Know your market
The first thing you will be asking yourself is: how can I use Pinterest to get myself some links? The answer really depends on the type of site you are working on. Crafts, art and interior design makes up a big proportion of what people are pinning and interacting with, so these are the kinds of sites that will reap the most benefits. Fashion is another big area, along with, to a lesser extent, geek culture. If you work in any of these areas then Pinterest is probably worth your time and effort.

Explore and make connections
Before you do anything, though, you need to get an account and dive in. Explore, have a play and follow a variety of boards. Boards are essentially categories that house your ‘pins’, which are images from around the web that you like. If you run an architecture firm then make an ‘inspirational architecture’ board to start with. Subscribe to other people’s boards and get commenting and re-pinning. This will allow you to form relationships with users and make them more open to working with you in the future.

Research influential users
You will soon find that there is an elite group of people who earn themselves hundreds of re-pins and likes from their boards and these are the ones who obviously hold a massive amount of sway. If you’ve got something big you want to share, then these are the people who could spread the word like wildfire. They will usually list their social contact details, such as their twitter handle and sometimes they will even have their own site, which could turn out to be a great bonus. But as with any outreach, don’t pester them. If you want them to check out the great infographic you’ve created, just a friendly tweet will do. Don’t bombard them!

Use Pinterest to reinforce your blogger outreach
More people are adding their Pinterest account link to their blogs and this provides a massive opportunity for you to connect with bloggers on a more personal level. Their wants, inspiration and desires may not always be completely apparent when you read their blog but perusing their Pinterest boards will show you exactly these things. Crucially, it will also likely build up a better picture of their personality, since people usually have more than one board for each interest they have, so Jenny Blogger might run a flower arranging blog, but her boards may reveal that she loves urban vinyl art and Atari. It gives you another hook in which to relate to the blogger and provides you with a better chance of forming a partnership. You could also incentivise them by offering them a gift based on things they like and pin. Providing them with something they really love is a great way of building a relationship.

This list isn’t exhaustive, but it should give you a good idea as to how to go about using Pinterest to build relationships and get the links you want. Remember, there’s no point in using Pinterest for the sake of it – you need to make sure that what you’re offering is relevant and will interest users who are into a more visual way of networking.

There’s nothing worse than a confused Rambo.

Last year, when Heinz trialled their new tomato sauce, there was a lot of noise about other brands following suit. But reports out this week suggest that a large number of retail brands have already canned their f-commerce plans. The reason? ROI.

I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m not a fan of Facebook myself, but I can mirror f-commerce with those annoying people that come into pubs to try and sell you copied DVD’s. If I’m being social with peoples company I choose, I do not want to be sold to.

Facebook has generally succeeded for businesses as a brand engagement tool. As a traffic driver to brand websites, this also works too. Some brands maybe hastily throwing f-commerce out of the window already, but it is early days.

One of the issues I have found is that f-commerce platforms tend to be a replication of a mobile site. In as much as a previous blog post talked about making sure your mobile site was mobile specific the same level of importance should be placed on f-commerce applications.

You have to tailor the application to the technology, otherwise you are losing the USP of the platform.

The problem here is that big brands aren’t willing to take the punt, and spend on tailoring a f-commerce store to the platform. Until a household brand can come out and say they have made a success of f-commerce, it will stay as something that might take off, that brands wont pump money into.

That’s not to say there are no examples of f-commerce that have worked out for SME’s. I was speaking to a neighbour the other day who said his son uses Facebook to book his local 5-a-side pitch for games of football with his mates, and this is all done within the Facebook environment. I’d say that’s a great example of knowing your audience.

Oh and as a side note, my last blog was on the topic of making sure your mobile site was up to scratch. Econsultancy seem to agree with me, which is nice.

This is a great response and more than 65% over those that signed up did so in the first four days. The interesting thing will be to see whether this take up continues. Parent or ‘mummy’ blogging is huge in the US, but its rise on this side of the Atlantic was echoed last month with the Cybermummy event.

Despite its cringe worthy name, the Cybermummy second annual conference was a sell out and attracted many parents looking to share tips and information, network and connect with this growing community. It was also a forum for brands to court these influencers, with brands such as P&G, Pampers and Boots, along with HP and Three appearing as sponsors. And whilst you’d expect the first three to be there, HP and Three’s presence is perhaps proof that companies understand the potential this audience has online.

Giving brands the opportunity to connect with parents was apparently one of the motives behind the Netmums blogging network, facilitating bloggers to give direct feedback on products or be approached for paid product reviews.  Their rationale behind this is that often brands can be accused of getting it wrong. For example, not realising how easily parents are annoyed when asked to review products that are for the wrong aged children. This network groups these different demographics really well and make it easy for brands to get that targeting correct as well as ensuring that their members are reimbursed for their interaction. Plus, with four million visitors and one million members monthly, it’s a large and varied platform for both brands and bloggers alike.

Netmums are giving any parent the opportunity to blog – and I can see why the uptake would be enthusiastic. Finding coherent information that’s relevant to you and the life stage of your child(ren) can be challenging especially given that parenting or children are such broad topics.  There’s plenty of competitive parents who want a platform in order to show off across cyberspace just how advanced their offspring is, but there’s also people with a huge range of experience on subjects as varied as childcare, life, money, disability, activism and holidays and an audience with the appetite to consume this information.

In addition, it’s also directly targeting women (although men are in no way excluded), in an arguably male-dominated blogosphere, giving them a supportive environment to find a voice. This may seem a little patronising, but parenthood can be pretty isolating and connecting online is so practical if you’re at home in the day wondering how to cope with your kids or seeking the company of grown ups – there are huge numbers of forums to be joined, but blogging obviously answers a different need and hasn’t been so accessible for this mainstream community until recently.

MumsNet also launched a blogging platform around the same time, although it differs with their heavy promotion of featured bloggers including David Milliband, Aggie Mackenzie and Kathryn Flett. It seems a little less welcoming in that bloggers need to apply to join the network, but those that are accepted are also offered financial incentives to interact with brands.

Whilst the sites share similar names, their outlook is very different and it seems in keeping that NetMums, a site concerned with local resources, support and advice, in communities both actual and virtual, offers such a wide scope to blogging. Whereas MumsNet, with its higher profile and association with ‘big names’ and campaigns offers a less accessible version. What will be most interesting is whether the growth of these online communities continues and how it evolves beyond these sites.

Please leave your comments either below or on Twitter - @Augustish

Whether you would classify the review site as a ‘social media’ tool is to your discretion, but over the last four years, the site has been way ahead of others in the travel industry. Earlier this month, Premier Inn started advertising TripAdvisor ratings on its site. The hotel chain’s marketing director, Gerard Tempest, expressed the importance for visitors to read the reviews on TripAdvisor, as they were ‘impartial’. However, one must note that the Premier Inn Guest Rating is just to the right and in the case of Leeds East, more people have reviewed the hotel on Premier Inn’s direct site than TripAdvisor.

The truth is that social media has become a large part of how people search and purchase their holidays. Similar to ‘citizen journalism’, consumers are creating content and sharing experiences online, which provides airlines, travel agents and hotels with valuable information. The traditional exchange of word of mouth recommendations has been replaced with the likes of Twitter and Facebook. As hoteliers and travel comparison sites have caught on to this method of communication, almost overnight, offers and recommendations appear in our Twitter feed and email inbox.

