Social Media Trends Archives - Page 2 of 3

The Presidency and Social Media – No Longer An Option

February 21, 2012 By Kelsey Jones 1 Comment

Photo courtesy of Associated Press

In honor of President’s Day, we at One Social Media (mainly me, the political junkie) felt it was a good time to talk about politics and social media.

Social media hasn’t typically been a main part of a presidency or a presidential campaign pre-2007, but as the times change, this relationship between politicians and the way they communicate with supporters and the country changed as well. Today, social media isn’t just fun extra “bling” to a presidency or campaign, but is VITAL to the successful growth of an organic relationship with current and potential supporters. Gone are the days of political ads on television inspiring a citizen to campaign for their favorite politician or give money to his/her campaign. Today, one must reach the citizen where they are and make it a somewhat-as-close-to-personal relationship as possible. Where do they go? Online communities.

All in all, President Obama and the Republican candidates running for President know social media is the closest thing they have to making their jobs, campaigns and public offices transparent to the public. Voters want to feel like part of the campaigns – behind the scenes videos, messages, photos, intimate moments – all the stuff you won’t see on the media. They want to be part of the journey. Social media is no longer a side note; it is now front and center in the never-ending game of politics.

We all know politicians are everywhere on social media – from Twitter and Facebook to Foursquare and Tout (click the different links to see how different candidates are using these social media sites). Here’s a look from Overdrive Interactives at how well those running for President are really doing. As you can see, and you’ve probably heard about, President Obama has and is using social media brilliantly to his advantage. Whether you like him or not, Obama has a social media strategy that is only going to help him spread is message and widen his pocketbook. The others? Maybe not quite yet. Yes…

Could this all change? There are still MANY months until November 2012… With social media, anything can happen.

Interested in how political candidates or President Obama is using social media? Want to know what we might expect out of social media this general election cycle? Drop us a note on Facebook or Twitter with your questions or comments! We love hearing from you.

Kelsey Jones

Social Media enthusiast who loves reading about and experimenting with the newest forms of communication. I'm a news and political junkie who loves advocacy work, the Green Bay Packers and working in this fast-paced environment.

Pinterest – The New Digital, Visual, Social Organizer

November 17, 2011 By Kelsey Jones Leave a Comment

Have you heard of the new social space called Pinterest?

Pinterest is described as a virtual pinboard for users to organize visual images and video they find across the web, in online magazines, or from the pinboards of other Pinterest users. One of the greatest things about Pinterest is the fact that it is social. You are able to not just share your interests with your “friends” who also use the site, but you are able to share these products, tastes, quotes, videos etc. with your friends and followers across other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

Here’s a recent video our team posted on our thoughts about how it can be used for personal use and also for businesses. This is an exciting time for such a young, social website. Stay tuned for where it goes next!

Are you on Pinterest? How are you using it?

Not on Pinterest yet? Take a look around and let us know what you think!

Kelsey Jones

Filed Under: Social Media, Social Media Trends Tagged With: How to use Pinterest, social media marketing, social media marketing agencies, social media marketing blog, social media marketing companies, social media marketing consultant, social media marketing consulting, social media marketing firm, social media marketing plan, social media marketing services, social media marketing strategy, What is Pinterest, what is social media marketing, Who created Pinterest

How Print Magazines Should Be Using QR Codes

November 9, 2011 By Rob Wormley Leave a Comment

I have a confession to make, and it may surprise you. Despite the fact that I am a self-proclaimed social/mobile/online/digital/tech enthusiast, I still like getting print magazines sent to me in the mail. There, I said it. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but I have to say that there’s still something nostalgic about getting a new issue of my favorite magazine sent to me in the mail, and having the ability to actually flip through its crisp pages as I scan from page to page.

That all being said, I believe there are some real opportunities being missed by almost all of today’s mainstream print publications. Here’s the problem I see: magazines like Entrepreneur, Inc, and Fast Company have all invested heavily in the development and execution of both their online content strategy (the website), and their offline content strategy (the magazine). As a result, their online product (the content on the website) has become more social. It’s more sharable, more socially-integrated, and more consumer-focused. At the same time, their offline product (the content in the print magazine) despite a few examples of social media site icons and article links, has remained relatively static. In other words, I read the article in the magazine and when I’m done, I put it back on my bookshelf.

