social media portland

There is a race happening you might not be aware of. The race is for how your business controls and manages your social media. With some major players getting involved and some serious money changing hands this could prove to be a sector to watch. In this post, I’ll try to quickly summarize the most relevant platforms and what kind of businesses they are best suited for. Most only focus on Facebook, but all platforms listed have aspirations to work with other platforms.

Involver was one of the first Facebook application developers and continues to push out compelling products for companies. Bonfire has worked with Involver in past and overall they create a good product. They have jumped into the platform management ring with their “Enterprise” and “Business” solutions. They are very similar with Enterprise giving users every feature and product they make. I’ll focus on the features from Enterprise. If you want to read more about the “Business” product, click here. Below are Enterprise’s capabilities:

• 24 available “pre-made” white label Facebook applications
• Publishing on a claimed 40 media outlets. Most notable: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress
• Post scheduling on Media outlets
• Bit.ly analytic integration
• Social monitoring for keyword alerts
• Message Sentiment Measurement
• Message workflow management
• Internal analytic dashboard
• Up to 10 users

Price: Starting at $2,749 per month.

Wildfire started as a small FBfund (Facebook’s investing arm) company “way back” in January 2010. They initially created apps for pages that were simple to deploy and required no long term contracts.

As of June 2011 they have 120 team members and thousands of customers (we have used several of their products in the past). They have big aspirations to become not just an app developer for Facebook, but a fully functional social management system. In June of this year, Wildfire launched their Suite product. Here are their Suite’s capabilities:

• Drag and drop Facebook Tab creator: This feature requires no coding knowledge and can be updated frequently.
• Content Manager: The Wildfire content manager will allow for social media workflow simplicity and allow community managers to schedule and assign content posting on Facebook. This feature is very useful for companies with large teams or publish content with a high frequency.
• Promotion Builder: This allows companies to construct giveaways using a straightforward interface — drag and drop the text fields you’d like to require during the sign up, tweak the banners, then enter the official rules and you’re good to go.
• Dashboard: Facebook analytics can be difficult, but Wildfire’s dashboard can simply success metrics. Their dashboard shows analytics that are more detailed than Facebook’s standard Insights and you can even chart your progress against a competitor’s.

Price: Custom pricing. In a statement they say “low hundreds” to “low thousands”

Buddy Media is the gold standard when it comes to social media management. I mean gold as in both expensive and the best. They have every feature you could ever want in a platform and are fluent in all major languages. This is very important if you are a multinational brand that wants to segment your social media community. They currently service some of the largest companies in the world such as Starwood Hotels, Sony, Southwest Airlines, American Express and Ford. In addition to their impressive client list, they also recently received an additional $54 million in funding to grow out their infrastructure. Buddy Media can do everything Involver and Wildfire can and more. I’ll focus on the “and more” for the sake of time.

• Drag and Drop Facebook page development
• Multiple language support
• Real time analytics
• Scheduling and posting on multiple social platforms
• Large team workflow management

Price: Customized pricing. Most plans start at $5,000 per month.

I hope you have found this information helpful with any decision making in the future. If you have any you would add that I missed, please comment below.

Videos can quickly grab a customer’s attention and stay in their mind longer than a photo or even the written word. But how can you make your videos more interactive? Allow users to not only view your videos, but become immersed with them.

Annotations are a trusted, but under-utilized YouTube tool that can boost both page views and subscribers for a channel. A video’s power can be enhanced by using this simple (and free) tool.

Two examples of annotation creativity:

Interactive Promotions/Games

Annotations can be a fun way to promote products. Instead of a video showcasing a new line of toys, Hot Wheels used annotations and turned their YouTube videos into an online game. Users can choose both the type of car and add-ons to race. While it takes a lot of planning and video production, the end product is a seamless use of YouTube Annotations.

‘Choose Your Own Adventure’

Many adults remember growing up with ‘choose your own adventure’ stories. The digital versions of these use YouTube annotations to create a fun story. Fun and interactive, they can be a nice way to promote products or services in story-form.  And, unlike their hard-copy predecessor, you can’t skip ahead and change your mind!