Last month, a US survey conducted by TripAdvisor found that most respondents, or 60 per cent, acknowledged TripAdvisor to be the most effective social media site for marketing. Facebook and Twitter were also cited as useful for marketing at 22 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.

Facebook and TripAdvisor teamed up in 2010 to allow people the opportunity to share even more about their travel and holiday plans. For the past year, users have been able to log into Facebook via Trip Advisor to look at reviews from their friends on where they have visited and lived, and even ‘Like’ different attractions and destinations. This was a welcome change for the review site, as they are often criticised for ‘planting’ reviews.

Last week, TripAdvisor purchased Where I’ve Been, a travel site and social media company based in Chicago. The website, according to the company, has seen 10 million users create virtual maps with accompanied photos and stories of their travels.

In 2007, TripAdvisor created their first Facebook app – Cities I’ve Visited – but for a while was ranked behind ‘Where I’ve Been.’

CEO and founder of TripAdvisor Steve Kaufer said in a recent press release: “When we first launched TripAdvisor we knew there would be an appetite among travellers for honest reviews written by real people. Eleven years later, we are tremendously proud to have reached 50 million reviews and opinions which help over 40 million travellers a month around the world plan and experience the perfect trip.”

One of the main reasons I look to TripAdvisor, as both an expert in the travel industry and a trend setter, is the company’s commitment to serve their users. While they have been at the front of several scandals, I would hope that people who use the site would take the reviews with a pinch of salt. Of course every traveller is going to have a different experience, and how they review a hotel or restaurant is ultimately their choice.

However, I feel better knowing that the next time I step through the front door of a hotel, that others have gone before me and feel the need to share their experience with me. I don’t know what number I am out of the 40 million users a month, but my upcoming trip to Paris will be more relaxing knowing 93 per cent recommend my choice of accommodation.

What are your opinions on the travel industry and social media?

Please leave your comments below or on Twitter – @YorkshireTexan

America’s most delicious export, Ben and Jerry’s, has taken the summer by the horns and recently embarked on their 2011 Scoop Truck Tour across the States, performing the mouth-wateringly noble act of dishing out free ice cream to the populous.

But the most ingenious part of the company’s yummy campaign is their use of Twitter. They are encouraging hungry cheapskate office workers to harness the power of the hashtag #OMGFreeBenJerrys in order to receive a delivery of scoops.

The beauty of this idea lies in their organic tweet-of-mouth advertising, allowing the news to spread throughout the social networking site with the aid of a promoted hashtag.

Blending offline and online promotion like this is an effective way for companies to advertise without ‘advertising.’ It’s been proven that people are more likely to buy what their friends recommend than a company, and it’s clear that social media holds the key to the future of marketing.

The model was arguably pioneered by food carts and trucks, who use social media to give their current location in order to draw in the crowds. Some trucks even gave challenges and passwords to customers in order to acquire tasty freebies.

We’ll have to wait and see whether Ben and Jerry’s will reap the rewards of their campaign, but from the looks of their content customers, Vancouver’s finest won’t be melting away any time soon.

What is EdgeRank?

Those of you with a Facebook account – and I’ll assume that’s it the vast majority of users reading this post – will notice that once logged in, you see either the ‘Most Recent’ updates of your friends and Facebook Pages you’ve ‘liked’ or the ‘Top News.’ Which tab you land on when signing in now depends on which one you last viewed (it was previously set to ‘Top News’ as standard).

‘Top News’ is where EdgeRank is applied and it determines which user updates appear on your own feed. To put it another way: those updates with a “higher” EdgeRank are more likely to appear on your feed than those with lower scores.

Your aim? Ensure your fans interact and engage with your brand, not only just through ‘liking,’ but through provoking conversation as well. For now, let’s look at how EdgeRank works. Later we will look at ways of leveraging your Facebook page to increase the likelihood of your brand’s updates appearing on your fans’ feeds.

The Factors of EdgeRank

EdgeRank is made up of, among others, three core factors: affinity, weight and timeliness. These are applied to a piece of content shared on Facebook, also referred to as an ‘edge’ or ‘object.’ The outcome is whether the algorithm deems the update worthy of appearing within another users news feed.

Let’s look at the factors a little more closely…

Affinity

Affinity is applied between users through the viewer interacting with the creator’s object (creation of update, comment, like, tag, photo, video etc. etc.).

For example, I (the viewer) recently ‘liked’ The Jane Tomlinson’s Appeal (the creator) Facebook Page as a fan (I’m running the Leeds 10k!). As such, I began visiting their page and ‘liking’ their updates. Due to my interactions with the page’s updates, Facebook can safely assume I have affinity with the Jane Tomlinson Appeal and will show me more of their updates within my news feed.

On the flip side, I ‘liked’ Tottenham Hotspurs about six month ago (I’m not even a supporter of the team!). I never interacted with the page and over time their updates, to which I saw in my feed every day, slowly faded as my interactions with other pages and friends increased.

Be aware, affinity is applied one way in the relationship – from the viewer to the creator. As a result, the viewer will see the creator’s updates within their feed. The creator does not gain any affinity with the viewer.

Weight

Weight is probably one of the more complex factors of EdgeRank. Certain interactions carry more ‘weight’ than others, that we know, although there is no concrete evidence of which interactions hold more weight than others.

Despite this, we can assume a link to a page will carry more weight than a status update and a photo or video will carry even more weight.

Take in to consideration the amount of interactions from other users (comments and ‘likes’ associated with the object), even consider the affinity you have with the users of these additional likes and comments and you’ll have a further multiple.  

Timeliness

Who wants to read old news? I know I don’t. This factor simply goes with the saying “out with the old, in with the new” so the older the object, the less importance it is given.

Leveraging EdgeRank

So what’s the result of all the above factors? Well multiple all your edges, add the score up and hey presto – you have an EdgeRank score. Once again, a higher score increases the likelihood of your updates appearing in front of your audience.

Now here’s an interesting stat: As a user, 95% of all of your friends, family and Facebook Page updates won’t be seen. That’s not because Facebook doesn’t want you to see them. It’s because Facebook, through EdgeRank, believes you don’t need to see that content – it’s not deemed relevant or interesting to you. It’s not the end of the world either because don’t forget, you have the “most recent” tab to fall back on if a user thinks they are missing out on the latest updates.

Considering all of the above, here are several suggestions to increase your brands level interaction and EdgeRank on Facebook.

1. Post Quality Content

If you have a blog, you have a fantastic opportunity to be posting great content. The obvious action here is to link to your post and make it visible to your audience.

Have you thought about posting a few updates before and after publishing and sharing your content? How about priming the audience by asking related questions, putting up a survey, requesting feedback?

Be sure to get involved in the conversation to fuel it further and know when to leave it alone once the conversation begins to die down.

2. Ask thought provoking questions

I read a great post by Ilana Rabinowitz a couple of weeks back. This statement from Ilana’s post couldn’t be more true:

“The thumbs up of the like button is like silver and getting an actual comment is like gold”

She then says in order to provoke interaction, get your fans thinking and I mean really using their imagination to respond in conversation, ask a question that applies to the majority then late.

For example, if I were posting for The Jane Tomlinson Appeal, I may ask the question:

“If you could run with any celebrity at a Run for All 10k event, who would it be with?”

The above question would first make the user think of a celebrity they’d love to run with and think about why. Either way, you are asking a question that gets your users thinking and also related it back to your brand.

The above question could be used as a primer too and a few days later, post a link to a press release about the latest celebrity to join the cause.

