coexist

(1) Social Media Makes Cents
According to recent reports, $3.60 per connection (per year) is the consensus media value for one Facebook connection. A couple tips for getting the most from your social media investment: brands can post to Facebook twice a day before lowering user engagement and Wednesday is the optimum day for user engagement.

(2) Mobile Advertising Goes Mainstream
Industry leaders, Apple & Google have shelled out over 1 billion dollars to acquire emerging mobile advertising networks. This comes on the heels of recently released statistics proving that data consumption now surpasses voice calling by U.S. cell users. With widespread adoption just months away now – are you ready to extend your current brand channels?

(3) Big Brands Get Physical
Current media darlings, FourSquare and Gowalla have been the talk of every recent tech conference from SXSW to the local coffee shop. These mobile applications allow users to embrace location-based tagging, which as you can imagine, opens up all sorts of opportunities for hyper-local marketing. Buzz around these location-based apps may seem overwhelming, but now that Microsoft is looking to purchase FourSquare while brands from Warner Bros to Facebook are pushing the trend – it’s time to capitalize on this new dimension.

It was really interesting being a part of a brand communication fire-drill recently that was a direct result of the fundamental shift in how people interact and how we view “confidential” information.

Dealing with sensitive information is something clients and agencies do every day. It’s taken seriously and given a touch of common sense is not a big deal. This week, our client realized that it’s a bit more challenging when dealing with “don’t tell” information that affects the people that were asked to keep it a secret. (more…)

Xbox Live launched an update yesterday, allowing their Gold subscribers to interact with Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, and the Zune.net store. While the integration is not without its flaws, it’s still a welcomed update that opens many doors.

Coupled with last years update which allows subscribers to stream any Netflix Watch Instantly movie through their console, the Xbox 360 now serves as a pretty robust piece of entertainment hardware when compared to its release in 2005.

(more…)

The SmartBrief’s take on this article in the SF Chronicle is that igoring social channels may be hazardous to your brand and is completely true and relevant. Another interesting bit of this story is why this particular execution was successful. What Dominos had was a defined and compelling purpose to use FB and Twitter. When the power of SM is focused on a particular objective, it can be an incredibly potent tool.

A lot of conversations over the past six months have started, “should I/we be on Twitter”. It’s great that the conversation is started but it also means we have a long way to go. Twitter, in a business sense, is most often used as a tool to raise awareness (businesses are on Twitter because their audience is on Twitter). This purpose is closely followed by CRM and broadcasting promotions. Savvy brands and digital agencies are also using it to study customer conversations and learn about the needs and desires of their customers.

So there’s probably a reason for your business to be taking advantage of SM tools but it’s important that the conversation start where it has forever – with your business objectives. A big idea, content and social media strategy should roll out from there.

Streaming a facebook connected CNN live broadcast of a Presidential inauguration for the first African-American President through the internet all captured with the camera in an Iphone. Just eight years ago this was a dream. It truly is a new day.