More Practical Uses
While creativity is key to utilizing annotations, this tool can also be used to increase the number of subscribers.

• Subscribers: By using the Subscribe link type, your video can have a great call-out for viewers to subscribe to your channel, allowing for more video views and greater channel reach.
• Linking : If your channel has a lot of content, annotations can link these videos together. It not only keeps viewers on your channel longer, but also allows for a deeper understanding of your services, products or mission.
• Promoting Other Channels: Does your company have more than one YouTube channel? Annotations can help link these by promoting another channel in a relevant video. This can help to promote smaller channels from a large, central channel.

Where to begin?
Start by mapping out your annotations. Whether they are simple links to other videos, words of wisdom, or interactive elements, planning is key. Try to create a virtual path where users will be compelled to spend more time on your channel.

The actual creation of new annotations is relatively easy. Be sure to keep in mind both the placement and type of annotation.

Like anything, however, annotations can get out of hand. It is important to remember what makes videos great is the actual viewing experience. Annotations should be used to enhance and not detract from the experience. By having timely call-outs it can help increase the amount of time users both spend on your channel as well as the amount they share your content with others.

Learn More

Here are a few great resources for getting started on a YouTube annotations project:

How To: Use Annotations to Promote Your Brand on YouTube – A great step-by-step guide on YouTube annotations.

YouTube Help Guide - A simplified guide that can be used as a resource when getting started.

Television shows are a natural match for interacting and engaging with their fan base via social media. Part of this effectiveness stems from shows being serial in nature and the fact that many shows have a branded mythology behind it. While these factors can aid the conversation when the show is not airing, how do you interact with a television while it airs? Proper social media planning can make fans not only feel engaged with the show, but also appreciated.

A recent TV Guide study found that over a third more users Twitter to discuss a show while it is happening than Facebook. This begs at the question: How are shows utilizing Twitter and what can they do to make it better?

I have outlined a few examples below of how shows from different genres are using Twitter to ramp up real-time interaction with a show on-air, what they are doing right, and how (in my modest opinion), they can make it that much better.

Trueblood

True Blood does a wonderful job of creating an interactive Twitter environment. Beyond the usual show hashtags, they have created Bloodcopy.com which is the official place to follow all things related to True Blood on Twitter.  By compiling both the official profile and the character profiles, fans can interact and follow everything in an efficient, streamlined manner.

Glee

Glee is an interesting case. The show does an amazing job in general with social media. By acknowledging a Gleek of the Week each episode, they are fostering an engaged audience who feels valued and  appreciated. However, the various Twitter profiles from the main official profile to the various cast and characters seem to have a disjointed feel.

NCIS

Even though it was named one of the Top 10 most tweeted about shows by TV Guide, their official Twitter profile leaves a little to be desired. Despite having a handy branded hashtag (#NCSI), the profile does little to interact with the community, instead relying on mainly just promoting the show.

Top Chef

Finally, there is Top Chef, everyone’s favorite cooking competition show. Their Twitter profile (and the Bravo network in general) are leaders in real-time fan interaction. Both during the show and afterwards, the official Twitter profile acknowledges fans and answers their questions. A simple RT of fan feedback can go a long in making an audience member feel appreciated.

Summing It Up

How to make it better: Official profiles should not shy away from interacting with fans. By simply thanking fans or answering their questions directly, fans feel like their comments are being heard. While a fanbase may be interacting during an episode, engaging them can go even further.

Centralization: Part of the fun when interaction with TV shows is the blurring between reality and fiction. A tweet from Sue Sylvester can be a whole lot more entertaining than an official tweet. The key, however, is creating a central location where cast, characters, and fans can all tweet together (see the True Blood example above).

Fun Hash Tags: Branded hash tags are great for everyday use, but to keep fans engaged in real-time discussion, why not choose a catch-phrase from the current episode? This helps not only to increase interaction, but spur further conversation.