3. Post Polls/Surveys using Facebook Questions

The use of Facebook Questions can have many benefits from improving engagement to market research. Cleverly timed and on topic questions can drive many votes and comments. Each vote and more-so comment increases EdgeRank between two individuals.

4. Take Advantage of Videos and Photos

As mentioned, photos and videos are thought to carry more weight than other types updates. As such, any likes, comments and shares of the content will improve the affinity between one user to another.

5. Promote Links of Interesting Resources

It’s great giving your own content exposure on your Facebook page. It opens your content up to being ‘liked’, shared and commented (on both the blog and Facebook page). Over promote your work and you’ll likely ‘turn off’ your audience.

So what to do? Promote other’s content. Whether it’s a great blog you’ve read that is of use to your audience, or photos/videos relevant to your industry. At the end of it, it’s your update that will receive the ‘likes’ and the comments and you’re giving your audience something other than “me, me, me!” Make it fun and make it interesting.

6. Think about posting outside of work hours

Think about it. When do you use your personal Facebook account? A privileged few will use it at work. The majority will likely use it outside of working hours. Figure out what times are popular with your users and make sure your best content is published at these times for the largest opportunity of interaction.

7. Measure what’s working

By monitoring which content gains the best results and which doesn’t work so well, you can adjust your strategy to put more emphasis on that type of content. For example, what’s more popular? The latest industry insights and data or your corporate news? If it is your industry insights that proves more popular/engaging, start doing more of that and less corporate news.

In conclusion, make sure you think about how to best publish your content in a way that encourages your fans to engage with it. This in turn will get your fans to build further affinity with your fan page to ensure your updates and your brand is what they see on their “Top News” as soon as they log on.

Zynga and Gaga first teamed up in March collaborating to raise money for the Japan earthquake victims. Rumours had been circling since then that the two would join forces again. It’s difficult to say who benefits more from the deal, and so it’s hard to speculate who paid whom.  Farmville has more than 46million players and Gaga has a huge and weirdly loyal fan group so the potential is huge! The promotional video for GagaVille has already had more than 700,000 views!

The music industry has been struggling for years with the rise of illegal downloads – this is a great example of the industry moving with the times and updating the business model to suit the current market.  This is a great example of companies utilising social media to reach and interact with their target audience, and as this involves Lady Gaga I’m sure we will see plenty of others following suit.

This is quite topical for me at the moment. I am moving house and have quickly learnt that estate agents and solicitors both love the old methods of communication. They even make you sign a form that states you understand email isn’t the most secure form of communication you can use! And storing all my personal details etc. on a piece of paper in a filing cabinet in your office is?

So it started me thinking. If both parties in this process embraced new forms of communication, how easy would it be for the potential punter? Here are just a few ways they could use social media to improve their communications:

1) Twitter accounts per branch would allow tweets to be sent out about new properties added or sales agreed on. With the increased use of social media on mobile and the Twitter apps available, potential buyers and renters could access this information real time to find out what properties may interest them.

2) Open up communications on Twitter. If estate agents and solicitors monitored Twitter accounts regularly, then this may result in them attracting more business through quotes and valuation appointments. For agents, it could also mean that questions could be sent back and forth for a certain property. If this was integrated with the website, then these questions and answers could be displayed alongside the listing, as Ebay does so well with questions on an item.

3) Social media case tracking. Solicitors are in the dark ages when it comes to communication. They only want to hear from you via signed forms, phone calls and letters. Emails get a blunt reponse usually and are not trusted. Wouldnt it be nice if your solicitor offered an online case tracking system, which integrated with Twitter or Facebook? You could get a DM or message updating you on your case or passing on some vital information. This would speed the whole process up and take out a lot of the frustration in dealing with solicitors.

4) Facebook groups and pages for estate agents would be useful too. Uploading images and videos of properties onto Facebook would allow people to browse through a property without having to visit the agents website. In order to book viewings or request more info, the call to action would then be to contact the agents using the property ref shown on Facebook.

5) Be proactive. Agents and solicitors could post questions on Twitter about their services (Anyone got any questions on conveyancing?). They could post about interesting developments in cases or chains they are handling which is informative or could even post special offers on fees for a particular month.

Some estate agents have made good strides in this however. The launching of iPhone apps is a great way of connecting with the right audiences (allbeit ignoring the growing Android market). These apps however can cost thousands to develop and whilst they have a huge amount of value in today’s market, monitoring and utilising social media channels is much more cost effective and opens the lines of communication with potential purchasers.

These days it’s hard to find people in these businesses that you can trust instantly, and whilst social media shouldn’t be seen as the only qualifying tool in selecting one of the parties, it is a sure fire way of connecting with a target audience who are increasingly using social platforms as their main forms of communication.

Please feel free to leave comments as I would be interested in knowing your opinions!

(Photo: Estate Agency Academy)

Obviously I was intrigued, and when I saw an online application to be a part of Frankenstein’s wedding as a participating audience member, I just had to sign me and a few friends up! Looking around the BBC Three’s web page, I was interested in how this live theatre performance had been put together. There was a blog detailing Elizabeth’s (Frankenstein’s bride) video diaries prior to the main event, and a link to a dance video, which those lucky enough to get tickets would need to learn. It also had behind the scenes footage, where you could meet the characters and read about the event’s dress code. It was a great teaser to the main event and a way of gaining online interest.

After applying, I attended the dance workshop, and was selected to have a more prominent part via an email campaign that was sent randomly to 100 of the 1000 people taking park in the dance. Whilst at the event, it was hard to see what was actually going on in the performance as it was a mixture of pre-recorded clips and live scenes. When watching it back, it was great to see it all come together and even better when watching the flash mob dance, which to everyone else watching will have been a total surprise.

So in conclusion, I was indeed surprised that simply browsing the BBC website triggered the chain of events that occurred, and how they had used online advertising and email campaigns to get all the extras and dancers for the performance. I also think it could have been one of the largest flash mob dances with 12,000 in total taking part.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ft448

And for those wondering what its like behind the scenes of something like this, it’s all fun and games as you can see from the below Youtube link (we were taking our prominent roles really seriously!).

Union flag tea towel. Check.

Day off. Check.

Yes I am nearly beside myself with excitement about the upcoming royal nuptials!

OK I’m actually not. I am pleased however to have the day off and I am mildly curious on whether Kate Middleton will be wearing an Alexander McQueen dress. Apart from that, I’m definitely veering towards the apathetic side of things.

Having said that, as an owner of a Charles and Di wedding mug from ‘81, I wonder how this royal wedding will differ from those big ones back in the 80s.

I hear that street parties are not looking as popular as they were back in the day. So does that mean people will be looking online for their royal fix instead of hitting the streets?  The official organisers certainly think so and they’ve gone all out on the social media front as a result.

The website is being updated daily and features YouTube videos, although the comment facility has been disabled. There is a Twitter feed, which features only their announcements rather than risk any interactivity (although apparently our future king has shared some thoughts via the account). Every page has the facility to be Facebook liked, and they’re using Flickr to publish more than 3000 photos. Best of all, the site will be making the music performed during the ceremony immediately available for download!!

And on the big day (or now if you just can’t wait), Google Earth will allow you to walk the royal procession route with its 3D Tour. Google has obligingly ‘planted’ more than 12,000 3D trees in St James, Hyde Park and Green Park to make it all the more scenic and romantic for those virtual bystanders.

Who knew the Royals were so this century?!

I was wondering if this Royal Wedding site was being used to simply publish content out to the media, but more than 30,000 likes and a subsequent visit to the British Monarchy Facebook page shows that people really are interested.