Why is this the trend I’m seeing with print magazines?

With the exception of a few examples pointed out to me by coworkers in the last few days, most print magazines are doing little to nothing to change the reader’s perception of how they think they can use and benefit from their product (static to social).

I’d like to share an example with you that I know will illustrate an opportunity that most magazines are not thinking about when developing or redeveloping their offline product strategy.

The QR code that should have been in Esquire

I recently started getting Esquire Magazine sent to me in the mail every month. It’s just one of a number of magazines I like to actually have the chance to look through in my free time. In the last few issues, I’ve paid close attention to one particular detail that has been sparking my interest: how many QR codes I can find throughout the magazine. If my count is right, I found a total of seven QR codes scattered throughout this month’s issue. Pretty cool, right? Maybe. Guess how many of the seven QR codes appeared in advertisements within the magazine? Now guess how many were placed within actual Esquire content. 7-0 is the answer. There’s something seriously wrong with that!

In the November issue, the magazine named Rihanna as this year’s Sexiest Woman Alive. It was a nine-page feature. How many QR codes were placed within those pages that sent readers to her YouTube channel? Zero. How many sent readers to a Esquire-sponsered Twitter hashtag stream about how sexy Rihanna is? None. How many sent readers to a behind-the-scenes video of how the photo shoot was setup? Don’t ask.

Oh don’t worry though, I was able to eventually find a link in the feature that invited me to do something online after reading it. I just had to take out my magnifying glass:

Terrible. Problem A: too hard to find. Problem B: not interesting enough. Problem C: I’m too lazy to remember that link long enough to go to my laptop, open my browser, and actually type it in.

I can already hear the arguments that most professionals working in the print industry will make after reading this: “we only have so much space!” Or “Space is limited. We can’t take the risk of using that much for something we can’t see the return on.”

My response? Too bad. You can’t afford NOT to take that risk at this point. If your publication or company actually cares about it’s customers, supporters, and future readers, you need to make accommodating changes to both your online and offline strategies in order to harness the power and influence of consumers.

Esquire and magazines like it should have QR codes splashed across at least fifty percent of the actual editorial content in the magazine. 85% of mobile devices will be web enabled by next year. Eighty-five percent! There are too many opportunities that exist that are not being taken advantage of. Photo galleries of clothing, YouTube videos from staff writers, Twitter streams, user-generated contests, live Q&A’s, the list goes on and on.

The print publication industry isn’t dying. But the print publications that are too stubborn to innovate are. Every publication that wants to still be around in five years needs to go back to the drawing board and develop a strategy for moving away from static and toward social. It isn’t beneficial to have an online strategy that embraces social media and consumer influence and and offline strategy that doesn’t. ONE strategy across the board: encourage social participation, interaction, and influence.

Questions or comments? Let’s talk on Twitter. I’m @robwormley.

Follow @RobWormley

Rob Wormley

As a social media specialist, Rob thrives in situations that require constant creativity. On days when Rob isn’t working hard to create, maintain, and strengthen relationships online, you might find him spending time with family, browsing through his nearest bookstore, or sipping on a cup of coffee at his local Starbucks.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Introducing The One Social Media VYou Channel

October 17, 2011 By Rob Wormley Leave a Comment

Back in February, I wrote about a new website that I had just started experimenting with called VYou. If you haven’t seen or read about the site before, here’s my simple explanation of how it works: Ask a question about a topic—get a video response.

And here’s how it is explained on the site:

“VYou allows people to broadcast video structured as conversations, offering the most personal form of social interaction on the web. It works like this: you record video responses to messages entered by friends and fans. VYou organizes their messages and your videos into conversations, making the experience feel continuously live even though the content is stored” (Source).

Over the last few months we’ve been working closely with the team at VYou to develop a place where you and others can go to individually interact with our team in order to learn more about social media marketing, online trends, technology, and everything in between.

The day is finally here. I’m extremely excited to announce the launch of the One Social Media VYou Channel: The Social Media Think Tank.