I think Google is really missing a chance for success. Instead of launching Google + aggressively with apps and invites, they once again built a social product with a moat. They needed to build bridges to already established networks and call Facebook out on it’s proprietary operations. Google+ could be a better functioning Facebook without tackling the problem of user migration. And if Facebook tries to cut them off from using their data through their open API, Google could sue them on grounds of unfair business practices.

But I digress.

My point is, Google’s apparent hubris to create networks when they should be integrating them could ultimately destroy even their best products. People are settling on their networks so prying them away from Facebook or Twitter will be enormously difficult. Even the employee who created the concept behind circles has even left and moved to Facebook. The move raises eyebrows that Facebook will easily combat Google’s threat by creating their own form of circles using their friend’s list function.

If Google was serious about Google+ and does not want the technology behind it to ultimately folded into a separate product (I’m looking at you Wave), then they should have launched it in an entirely different fashion. Here are 3 ways I think they could have launched with greater success.

1. Launch with apps: influencers are not using browser based apps to decide if something is cool any longer. Influencers are using apps on their iOS or Android mobile devices. Facebook does not even have an iPad app yet! In addition, Facebook lost their best app developer because of Apple’s tough policies. Talk about a huge opportunity.

2. Enough with this slow invite nonsence: This tactic might work when you are still a small cool company, but reeks of elitism for a product that only succeeds when everyone is using it. Google already has enough computing power to manage the massive load, so why not take a chance. Make it cool by having everyone there.

3. Pull in all networks: Stop having an exclusive network and start building an inclusive network. Use Twitter oAuth, Facebook Connect and every other network login API available to pull in as many people to a central network. Think FriendFeed with much more capabilities. My wife loves Gmail, but when I mentioned Google+ (side note, really tired of searching for the + button on my iPad), she said she just got used to Facebook and would probably not switch for any reason. My point is this: the groundswell event is over, Facebook and to a much lessor extent Twitter won. The future of social media is integration and simplification.

I want Google to succeed. I really do. I just want them to know that this “toe dipping” launch game is tiresome and damaging. To me, this launch seems too safe. To be “cool” they need to break some rules or at the very least hurt some Facebook feelings. The risk for Google is great. One more failed social experiment and the community might stop taking them seriously.

As both a Portland Timbers season ticket holder and a social media professional, I thought it would be a great idea to celebrate the Portland Timbers’ social media success.

As the Portland Timbers made the move up to Major League Soccer this season, the club faced a situation of how to market itself to not just soccer supporters, but Oregonian sports fans as a whole. Unlike the Trail Blazers, soccer (or football) is still considered by most mainstream sports fans as a niche competition. By integrating their large grass roots following with an innovative social media campaign, the team has been able to win over new fans while keeping their loyal fanbase engaged when they’re not chanting during the games.

Almost half-way into its inaugural MLS campaign, the team finds itself having won over many hometown supporters in terms of both their play and social media marketing activities. Out of the 18 MLS teams, the Timbers Facebook Fan Page currently rank 7th in terms of Facebook ‘likers’ which shows the support of the Rose City!

Integrating Traditional Media
Driving around the Rose City prior to the new season, Portlanders could see a number of Portland Timbers billboards. Portraying a wide variety of Timbers fans, the billboards were a huge success. The Timbers were able to make the billboards ‘social’ by creating a contest in which every fan could get their photo taken with the famous Timbers axe. These were then posted online and the online community voted for their favorite. This type of promotion shows how social media and traditional forms of marketing can be integrated for optimum results. continue

I LOVE Gowalla! But I wasn’t born that way. I started off using Foursquare, gobbling up all my mayorships before that platform had hit critical mass. Just as my quick love affair with the square hit a plateau, I was forced to sign-up with Gowalla as research for my article on LBS deals. I was skeptical and resentful that I had to spend time on yet another platform. On top of that, Gowalla had the smallest user base (just under 500K) – so from a marketers perspective, my thoughts were ‘why bother?’ Well, that initial research was almost 6 months ago and I have been avidly using Gowalla ever since.