As I suspected, a lot of that interest is international. However, there appears to be plenty of patriotic Brits participating and with more than 320,000 followers, comments and likes on every piece of content published, maybe some people are actually looking forward to the big day for more than just the Bank Holiday!

The organisers are promoting the content on the wedding site through the Facebook feed, which is the obvious way of driving them to the site. It just seems a shame that the official Facebook page is the only area in which this community can interact. The comprehensive Royal Wedding site has all the information and is using all the tools, but it just stops short of actually allowing its subjects to participate and generate more excitement and content through interactivity.

Source: Official Royal Wedding Site

TED2011 was based around ‘The Rediscovery of Wonder’ with some fantastic speakers like Morgan Spurlock and Bill Gates. Topics discussed included everything from a scientist describing one of nature’s breathtaking surprises, an inventor unveiling a new marvel and an artist revealing her impossibly rich imagination.

Every single speaker was fascinating; however, there was one in particular that caught my interest — CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi. Nooyi has helped PepsiCo start the Pepsi Refresh Project, which funds the highest public voted projects submitted to PepsiCo online. With approximately $5000 per project, she is effectively using micro-funding to create social change in the US.  The Pepsi Refresh Project started in January 2010 and has had a lot of publicity since its launch. At the start of 2010 PepsiCo announced that for the first time in 23 years, it would redirect its $20 million Super Bowl Advertising budget into a social media campaign: the Pepsi Refresh Project.  This was a social media campaign that lets the online community decide which individuals and groups get awarded serious grants to help do good in the world.

The project has not only put a substantial amount of money into many worthy causes, but it has also engineered interaction with its customer base.  The project has set the conversations in motion and Pepsi has continued to consistently interact with these conversations. Head of Digital at PepsiCo Beverages Shiv Sing has suggested that the RefreshEverything.com site now attracts more unique users on a monthly basis than other sites with which the brand would previously have considered purchasing display advertising.  In addition to this, the sites accrued more than 7,500 applications in its first year, and 42 million votes. Meanwhile, the brand’s “likes” on Facebook have increased from 225,000 to well over a million in that period, and its Twitter following and YouTube presence have also grown!!

Not every company has the resource or the brand power to create a social media strategy of this scale, but with community engagement now an integral part of any company’s online strategy, the question is how will you apply this thinking to your business?

Over the pond in the US of A, American Idol and X-Factor look set to use Facebook as part of their voting processes, which also includes the more traditional telephone and SMS text votes. Apparently, users will be able to vote up to 50 times as long as they vote within a designated period with the service launching 1 March.

It’s definitely an interesting move by the reality television show and I would certainly suspect popular live voting shows – UK and US – to follow trend. Can you imagine voting for your favourite Britain’s Got Talent act? Or how about “liking” (or more likely disliking) an unfortunate contestant for a Bush Tucker trial?

Just another method to bring things to the now generation. Quick and simple, click – done!

The democracy of Twitter means that anyone involved (or not) in the happenings in Egypt could tweet (until the authorities closed down the internet – in itself scary, but nothing that couldn’t be got round, with some clever technology).  Too often do we have the sensationalist traditional media reporting, and it’s not easy to discern whether what is happening is actually alarming or if it’s the norm spun to back up the story that they want to report.

At one point people were describing how hectic and disorganised Cairo airport was – having been there a couple of years ago, I think that mayhem describes the airport on a normal day. So when tourists stepped off the plane and spoke to the TV crews, it was difficult to discern whether this was actually an indication of upheaval or sensationalist reporting to beef up the peaceful protesting story.

Despite a regime that wanted to blackout the rest of the world’s media and keep what was happening under the radar, Twitter allowed people to tell the world what was happening. Incredibly, when the Egyptian government blacked out the web, Google engineers built a system to allow protesters to send voice tweets over the phone – bypassing the internet that had been shut down. Amazingly, it only took only a few days – talk about necessity being the mother of invention!

As Twitter nears its fifth birthday and has 190 million people using it, sending out  65 million messages a day, you can dismiss it as a frivolous tool to tell the world about your mundane actions or opinions. However, you can’t deny that it is carving a space for itself as a tool to report what will become important history. Vive la revolution!

In layman’s terms, these types of adverts will allow a brand/company to use posts made by users when interacting with their Facebook page, and turn these into branded ads that can be shown to a user’s friends or in fact, anybody across the Facebook network (depending on privacy settings).

So imagine as a Facebook user, you go and like a new brand on Facebook, write an update on that brand’s Facebook page wall, or check into that Brand’s page on Facebook places. That would then allow that brand to use your update to promote to your own friends to give them greater exposure.

The example below details a user checking into Starbucks on Facebook places, tagging in one of their Facebook friends and then a small update to explain the reason behind their visit. You can then see how this update can be turned into a Sponsored Story by Starbucks.

For a more detailed look at how these types of ads will work, I recommend watching the official, and very helpful (if not a little cheesy!), Facebook video below:

So here are the key facts about Sponsored Stories:

The product will be split into four different types

• Page Likes: An ad that simply highlights that a user has liked your page and then allows other users in turn to like your page.
• Check Ins: When a user checks into your location using their smartphone on Facebook Places, and either tags another user in or attaches a small text update, a branded ad can be formed using this type of update (as shown in the example earlier).
• Application play: Let’s say your Facebook page is Levi’s for example, and you have an application built into the page that allows a user to upload their own photos of them wearing your jeans. An ad can be formed showing the user’s name and a thumbnail of the photo they uploaded with a caption.
• Promote your own updates: As a Facebook page owner, when you update your page’s status, this will show in the Newsfeeds of any Facebook user that currently likes your page (providing they haven’t opted out previously). Sponsored story adverts will also allow you to promote one of your own updates into an ad form that will gain greater exposure.

A very important point about these types of ads that should be noted (especially from a user’s privacy point of view), is that a user cannot opt out of their details being shown in these types of adverts. The ads will essentially reflect your existing privacy settings on Facebook for updates. So if your current updates can be seen by anybody on Facebook, friends of friends or just specifically people on your Facebook friends lists, then the use of your information in a Sponsored Story advert will follow the same privacy settings. To me, this doesn’t feel like much of a big deal – if at present you were to go and like Coca-Cola’s Facebook page, then this update would go on to be seen in the newsfeeds of people in your friend list. Is it really that different if the update was then shown to the same people in advert form (albeit in a more prominent position)?

So why has Facebook launched this type of ad?

Put simply, the aim is really quite clever and simple. Sponsored stories will massively increase how relevant adverts are to users. If you see that a friend has checked into a restaurant, liked a brand or interacted with a particular Facebook brand page, you are far more likely to take notice and interact yourself than if the brand itself told you to in an advert.

Some may argue that these types of adverts are needless and just another way of making extra revenue for Facebook, as the type of updates you see in these ads are just the same as the ones you see in your newsfeeds every day from friends which cost nothing. However, it all comes down to message exposure which can be difficult to achieve substantially on a large scale. For example, if a user has 300 friends on Facebook and ‘likes’ a page, then it’s unlikely that all 300 of these friends will see the update on their feeds. This is because Facebook picks and chooses which stories to show you in your feed based on how recently you interacted with certain friends. Furthermore, if your update hits a newsfeed of a friend that has more than 800 friends themselves, then it can quite quickly get lost amongst the noise of that feed. It’s more likely that your update will probably only be seen by 50 of those 300 friends at best, and how many of them will even take it in?