As mentioned before, The Social Media Think Tank exists as a place for you to go to learn more about social media marketing and other topics that may also interest you.

So here’s how it works: after you click here to get to our channel, click on team member that you would like interact with. Once you click on a profile box, you will be taken to that team member’s profile where you can ask your question (it can even be anonymous!). Once you hit Send, the team member you wish to interact with will receive a notification that someone has left them a question to answer. We’ll do our best to respond to questions in a timely manner. In addition to asking a team member a question, you can also look through other questions that have been asked and the responses that were given.

Our team is more than excited to start interacting with you on our new VYou channel. We’re always looking for new ways to interact with our online community. Our passion and goal as a team is to help people learn how to take advantage of the power of social media. Take some time to learn more about VYou and our channel by asking one of our team members a question. Just click here to go to our channel now.

One last thing: Do you like what you see? Create your own VYou profile and start interacting with your friends and other VYou users. You can even sign up using your Facebook account! Click here to create your VYou profile now.

Rob Wormley

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Filed Under: blogging, News, social media marketing, Social Media News, Social Media Strategies, Social Media Tips, Social Media Trends Tagged With: social media marketing, social media marketing agencies, social media marketing blog, social media marketing companies, social media marketing consultant, social media marketing consulting, social media marketing firm, social media marketing plan, social media marketing services, social media marketing strategy, what is social media marketing

Breaking It Down: Kindle Fire vs. Apple iPad

October 4, 2011 By Jeremy Anderberg 3 Comments

This is the new big debate isn’t it? Since the Kindle Fire was announced by Amazon on September 28th, the blog posts and tweets have been coming in fast and furious saying one of two things: 1) the Fire changes the tablet game completely and will rival the iPad, or 2) this changes nothing, iPad is still king of the tablet world. I’m here to make things a little more complex than that.

It’s really a story of two platforms versus just two devices. In terms of the device itself, the iPad has nothing to worry about. It has more computing power, more graphical power, more built-in storage, a camera, etc. Where Amazon has a chance is in the way the operating system runs. Let me explain.

The iPad is built entirely around applications. To do anything, you must open an application. Want to read a book? Open the Kindle app. Want to watch a movie? Open the Netflix app. Want to browse the web? Open the Safari app. Everything happens within an application that has been built by a techno-nerd.

The Fire, however, is built entirely around your content. It has applications, but that’s not the focus. To read a book, you simply open it right on the device – there is no application to open. The same is true of your favorite webpage – you can “pin” it to the home screen and open it right there without having to do that extra step or two of opening the Internet browser and finding your bookmarks. THIS is the real difference between the Amazon and Apple tablets. It’s not the hardware, but how people are accessing their content.

In my mind, this is what sets the Fire apart, and where Apple would be smart to move to. Studies show that people use their mobile web much more than they use applications. In fact, the vast majority of applications (upwards of 75-80%) are never even opened more than 5 times. My coworkers and a few industry experts may disagree with me, but the world of mobile (smartphones and tablets included) is moving quickly away from applications and towards HTML5.

The two companies also have completely different goals with their devices, making them hard to truly compare. Apple wants you to know that you can do all kinds of computing and creating on the iPad. Pages (word processing) and Adobe Photoshop are prime examples. You can replace your MacBook with an iPad if you really need to. Amazon, however, touts its device as simply for entertainment and content consumption. This is a totally different outlook. And let’s be honest, there are plenty of people out there who use their tablets for just this purpose anyway.

So who wins? Honestly, I’m not sure there is a real winner here. They will be reaching different audiences of people. For the college student or someone who uses a tablet just for entertainment value – the Fire probably fits the bill just fine, especially at the $200 price point. You can’t beat that. For the business person, however, or tablet power-user, the iPad will likely rule the roost for years to come.

So in my opinion, all this bickering back and forth between which is better is a moot discussion. Different goals, different audiences, different platforms. The devices may have the same basic rectangular shape, but that’s about it.

What do you think? Is there a real winner in the tablet wars?

Jeremy Anderberg

Jeremy is a blog-reading, report-writing project manager. In his spare time he enjoys reading a good thriller, drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee, and spending time with his wife.