Questions to Consider Before You Commit

There are some great reasons to try Gowalla for yourself and I have them outlined below. But before I dive into why Gowalla works for me, I’d like to review what to consider before committing to a check-in platform. The idea for this post actually originated from a discussion at a recent May 5th shindig. A digital marketing student asked me which check-in platform she should be using. She wanted to make sure to choose the “right one,” in order to prevent managing multiple check-in accounts. A lively discussion ensued with most participants falling into 2 camps: Gowalla and Foursquare.

My take-away from that encounter is that each platform meets different needs. Understanding what you want to get out of the tool and the reasons you want to engage are key to determining the right tool for you. Some questions to ask yourself before making the commitment:

• Are you only looking for discounts, deals and promotions?
• Which platform are your close friends using?
• Are you interested in discovering new locations?
• Do you want to be actively marketed to while using the application? continue

HubSpot and Marketing Charts have released their Marketing Data Box, a quarterly collection of practical marketing tools ready for professional use. At Bonfire we are data junkies so we sorted through the stats with a fine tooth comb and summarized the key takeaways from the slide deck. We have also embedded the full slide deck for your reference.

Traditional Media Stats

• TV and Radio Ad buys are up
• Newspaper is down
• Online news consumption is up 17% and marks the first time more people got their news from the web.

Digital Stats

• Top areas of marketing growth: Website, Email, Social Media – in that order
• Trigger emails are on the rise (automated emails for certain calendar events)
• Inbound marketing leads (Blogs, email, social media, PPC) are 61% cheaper than outbound marketing leads (TV, Radio, Print)
• Cheapest lead sources (in order from cheapest): Blogs, Social Media, SEO, PPC
• Facebook ads have a 72.3% reach in the U.S.
• Facebook interactive ads (home page ads) have the highest recall of any social media ads

Smart Phones

• 1/3 of mobile users have Smartphones
• Time spent on Smartphones in order of use: Email, Social Networking, News

Online Spending

• Online spending is up 11%
• Youth online spending is up 9%

This post started out as a tribute to May Day – searching for creative ways labor unions and anti-union supporters were using Facebook. I had recently read an article about how Facebook could potentially REPLACE labor unions and excitedly went to work looking for well-organized, active pages. What I found instead was a handful of pages that seemed to have little in the way of followers and even less interaction. So, I changed the topic of this post to covering politicians and political groups that DO have a following on Facebook. Below I have outlined the top US politicians on Facebook and what we can learn from their pages.

Union Woes Continue on Facebook

If there ARE active labor union themed pages out there, they are hidden deep within Facebook’s inept search function. I was able to find this page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Union-Labor-Works – one of the few union pages I could find with more than 10 fans. The page had only one wall post and 233 ‘likers.’ There were no custom tabs and I could find very little information about the organization. No photos, no videos, nada. There WERE active groups and events surrounding union topics and perhaps these Facebook tools work better to provide an on-line rallying cry. continue

Find any great April Fool’s pranks on Facebook last week? I had some difficulties spotting them. I was hoping to report on brands playfully posting outrageous updates, wacky profile pics and basically playing their community for fools.

One of my clients did have some success with this April Fools prank: The Mauve Power Ranger! (Image below) The community LOVED it and engaged with the Facebook update throughout the day.

Pranks aside, what I did find on Facebook last week was an array of businesses attempting to engage. Looking for the most creative uses of the coveted 520 pixels on a tab, I started with allfacebook.com’s most ‘Explosive Facebook Pages’ of the week. I figured that Facebook pages quickly recruiting ‘likers’ must be offering up great content. This assumption was proven to be incorrect with just a few exceptions.

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In terms of digital communication, anonymity is awful. If social media (some would argue the internet in general) is expected to be taken seriously, anonymity is a brands biggest threat. Facebook recognizes this and is constantly evolving to provide access to tools and applications that can help brands grow their businesses online. It is also one of the reasons that Facebook is 1,000x bigger and better than Twitter. continue