A Sponsored Story ad would be shown in a more prominent fixed position on the right-hand side of the screen and shown to your friends on a regular basis as they navigate round Facebook, thus gaining your page greater exposure and increasing the chances of users not only noticing the update, but also interacting with it.

1.)  Previous meetings: Of the 32 previous games, Green Bay has won 18 times to the Steelers 14.

2.)  Super bowl wins: Steelers six vs. Packers three

3.)  Offence versus Defence: Packers have an amazing defence but the Steelers dominate when in offence.

4.)  Team loyalty: Green Bay has their cheese heads while Steely McBeam can be seen signing autographs for all Steelers fans.

At the moment, the Steelers are predicted to win but this year, be sure to keep your eye on another popular feature of the game: the adverts. Each 30-second commercial has a hefty price tag of $2.7 million, and this year there are both new and repeat performers: Regulars like Doritos, Pepsi and Budweiser as well as new buyers like Pizza Hut and Groupon, the local retail coupon website. Some companies, like Mercedes-Benz and Audi are even progressing into the digital world by incorporating social media into this year’s adverts. The goal: to reach viewers beyond the 30-second slot.

According to a recent Independent article, Mercedes-Benz is launching ”The World’s First Twitter-Fueled Race,” which gives cars to a two-person team that gains the most Mercedes Benz tweets and Facebook ”likes.”

The details, according to an Ad Week article, are as follows: Starting on 2 Feb, four racing teams led by four celebrities (Serena Williams, Rev Run, Nick Swisher and Pete Wentz) will make their way to the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas from Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Tampa in specially equipped Mercedes vehicles, competing in a series of challenges along the way. The winner is not the first to arrive but the team with the most Twitter activity or ”Tweet Fuel.” The teams are competing for a pair of 2012 C Class Coupes that are not currently available in America.

Steve Cannon, Merceds ad chief, said ”We think the combination of our advertising and the Twitter Race will create the type of ‘living’ advertisement that engages people in new ways.”

Audi will be rewarding its 10 ”most active” social media fans with trips and prizes for the most original and humorous posts. ”We’re trying to use social media to glue everything together, said Scott Keough, chief marketing officer at Audi America in a USA Today article.

The real question is – Who will drive the ball furthest this year: Twitter followers or the Steeler’s quarterback?

My prediction: 28 to 24 Steelers

(Photo: Source dailywireless.org)

Once installed you simply put in the account information for each of the social networks you want to use it with. When browsing if there is a website, image or any online information you want to share, you simply click the mouse button and hold for a second – this will open the Cortex wheel.  The wheel is split into each of the social networks that you have granted access in your account, roll the mouse onto the network that you want to publish on, and just release and your content will be shared.   The information is already published by the time you open or refresh your social network site!

It does have its drawbacks. Being built for Google Chrome, it is not compatible with any other browser, so if you’re not a user of Chrome, it won’t be suitable for you.  Also at present it only supports four services:

Twitter

Facebook

Instapaper

Tumblr

However it is early days for Cortex, so this might change, and whilst it is limited with the services,  its connection speed and simplicity more than makes up for it. It really is great fun to use!

Here’s a demo of Cortex in use:

Whilst looking at that map, I was thinking about my own friends who decided to move to another city, country or even continent. I was surprised when I realised that my personal connection map could look quite similar to this world map, except the fact that I don’t have that many friends. Excited about that, I started visiting all my friends’ profiles to find out where they all live at the moment. After having done that, I took this data to create my personal Facebook connection map. One hour later, I finally gained the knowledge of having 405 friends living on all continents, in 25 countries and 104 different cities/regions.

These kinds of maps could have a huge potential for Facebook as they can improve its initial purpose – to connect people with each other. There are several opportunities where connection maps would help users to share their knowledge and experiences. Before moving to a new city, planning that next weekend trip or booking the next summer holiday, you could ask friends for a bed for a night, a good hotel, restaurant, tourist attractions etc. It could further allow finding friends of whom you forgot where they live at the moment and then consider visiting them. From an online marketing perspective, Facebook could offer this tool to advertisers just like Google AdWords Regional Targeting. Advertisers could choose specific regions on the connection map where many people live, who like their product or page and run their adverts in these regions only.

Some other social networks have already implemented individual connection maps. Xing –a German version of LinkedIn- for example, offer connection mapping based on Google Maps where users can find connections by either searching for friends or places:

Whilst doing some research for this blog I found pros and cons about connection maps on Facebook. Many people said that it could be a useful tool which could be easily implemented. Others mentioned privacy issues and warned about a further step away from user data protection. I personally share both opinions. Given that users can choose if they want to be shown on their friends’ connection maps or not it is worth considering creating such a tool as Facebook aims to “help you connect and share with people in your life”.

The BP oil spill became one of America’s biggest environmental disasters with a ruptured pipe that leaked 185 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Lasting 3 months with numerous investigations, there were certainly plenty of talking points surrounding this topic.

The FIFA World cup had three mentions. The tournament itself, this year based in South Africa, hit number two while the ear pounding vuvuzela came in at number 5. One of the main talking points ranked number 10 – Paul the physic octopus took the world by storm with its amazing match predicting abilities (He correctly predicted 4 of 6 Euro 2008 ties and all 8 matches given to him in the 2010 FIFA World Cup).

Here’s the full list.

Overall Top 10 Twitter Trends:

1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul

Top 10 News Events on Twitter

1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. Haiti Earthquake
3. Pakistan Floods
4. Koreas Conflict
5. Chilean Miners Rescue
6. Chavez Tas Ponchao
7. Wikileaks Cablegate
8. Hurricane Earl
9. Prince Williams Engagement
10. World Aids Day

Top 10 People on Twitter

1. Justin Bieber
2. Dilma Rouseff
3. Lady Gaga
4. Julian Assange
5. Mel Gibson
6. Lil Kim
7. Zilda Arns
8. Kate Middleton
9. Kim Hee Chul
10. Joannie Rochette

Top 10 Movies on Twitter

1. Inception
2. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. Despicable Me
5. Karate Kid
6. The Last Airbender
7. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
8. The Expendables
9. The Chronicles of Narnia
10. Paranormal Activity 2

Top 10 Television Programmes on Twitter

1. MTV Video Music Awards
2. Pretty Little Liars
3. True Blood
4. Walking Dead
5. Grammy Awards
6. Glee
7. Family Guy
8. CSI
9. MTV Movie Awards
10. American Music Awards

Top 10 Technology Topics on Twitter

1. Apple iPad
2. Google Android
3. Apple iOS
4. Apple iPhone
5. Call of Duty Black Ops
6. New Twitter
7. HTC
8. RockMelt
9. MacBook Air
10. Google Instant

Top 10 World Cup Topics on Twitter

1. FIFA World Cup
2. Vuvuzela
3. Pulpo Paul
4. Dunga
5. Diego Maradona
6. Cristiano Ronaldo
7. Cala Boca Galvao
8. Lionel Messi
9. Oranje
10. Felipe Melo

Top 10 Sports Topics on Twitter

1. Lebron James
2. Wimbledon
3. Manchester United
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Celtics
6. Brett Favre
7. Tony Parker
8. Antonio Margarito
9. Blake Griffin
10. Mike Vick

Top 10 #Hashtags on Twitter

1. #rememberwhen
2. #slapyourself
3. #confessiontime
4. #thingsimiss
5. #ohjustlikeme
6. #wheniwaslittle
7. #haveuever
8. #icantlivewithout
9. #thankful
10. #2010disappointments

There will be a lot of differing views on the answer to that question, but Syncapse produced a report in June in which they placed an actual monetary value on a single Facebook fan. They claim a fan is worth, on average around $136.38.