Filed Under: Social Media Trends Tagged With: social media for marketing, social media marketing, social media marketing agencies, social media marketing blog, social media marketing companies, social media marketing consultant, social media marketing consulting, social media marketing firm, social media marketing plan, social media marketing services, social media marketing strategies, social media marketing strategy, social media optimization, what is social media marketing

How Social Media Can Lead To Sales

July 26, 2011 By Rob Wormley 2 Comments

If there’s one common question that every business, brand, or organization new to social media has, it’s probably “how will using social media lead to sales?” It’s a fair question to ask. The problem with this question, however, lies in how it’s worded. What businesses new to social media should be asking is not “how will using social media lead to sales?”, but instead, “how can using social media lead to sales?”

It’s a slight difference, but here’s why the second question is a better question for business owners or brand executives to ask: it shows that they already understand the fact that creating a presence on social media sites doesn’t automatically lead to sales.

Unfortunately, most business owners just can’t seem to grasp this truth—that just joining social media sites isn’t a guarantee of even one new sale for a company. Developing a social media strategy for your business and joining social media sites are two very important steps to take, but if you want to actually start seeing real results—i.e. actual ROI—then you’re going to need to walk a lot further than you might have originally planned.

So with this new question in mind—”how can using social media lead to sales?”—what’s the answer? I’d be lying if I told you it was a simple “a + b + c = $$$” equation. There are a number of factors that play a part in whether or not your efforts on social media will actually lead to sales. To help you better understand what some of these factors are and how they work together, I’d like to share with you a chart that I like to call the social media equation. Here it is:

If the chart above looks complicated, it’s because it’s meant to. Because using social media to make sales isn’t as easy as a lot of people want it to be. It takes things like time, consistency, transparency, interaction, and value. It takes real work.

You may know that you have a good product that you think a lot of people could use, but if you can’t take the time to genuinely care about your followers and show them that you have a good, valuable product, you aren’t ready to be on social media.

No one wants to see a video on Facebook or a photo on Flickr that looks like an advertisement. No one wants to see the same “great deal” tweet ten times in one day.

If you decide to take the first steps to create a presence for your business on social media, it can lead to sales. It just takes time, effort, passion, dedication, authenticity, patience, and above all—a good product.

Still have questions? Ask me on Twitter. I’m @robwormley.

Rob Wormley

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Filed Under: blogging, facebook, Social Media, social media marketing, Social Media News, Social Media Trends, twitter, YouTube Tagged With: blogging, business blog, des moines social media company, des moines social media firm, joe soto, One social media, social media des moines, social media iowa, social media marketing company, social media trends

3 Social Media Changes You Don’t Want to Miss

July 8, 2011 By Jeremy Anderberg 1 Comment

As a social media company, it is our job to stay on top of all the fancy new stuff that pops up every 10 seconds or so in our industry. Most of these changes don’t really mean much to you, our readers – they are new startups working out glitches, back-end programs that make our jobs easier, or simply new ideas that haven’t quite reached critical mass yet.

The last couple weeks, however, have brought about 3 major news items that are worth sharing. The first is the release of Google+, a social network that is Google-based and is supposed to be a new rival for Facebook. The second is a trio of information bits from Facebook regarding their chat features. And finally, YouTube is in the works of redesigning their user experience, and the early results look promising.

1) Google+

Currently in Beta Mode with limited availability, Google+ seems to be aiming at being a simpler and more user-friendly social network. Friends are organized into “circles” such as work, friends, family, acquaintances, etc. The rumor is that it will be open to the public as of July 31. They will also be rolling out business profiles sometime in the next few months.

Pros:

Seamlessly integrates with other Google Apps, especially chat.
Has built-in video chat.
Organizes friends better than Facebook, making it easier to find the ones you’re truly interested in following.

Cons:

Yet another social network to share content on.
Not sure yet of how it competes in the social world with the giants that are already present.
Has yet to integrate things like events (Google Cal?) or collaborative work (Google Docs?).

