• Manage advertising budgets

• Quality control all deliverables

• Ensure that all established cost, quality and delivery commitments are met.

• Ensure effective and efficient delivery of service to clients and improvement of overall client satisfaction and retention.

• Develop budgets and cost controls.

• Establish relationships and negotiate pricing with various vendors.

• Participate in formulating and administering company policies and developing long range goals and objectives.

• Create a culture of continuous improvement.

• Coach our organization in setting service and quality control standards and managing metrics while holding direct reports and frontline employees accountable.

• Provide weekly and monthly briefings to the President on the status of operations, key performance metrics, the operations team and high exposure issues.

• Effectively address escalated client issues or complaints.

• Review programs and services to enhance client satisfaction, efficiency, and profitability.

If interested in joining the Bonfire Marketing Team please send your resume to contact@bonfiresmm.com

Below are the top social media stories for this week that we believe are both timely, relevant and informative. We have also included our key takeaways for each article:

How 15 Real Businesses Are Getting Creative With Vine for Marketing
Key Takeaways:

• ASOS used Vine to show how gratifying opening a package can be.
• Animate & Create showcased their design talents, incorporating an “old-school” flip book into the new-school technology of Vine.
• Dove’s Vine video utilized a creative bowling concept to showcase their soap.

INFOGRAPHIC: How Social Are The Six Most-Nominated Artists At The Grammy Awards?
Key Takeaways:

• Mumford & Sons wins AllFacebook’s “Marketer of the Year” award for cross-channel social promotion and sophisticated email use.
• Frank Ocean was the most active Tweeter in the study, outpacing other artists such as fun., the Black Keys and Kanye West.
• Despite its lower profile in the social media landscape, MySpace is still active in the music industry with nominees averaging 90,000 music plays per month.

Google Warns SEO & Businesses to Avoid Fake Reviews
Key Takeaways:

• Fake reviews posted by a business or third-party vendor will be taken down. Google also does not allow for posting reviews on the behalf of customers, such as digitizing reviews received offline or print reviews.
• Google advises businesses to not incentivize customers reviews by offering free or discounted products.
• Like Yelp and other review sites, Google will not take down negative reviews, but encourages businesses to respond and address concerns by the reviewer.

What do you think? Any articles we missed? Let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or the comments below!

Bonfire’s 2013 New Year Resolutions

2013 is here. Every New Year is a new opportunity to start afresh and make resolutions, both personally and professionally.

The holiday season at Bonfire Marketing is a chance to look back at the past year’s events and set new goals.  By supporting our teammates, we have a better chance at achieving and keeping our resolutions.

Below are just a few resolutions that the eight members of Bonfire Marketing have decided to take on for the New Year. Our resolutions range from impractical and silly to serious and insightful.

At Bonfire, we will be busy working hard on our personal and professional goals. What about you, what resolutions are YOU making?

Ryan:

• Fist fight a bear.
• Beat Garrett at ping-pong.
• Master the kazoo.
• Have more family time.

Danielle:

• Spend one day a week away from all screens.
• Spend 5-10 minutes per day in quiet meditation.
• Read one industry-related book a month.
• Volunteer more often for causes I believe in.

Matt:

• Pray that Twitter will allow me to merge multiple twitter handles into one account.
• Organize the apps on my phone and iPad.
• No tech in bed after midnight.
• Learn more shortcut functions.

Garrett:

• Stop looking at my phone instantly after walking away from my computer screen.
• Improve to 100-0 in ping-pong (bam).
• Get the universe to migrate to new MySpace.

David:

• Designate Saturday or Sunday as cellphone free.
• Read one book a week.
• Write more letters.

Sandra:

• Eat breakfast!
• Learn a new recipe every month.
• Go to sleep before midnight on weekdays.
• Blog more!

William:

• Post Instagram photos that are not only of my record collection.
• Eat less Indian food for lunch.
• Bike or walk to work once per week.

Christine:

• Navigate my way through Portland without using my Smartphone.
• Instead of saying “I should”, say “I will.”
• Make a conscious effort to be in the moment.
• Sweat once a day.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year! We wish you great success in achieving your goals in 2013!

So,

We are down to a few weeks left in the college football season and there are 3 undefeated teams remaining. Regardless of who you are rooting for, Bonfire wanted to see who was winning the “Buzz” rankings. So we took our highly sophisticated software that analyzes buzz and cranked out some numbers. All analysis is taken from 11/10 – 11/14 2012.

What you will see is Notre Dame is hands down the most talked about remaining football team that is undefeated. Oregon came in a close second and Kansas State was a by far the third most popular team from our analysis.

What does all of this mean? To us it means that broadcasters are praying Notre Dame wins out and Kansas State loses, because the audience would be huge. Our Analysis also points to California being a focal point of content generation. It’s actually very surprising how concentrated California is in terms content creation in the public forum. Yes the population is enormous and technically savvy, but the results are kind of crazy. The analysis creates an assumption that more people are active on Twitter in California than anywhere else on the Planet. Our analytic tools have access to the firehose API for Twitter, which means every tweet is indexed, not just a small sample. The firehose might be skewing our sample a little bit. Either way, we were expecting Oregon and Kansas would be the most active areas for their teams.

Notre Dame

Oregon

Kansas State

Maybe all the fans and graduates of Oregon and Kansas State moved to California. Who could blame them. It’s beautiful. Another item to consider is the difference of mediums and mentions of the teams. Forums and Twitter are younger skewing mediums and this is where Oregon is more mentioned than Kansas State. Maybe it’s the fancy uniforms and fast offense.

In blogs and news, K-State and Notre Dame are highly active, which leads to the assumption of a older and more established demographic like ESPN or Deadspin.

Whoever you are rooting for, we hope you enjoyed this little exercise in stats. Enjoy every minute of the rest of football season.

When we moved into our new offices in June it was a giant leap forward in how we operated as a company. One thing was missing that almost every marketing firm has: Ping Pong. Ping Pong has revived the competitive spirit of the office. There is one hitch. No one can beat Garrett. It’s not even close. So this post is dedicated to you Garrett. We are in awe of your Ping Pong Greatness. If anyone that reads this thinks they have what it takes to beat our champion, I invite you to our office between 1-3pm or anytime Wednesday.

Before a win Garrett is all business

After he smiles and gracefully thanks you for a “Sporting Game”

The Scoreboard:

We come across endless gadgets, tools, and apps among various social media outlets each day, and every once in a while, something stands out. Here’s the inside scoop of what our team’s been loving this month. What have you been buzzing about lately?

I’m not a checklist person, but I’m trying to become one, and Clear is the best app I’ve found for keeping things simple. The controls are intuitive and the color coding makes it easy to prioritize. – Matt

I’ve been a fan of Hashtags.org lately. Gives you associated hashtags that might be more effective for your tweets. –Ryan

What better way to bond with your pet than over a rousing game of You vs. Cat? These fun interactive tablet games by Friskies are connecting us with our pets in ways we’ve never before. I’m always on the hunt for cute and creative apps, and these games certainly satisfy both categories. They’re beneficial in sharpening your cat’s reflexes, too! I’m looking forward to what else the ‘pet gaming’ sector will bring, and I’m sure our fluffy friends are as well. –Sandra