In their report they looked at 6 different variables:

1)     Product Spending

2)     Loyalty

3)     Propensity to Recommend

4)     Brand Affinity

5)     Media Value

6)     Acquisition Cost

Using these they surveyed 4,000 fans of the top brands on Facebook, investigating their motivations towards the brands they were fans of, covering potential spending and past and future purchasing habits to discover the probable spend of a fan.

The report discovered that in-fact that Facebook fans are more loyal to fanned brands that non-fans which is good news to all marketing or brand managers who have spent time driving fans to their Facebook page. Other key value points include:

• On average, fans spend an extra $71.84 they would not otherwise spend on products they describe themselves as fans of, compared to those who are not fans.

• Fans are 28 percent more likely than non-fans to continue using a specific brand.

• Fans are 41 percent more likely than non-fans to recommend a product they are a fan of to their friends.

Whether you agree or disagree with this value, what is interesting that Syncapse have come up with a template of metrics to allow managers to place a value on a relatively new channel for their brands. The ROI of Social Media based campaigns can be somewhat woolly or vague. So to have a framework to measure future campaigns is useful to build upon.

Out of all of the variables they looked at,  the ‘Propensity to Recommend’ is, in my opinion, the most important and this is something I will be looking at in my next blog post.

Within the company we have a policy that ALL employees must contribute at least one post to our blog every month.  It’s an invaluable method of sharing our expertise and knowledge with a wider audience, and a simple process which has dramatically boosted the performance of our own website.  I got behind with my posts, hence the very public dressing down.

The benefits of blogging are vast and varied however here is a quick summary of the key wins, along with a few blog writing tips which I try to bear in mind each month:

1. Search Engine Marketing

Spidering search engines, like Google, love websites that are regularly updated with fresh, well written, keyword-rich content. If Google lists more pages, more people will come across your website.  If Google re-indexes your site more frequently, new pages you put online will appear in the search results more quickly, and your rankings will go up.

2. Direct Communications
Over time you will build a following of people who request updates from your blog because they are interested in what you have to say.  Every time you push out a new post to your readers you are communicating directly with your target audience, and if the posts are honest and transparent you will automatically instil trust and respect in your potential customers.  Encouraging a two-way conversation via comments will help to engage your customers further.

3. Brand Building

A blog is a great way to get your brand in front of thousands of people who otherwise would never know you existed.  A good blog will highlight your unique selling point, setting you apart from your competitors by showing how you work – your approach and your solution to their challenge.  A blog offers the ideal platform to counter any negative sentiment about your company or industry.  It is an easy way of managing your online reputation.

4. Social Media Marketing

Community sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and social bookmarking sites like delicious, Stumbleupon and digg can produce astounding results. If you are lucky enough to have one of your blog articles go ‘viral’ on one of these sites you should brace yourself for a surge of new website visitors and possibly some high quality inbound links.

5. Ask The Expert
If your blog posts are informed and informative, people will soon pay attention and keep coming back.  These people are also far more likely to buy from you.

6. Low Cost

Setting up a blog doesn’t cost very much and maintaining one costs practically nothing.

Now that I have convinced you of the benefits, it’s time to join the revolution.  Checklist:  Make sure your posts are short and snappy with clear, bold headlines.  Keep the reader in mind, ensuring that the information is approachable and worthwhile reading.  Try to educate and add value where possible.  And get your keywords in there.

Friday’s telling off brought to my attention the importance of blogging to Epiphany as a company.  Since we began following these easy steps we have published 342 posts and blog traffic is up 992% year on year, CPA is down and conversions are up.  Lesson learnt!

Even with seven seats still undecided in the House, the Republicans succeeded in gaining 60 seats, as well as five seats in the Senate, with one seat still undecided.

This victory for the Republicans has the Democrats experiencing a bit of déjà vu: In 1992, a young politician from Hope, Arkansas came riding in as a breath of fresh air for the American people. His familiar promise of ”change,” after more than 10 years of Republican leadership, ensured him a place in the White House. Although he suffered attacks on his personal life, he was voted in again for a second term. Like Obama, Clinton was required to work with a Republican majority after the 1994 mid-term election, and still managed to secure a second term.

One noticeable difference with this election is the use of social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, to promote candidacy. According to a recent article on Mashable, ”more than 12 million people clicked Facebook’s ”I Voted” button this year….” This has doubled since the 2008 election when Obama was elected. News anchors used Twitter to keep voters updated, and several news stations teamed up with online platforms promoting a trendier way to encourage citizens to utilise their democratic right.

While Obama may be the most recent president to use social media, he is certainly not the first. Franklin D. Roosevelt held ”Fireside Chats” on Sundays from 1933 to 1944, which were extremely successful with American citizens. FDR was the pioneer in this form of ”social media” but Obama has followed in his footsteps by uploading his addresses on YouTube.

With a reported 88 million Americans at the polls two weeks ago, social media has indeed changed the way voters are influenced. Almost 100 candidates engaged with voters on Facebook using their election page as a way to win over their ”friends.” The old practice of ”hitting the campaign trail” has been replaced with reaching voters through updates on Facebook and tweets on Twitter; two social media platforms that are designed to be instant, therefore creating both convenience and cheaper marketing tools for politicians. Not sure the Founding Fathers of America would have traded their podiums for podcasts, but with social media’s significant role in politics, perhaps it is time for the 28^th amendment: the right to Tweet.

With a decrease in disposable income and an increase in spending around Christmas, this may be the solution for buying those endless gifts for relatives.

The new tool allows users to set up a profile for the person they are looking to buy for, and choose a gift of which they hope to buy. You can then invite friends and family to join in and contribute to the gift. If you’re stuck for ideas, the social network has now become even more powerful as is it now able to choose gifts for the person using information from their profile.

So how does it work?

1. Visit http://groupgifts.ebay.com/ and input the gift recipient’s name, the occasion and the deadline.

2. You then choose a gift either by selecting an item that you choose or by selecting one of eBay’s recommended items pulled from information on the recipient’s Facebook and general popular choices. Buy it now items can only be purchased as auction items have an uncertain price.

3. Choose how much you will be contributing and sign the virtual greeting card.

4. Invite friends/family to contribute by using Facebook privately, Twitter or email.

5. Once the required funds are collected, the item is purchased and can be sent to the buyer or directly to the recipient.

EBay Group Gifts is designed to make “it easier for friends and relatives to chip in for gifts because it eliminates the headache of collecting contributions“. This service is a great way to encourage group buying, save money and still buy the recipient a valuable gift. It also removes the hassle and makes relevant suggestions as to what they may like. The only problem is that if the recipient has Facebook privacy settings active, eBay is unable to pull the information required.

Some say that eBay may have to spend time convincing consumers to join in as changing buying habits can be difficult. A recent survey from Accenture found that one in five consumers used Facebook for purchases last year, but that 88 percent said they wouldn’t be doing their holiday shopping on social networks or mobile phones this year. Of those, 26 percent cited privacy concerns as the primary deterrent, while 20 percent simply didn’t see the benefit in mobile or Facebook-based shopping.

I did have a go at Group Gifts and surprisingly it came up with some good ideas, however you have to hope that the recipient has updated their likes and interests recently, as when I tried this for my 19 year old brother it came up with music that I am pretty sure he does not listen to any more!