2) Facebook Chat

Facebook held a live event viewed by thousands of people online to announce their latest upgrade. The Facebook Chat feature has long been known to be a little glitchy, and not as easy-to-use as Google Chat or Skype. They seem to be trying rather hard to fix that problem. Their trio of items to note:

Group chat: You can now add multiple people to a single chat box, making things like weekend planning a breeze.
Chat sidebar: depending on your browser size, you may now have a sidebar with a listing of your friends and the ability to chat with them right there, versus just that little box in the bottom right corner.
Video chat: This is the biggie. Facebook has partnered with Skype to bring video calling to any of your Facebook friends.

Pros

Group chat seems like an awesome feature and will be easy-to-use. This will make life much more simple for a lot of people and even businesses.
The ability to video chat without having to download a program is huge. You now have access to all your friends, versus just those with the Skype program.
They capitalized on the best video technology out there (Skype) instead of trying to create their own.
You can leave video voicemails when your call isn’t answered.

Cons

You still have to download a plugin, and it may not be user-friendly for those who aren’t tech-savvy.
Still no group video chatting – that really would have been icing on the cake. It will likely be a paid premium feature in the future.

3) YouTube Redesign – Codename “Cosmic Panda”

This change might be my personal favorite. Virtually since its inception, the site has looked a little clunky, and not very user-friendly. All of that is about to change with this update. The overall design is slick and clean, and makes navigating much more intuitive. To activate the update for your account, visit www.youtube.com/CosmicPanda.

Pros

It just looks and feels so much better. That’s a big pro in our book.
Playlists are organized neatly on the right side and can be seen at all times.
Channel stats such as subscribers and views are now easily visible on the rop right.
You can change the video size manually, putting the viewing experience totally in your control.
It is easier to scroll through videos of a selected channel.

Cons

The “Featured Video” seems to be lost, so the video that people see when they land on your channel is likely just the most recent upload.
That’s about it for now! We LOVE this update!

What do YOU think of all these changes? What pros and cons have you found? What are you most excited to start using? Chime in here on the blog, or over on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

Jeremy Anderberg

Jeremy is a blog-reading, report-writing project manager. In his spare time he enjoys reading a good thriller, drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee, and spending time with his wife.

Filed Under: Social Media, Social Media News, Social Media Trends, YouTube Tagged With: blogging, brand building, brand marketing, branding, des moines social media agency, des moines social media company, des moines social media firm, facebook, facebook marketing, joe soto, One social media, online marketing, small business social media, social marketing, social media, social media agency, social media blog, social media company, social media consultant, social media consulting, social media des moines, social media for small businesses, social media iowa, social media marketing, social media marketing blog, social media marketing services, social media new jersey, social media Pennsylvania, social media Philadelphia, social media services, social media strategy, twitter, twitter marketing

5 Embeddable Resources You Could Be Using To Enhance Your Blog And Keep Visitors Coming Back For More

May 26, 2011 By Rob Wormley 1 Comment

For a lot of businesses, the idea of blogging can be scary. It’s easy for a CEO to decide that his or her company needs to have a blog. For most blogging platforms, the setup process is fairly simple. In fact it only takes a matter of seconds. The hard part, however, comes when the person who has been put in charge of running the company blog realizes they have no idea what to write about. So what’s the secret to running a successful, interesting, valuable blog that keeps people coming back for more? It all comes down to two things: strategy and creativity. That’s it.

Here’s the deal: Blogging isn’t hard. It just takes a little strategy, and a little creativity. Blogging is a must for all companies. Joe Soto, CEO of One Social Media, said it best at a recent social media luncheon that he spoke at following New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Gitomer’s sales seminar. When speaking on the topic of blogging, he said: “If you don’t have a blog, you’re not taking your business seriously.”

To help you come up with effective blog strategies, AND to help you boost your creativity, I’d like to share 5 embeddable resources that will help you enhance your blog and keep visitors coming back for more.