Overall I am not sure if this is something that I would use, however If I was asked to contribute to someone who was using the tool I would. It may be something for those early adopters to persuade the masses, but one thing is for sure, I will be changing my likes and interests to something other than Cinderella!

YouTube hopes the awards will help to promote the variety and creativity of advertising on its platform. Entries include digital only campaigns as well as TV adverts that were also run on the channel.

My personal favourites include Samsung’s Extreme Sheep LED, Old Spice’s the best your man could smell like, and one of my ultimate favourite uses of YouTube that I have seen in a long time Tipp-ex’s Hunter shoots a bear. To view all the shortlisted ads go to http://www.youtube.com/iloveads

The shortlist has been made, the votes counted and the winner will be announced at the Campaign Media Awards on 17th November. The winner will receive a YouTube takeover worth £75,000 and approximately 11 million views.

For information on the Campaign Media Awards email Adele Durham at adele.durham@haymarket.com.

Entrants shortlist

Brand: Arriva
Execution: Mukhtar’s birthday
Credit: Kadaver Bybird

Brand: AT&T
Execution: AT&T winner in the 2010 MOFILM Barcelona contest
Credit: MOFILM Barcelona

Brand: Canal+
Execution: Canal+ Closet
Credit: BETC Euro RSCG, Paris

Brand: Carlsberg
Execution: Carlsberg team talk
Credit: Saatchi & Saatchi

Brand: Comparethemarket.com
Execution: Launch ad
Credit: VCCP

Brand: European Golf Tour
Execution: Gong
Credit: Saatchi & Saatchi

Brand: The Expendables
Execution: The Expendables YouTube page takeover
Credit: The Visionaire Group

Brand: Foster’s
Execution: Good call!
Credit: Adam & Eve

Brand: Hi-Tec
Execution: Liquid mountaineering
Credit: CCCP (Amsterdam)

Brand: Home Office
Execution: Street dares
Credit: VCCP

Brand: John Lewis
Execution: Never knowingly undersold
Credit: Adam & Eve

Brand: Johnnie Walker
Execution: The man who walked around the world
Credit: Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Brand: Nike
Execution: Write the future
Credit: W&K Amsterdam

Brand: Nokia N8
Execution: Dot.mov
Credit: W&K London

Brand: O2
Execution: Gorillaz
Credit: VCCP

Brand: Old Spice
Execution: The best your man could smell like (‘responses’)
Credit: W&K Portland

Brand: Pfizer
Execution: Get real, get a prescription
Credit: Langland

Brand: Philips
Execution: Parallel lines
Credit: Ridley Scott Associates

Brand: Samsung
Execution: Extreme Sheep LED
Credit: The Viral Factory

Brand: Shelter
Execution: House of Cards
Credit: Leo Burnett London

Brand: Sony
Execution: Get a job on Pocket TV
Credit: Iris

Brand: Strongbow (Bankers)
Execution: Strongbow Bankers Honours
Credit: St Lukes

Brand: The Sun
Execution: 4.0 viral
Credit: Glue Isobar

Brand: Sussex Safer Roads
Execution: Embrace life – always wear your seat belt
Credit: Daniel Cox (writer and director), Sarah Alexander (producer)

Brand: Tipp-ex
Execution: Hunter shoots a bear
Credit: Buzzman (Paris)

Brand: Visit Sweden
Execution: Dave goes to Skane
Credit: Glue Isobar

Brand: WaterAid
Execution: ‘Poo’ viral
Credit: Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw

Brand: Xbox 360
Execution: Alpine legend
Credit: AKQA

Back in June this year, the Glastonbury Music Festival and sponsor Orange made an attempt to break the World Record for the most people tagged in an online image. I’m pleased to say I am in the picture! Although where, I have no idea!

The panoramic image was taken with two Hasselblad H4D-50 Cameras mounted one on top of the other, and rotated at 10 degree increments to take in the entire crowd, going back 350 meters. The cameras captured more than 70,000 who at the time, like me, were watching the England vs. Slovenia World Cup match on the first day of the festival.

Andrew Pearcey, Head of Brand Partnerships at Orange said: “Looking at the sheer numbers who have tagged themselves in the photo, and knowing it is both a unique and shared experience, is truly fantastic.”

The photo, once taken, was uploaded to Orange’s Glastonbury microsite, allowing those present at the event to find and tag themselves. This however is like a giant Where’s Wally (without the stripy jumper!). Instead everyone looks pretty much the same, and because of the heat, are wearing sunglasses and sun hats making this process of tagging even harder.

The number of people currently tagged stands around 8,000, breaking The Guinness World Record for the “Most People Tagged in an Online Photo”. Even today, the number is still increasing, how I do not know. The photo is of amazing quality, but by that point in the day I had already had a number of home brewed ciders, so have no idea where I was stood and am surprised anyone can remember!

Anyone fancy looking for me???

And the Most Super of all Agents

I’m glad we were correct in our predictions and would like to congratulate Dean Stokes on his win. Dean Stokes by far was the most noticeable Super Agent in the competition, spreading the word across Twitter and YouTube among other social media sites. What probably made him stand out from the others was his YouTube videos which he promoted very well via his other social media sources. Armed with outrageous disguises, the public were provided with light-hearted and funny videos to keep us entertained and eager for more. We’ve embedded our favourite vids from his campaign.

Other Goo on the Loose Contestants

Enough about Mr Stokes. What about the other Super Agents that gave it a good goo (I’ll get my coat…)? We briefly mentioned Toby Tully who probably created the most alter egos with her vast collection of disguise material the Amy Winehouse beehive being particularly amusing. We suspected she would be the strongest competition to Stokes with a strong YouTube and Twitter following.

Following up Super Agent Spud Hartrey, our suspicions were correct about her spammy techniques on Twitter which later converted to desperation techniques on Twitter. To her credit though, she gained a lot of followers but probably lost a lot more in the long run.

Where Now for Cadbury?
So what about Cadbury? They organised this event, they’ve chosen a winner, they’re probably analysing the techniques right now. I still stand by the notion that this was all one large scale experiment so they could penetrate the social media marketing sphere. Watch closely as the entrants experiment with different social media techniques, choose the most successful methods and fine tune them to come up with another strong strategy for the future. Cadbury have gone the right way about it with something innovative and as such, we will almost certainly see the return of another campaign before long.

A Little Extra Goo

As promised, a couple of videos from Dean Stokes:

101 ways to torture the Goo on the Loose

Mission to London

What is ‘Goo on the Loose’

Operation ‘Goo on the Loose’, setup by the CIA (Cadbury Intelligence Agency), holds its base at the ‘Goo on the Loose’ microsite. This website provides the latest scheming clues from the devious Creme Egg Twisted whilst also providing access to the public competition.

The Super Agent competition began on Friday 12 June 2009 with Cadbury drafting 10 winners of the Phase One competition as their new Super Agents. The aim, from what I have read and seen of the Super Agents so far, is to receive the most exposure across all platforms of Social Media in an attempt to win £20,000.

Agent Prince Cleton seems to describe this best on his blog:

“I am Prince Cleton one of ten super agents taking part in the Cadbury Creme Egg ‘Goo is on the Loose’ competition to win £20,000. By solving clues leading to famous landmarks the agents have to make witty videos, photos, blogs and recruit followers to earn points to take them to the No 1 spot.”

How Does Operation Goo on the Loose Work?