1. VYou
Site: http://vyou.com
What it is: The concept behind VYou is simple, yet ingenious: Ask a question about a topic—get a video response. Click here to learn more.
Strategy Tip: Set up a VYou account and start interacting with your clients. It provides a great opportunity for organizations and companies who want to start connecting with customers on an entirely new level. Invite people to interact with you on VYou by embedding your profile in a blog post.
Cost: Free
Example:

2. ISSUU
Site: http://issuu.com
What it is: ISSUU is the leading digital publishing platform on the web. It’s a site that allows you to upload and share publications.
Strategy Tip: Create a profile on ISSUU for your company and start uploading your brochures, reports, case studies, and any other marketing materials you have. Then embed your publications into a blog post on your company blog.
Cost: Free
Example:

3. Prezi
Site: http://prezi.com
What it is: A new way to present information. Prezi allows you to take your personal or corporate messages, meetings, and speeches to the next level by helping you create visually-stunning presentations.
Strategy Tip: Set up your account on Prezi, then spend some time learning how to use it. In the meantime, share other presentations that you come across by embedding them into your next blog post. Search for a topic that relates to your industry.
Cost: Free
Example:

Power of storytelling on Prezi

4. Twitter Search Feed
Site: http://twitter.com/about/resources/widgets
What it is: A Twitter widget that allows you to create a live stream of tweets based on a specific search term.
Strategy Tip: Search for a word(s) that relate to your industry. Help keep your clients and future customers informed by embedding a Twitter search widget into your next blog post.
Cost: Free
Example:

5. LiveShare by Cooliris
Site: http://www.cooliris.com/yoursite/express/builder
What it is: A new way to share YouTube videos, Flickr photostreams, Facebook photos, and more!
Strategy Tip: Use LiveShare by Cooliris to share your company’s YouTube channel with your clients. Embed the LiveShare app into your next blog post.
Example:

Hopefully these ideas will help get you started. At the least, they will help you drastically improve your next five blog posts. Just use one resource per blog post and share them across all your social media sites. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the positive feedback you receive. The key to using your blog as an effective resource for future business is all about value, and in order to provide value on your blog, you need to invest in two things: strategy and creativity.

Still have questions? Ask me on Twitter. I’m @robwormley.

Rob Wormley
As a social media specialist, Rob thrives in situations that require constant creativity. On days when Rob isn’t working hard to create, maintain, and strengthen relationships online, you might find him spending time with family, browsing through his nearest bookstore, or sipping on a cup of coffee at his local Starbucks.
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Filed Under: blogging, Creativity, search engine optimization, Social Media, social media marketing, Social Media Trends Tagged With: blogging, Business, business blog, business blogging, business networking, des moines social media company, des moines social media firm, One social media, online marketing, social marketing blog, social media blog, social media company, social media des moines, social media iowa, social media trends, web trends

Social Media Beyond the Grave

May 17, 2011 By Jeremy Anderberg 1 Comment

It was only a matter of time. Social media has had an impact on virtually every other part of our lives. Eventually, we had to get here. Death is part of life, and social media was bound to come in contact with it at some point. We have two examples for you today of how the two have collided.

A company called Quiring Monuments in Seattle, Washington has started offering QR codes on headstones. This actually started in Japan a few years ago, and has finally made it over here to the U.S. The company puts a small QR code in the bottom corner of the headstone which links to a personal page on the company website that contains a picture, obituary and any memories family members have chosen to share.

“Similar to a personal Facebook page, a Living Headstone archive site contains information you and friends can add about your loved one, such as: an obituary, family heritage and history, photos, comments by friends and relatives and even a map to locate the memorial in the cemetery.” (source)

Here’s an example the company has posted on their website. Click on it to go to the “memorial” page, or just scan the code yourself.

Facebook has also recently taken measures to answer questions about what happens when someone with a Facebook profile passes away. With a base of 500 million people and growing every day (including among the elderly population), this problem is bound to come up more and more. As a response, they are now “memorializing” profile pages for those who are deceased. What does this mean?

Basically, Facebook preserves the account, keeping the profile and wall accessible for people to post and continue to view pictures. It functions as on online memorial site viewable to friends and family of that person.

These examples may seem strange to you, but they are merely another way that social media truly is integrating into every facet of our lives. In five years (and probably less), you will likely see much of the same and even more.

What do you think about social media beyond the grave? Chime in here, or on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Jeremy Anderberg

Jeremy is a blog-reading, report-writing project manager. In his spare time he enjoys reading a good thriller, drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee, and spending time with his wife.