Now the Super Agents have worked for the CIA for a few weeks, their humorous reports have been flooding out across YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and their own personal blog, all linked together with Twitter.

Each agent was briefed by the CIA and provided with their tools for the venture including a Flip camera and a set of novelty disguises. The Flip camera plays a large role in the Super Agents intelligence reports and although Cadbury are seen as a mainstream quality brand, this campaign allows Cadbury to have fun through the agents and amateurish style of entertainment being brought to our screen.

It is also interesting to see the different techniques of each Super Agent as their quest unfolds and how successful each agent has become.

Examples of Operation Goo on the Loose

Super Agent Dean Stokes gives us amusing updates of his progress through (mainly) YouTube, a free WordPress blog and via Twitter. Other agents have been throwing their message out over local radio and even through Celebs too. Agent Stokes has been clever with the way he has set up his videos, his Agent name and personal URLs appear on his videos at the right moments. Speaking with a colleague of mine, we both remembered his name after watching his first YouTube video which is priceless in value. Along with Toby Tully, he could be a favourite to win the £20,000.

On the other hand, Super Agent Spud Hartrey has gone for a spammy technique which has gained her (strangely enough) a fair amount of followers on Twitter. However this technique will no doubt aggravate a lot of users and lead them to un-follow her at the same time.

It’s an interesting and relatively amusing campaign to keep an eye on and I’ll write another post specifically on the Super Agents once the competition comes to an end.

Goo on the Loose Gone Public

Let’s not forget about the public competition! Although not as mainstream or entertaining as the Super Agents, you sign-up, create your own agent name based on two random questions. Through signing up, my new alias became ‘Agent Crunchie Whitesmith’(?!). Follow CremeEggTwisted on Twitter and look for the ‘ATTENTION – YOUR NEXT TARGET IS:…’ for the latest clue. The aim is to find ‘Twisted’ on the interactive Google Map based on the clue provided. Two clues are given each week, cracking eight clues or more will enter you into a prize draw to win a trip to Morocco. Good times!

Personal Thoughts

Through both campaigns Cadbury have attempted a viral campaign and I stress ‘attempted’ as it hasn’t really taken off…. yet. Viral campaigns generally require two things to launch. A genius idea which catches the attention of a few, turning the few into more until the number becomes great enough for the conformative momentum to pick up and result in the word spreading with minimum effort. Cadbury’s idea is a good one and still has five or so weeks remaining but I think it will be a struggle for this to become large-scale.

The campaign is not perfect, it’s a little too spread out and hard to follow. The microsite isn’t very user-friendly and information is hard to find (but maybe that’s part of being an Agent, right?). From what I’ve seen and read, however, it has been enjoyable to follow through posts, videos, tweets and pictures and lay a superb foundation point for Cadbury in the future. By engaging the public too, they will promote the Super Agents antics for nothing.

Overall, it’s win-win for Cadbury. They promote one of their latest products through others via a social media experiment and then use and analyse the successful techniques used by the Super Agents to gain the most attention on each YouTube, Twitter, blogs etc. I would bet after some fine tuning and maybe a little more testing, you’ll be seeing more campaigns from Cadbury to promote themselves, if not their new products, and endorse themselves as a social media marketing force in the future.

The update is a welcome one for me, improving the user interface and making it easier to interact with other users. For epiphany, a quicker way to view followers may be useful to ensure followers that fit into our interests have not been missed. This could come into the form of a dropdown menu where you choose how many followers you want to view on the page. What do you think of the new update? Do you love it, loath it? And how what improvements would you like to see to these pages or Twitter overall? Follow us on Twitter Download our Free Business Guide to Twitter

On June 11th 2009, Twitter released ‘Verified Accounts’ as a Beta in a battle against celebrity impersonators and identity fraud. The experimentation phase will involve verifying the most high-profile accounts on Twitter to help manage cases of mistaken identity or impersonation.

If you view profiles such as Ashton Kutcher and Oprah Winfrey you’ll be able to see the verified seals on their accounts (And surely Stephen Fry should have one! Update: Stephen Fry now has a verified account!)

Why do Twitter Verified Accounts Exist?

As previously mentioned Twitter is constantly fighting impersonators and mistaken identity. A last straw was when Tony La Russa, manager of the Arizona Cardinals, sued Twitter after a user created a fake account and began to post offensive ‘tweets’ under La Russa’s name.

Although Biz Stone saw the whole La Russa scenario as verging on ridiculous, he did acknowledge the need to take action against impersonators to protect users identities and as a result, Twitter’s own reputation.

Reports that Twitter has appeased La Russa by agreeing to pay his legal fees and donate to his Animal Rescue Foundation have been circulated but sources say these rumours are untrue.

Will Twitter Verified Accounts really work?

Although it is still early days, it seems like verifying accounts could well be a fool proof method. Depending on the reviewing processes applied (currently, this is a case by case review), fraudsters may still be able to find a way to get an unwarranted verified account. However, I’m sure with the brain power at Twitter, and the reputation at stake, this is something that will rarely, if ever, happen.

Once the Beta release is passed (and it will be passed) there is opportunity for this technique to be used on business accounts as well as other Twitterers struggling with impersonation making the Verified Account aka ‘Real Seal’ a common sight on Twitter.

Download our free Business Guide to Twitter here

To explain why social media is so important I feel that I should explain my very mundane morning. It is currently 10.23am on Monday 1st June 2009 and already today I have:

• visited Twitter through Twitroid and Tweet Deck;
• caught up on blogs released overnight through an RSS aggregator whilst on the train, I am also kept up to date on new blog posts throughout the day via Outlook on my laptop;
• browsed forums to catch up on the latest Liverpool FC news;
• visited Youtube for coverage on Britain’s Got Talent;
• logged on to Facebook to see if any friends have any up-coming birthdays;
• monitored Yammer for internal communication;
• used MSN Messenger and Google talk to keep in touch with friends and colleagues;
• started thinking about  this blog post;
• searched Wikipedia to see what it has to say on social media.

My day is only 3 hours and 53 minutes old but the combination of sociology and modern technology that is social media has dictated the majority of my morning already.

What are Social Media Sites?
Social media sites at the core are platforms and tools that facilitate the discovery, participation and sharing of information between select groups and the masses.

They have revolutionised the way in which individuals, such as myself, can reach large groups of people and have led to the democratisation of information by allowing people to give opinions and express what they deem important.

Examples
Sites like Digg and Delicious are employed as a source of news by many, whereas networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are more commonly used for interacting. Social gaming communities that surround Eve online are becoming increasingly popular on the web, in the same way as World of War Craft or the one that Microsoft has created with the Xbox 360.

Social media exists in many different forms such as forums, blogs, microblogs, podcasts, video logs, wikis, email, networking, instant messengers, gaming, photos and video sharing.

If social media sites continue to grow at the current rate they will become an integral part of our lives as we move further into the 21st century.

Social Media Marketing
The mass appeal of these social media sites has resulted in businesses following consumers into the Web 2.0 era. Social Media allows companies to reach more customers, meaning that businesses can answer questions and receive feedback on their products and service.

It is another channel through which businesses can communicate with the consumer, adding another dimension to the traditional marketing mix.

So how important are Social Media sites?
Sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Youtube, Sphinn, Digg, Amazon and Wiki have revolutionised the way in which we build relationships, meet new people, share content and find information.

Social media sites are infinitely important to me and my work, and this is increasingly becoming the case for corporations and the individual. Watch this space.