We Are Social: Tuesday Tune-Up #20

Tuneup 3 Jan 2012

dan.goodswen

Happy New Year We Are Socialites, and welcome to the first Tune-Up of 2012, your one-stop post-hangover shop for all the latest social media shenanigans.

Here are the Top 10 stories in Social Media this week;

1) The 10 Most Influential Brands on Twitter this Christmas

Those crafty infographic merchants at Mashable have got their hands on a great bit of visual data from Klout, showing how big US brands stacked up in retweets and mentions over the holiday period.

Most interesting is the mentions vs retweets in determining Klout score. Amazon (aka Shamonazon) have the highest score, but have relatively few retweets, meaning their score has been influenced by conversations rather than content sharing.

The lesson here? Start a conversation. And be sure to add a ‘via @YOURNAME’ to any Tweet buttons on your page, to start racking up those valuable @replies.

2) Step up your interest in Pinterest
Social bookmarking site Pinterest has been hoarding traffic and press mentions like a hobo with a bottle collection over the past couple of months, and according to print magazine Real Simple, it’s time for marketers to start pinning.

In an article on AdAge, Real Simple GM of Digital Shannon King said the site is driving more traffic for them than Facebook, and is now a valuable part of their social media strategy.

Like Tumblr, Pinterest allows users to post content and Repin interesting content from other users onto their ‘Boards’.

This allows links and images to spread quickly through the network, meaning that a well-curated board could generate thousands of impressions and click-throughs for the right brand.

And with ecommerce sites like Etsy already finding success on Pinterest, it seems the platform is a great place to extend your shopfront in the social web.

And in case you were wondering, yes you can follow We Are Social Au on Pinterest here.

3) Finland fails to get with the time(lines)
Apparently the worldwide roll-out of Timeline, Facebook’s much-vaunted new profile layout, wasn’t celebrated everywhere.

After the switch, users in Finland began deleting their profiles en masse, after news spread that old private message were appearing in the Timeline, something that caused many users to hit the panic button.

The rumour appears to have found traction via a report from the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, but Facebook quickly confirmed that old wall posts were appearing, not private messages.

The users who deleted profiles will be able to reactivate them easily, meaning this one had a happy Finnish after all.

4) The philosophy of Like
The folks over at eMarketer have published the results of a study by social media CRM firm Lithium, which asked marketers what it means when a user Likes a Facebook page, or engages with a brand online;

The answers appear to be fairly… romantic, with the notion that brand news is more important to a consumer than a promotion or discount, but at least more marketers are recognising the importance of compelling content.

The study also asked marketers to weigh the value of social media activity for their brands;

Unsurprisingly, the opportunity to improve listening, engagement and conversation is recognised as the biggest benefit of social media, something we’ve been saying since we launched in 2008.

If you’d like to know more about how we can help your brand engage in conversation with your customers, give us a call on +61 2 8353 3410

5) Get ready for more Facebook ads
Everyone loves ads, right? Facebook is certainly hoping so, with the platform looking to build on the success of their Sponsored Stories product by offering brands new ways to advertise in the News Feed.

Previously, sponsored stories appeared in the more tradational ad slots on the Facebook page, but from this year they will begin appearing in the news feed;

Advertisers won’t be able to ask for News Feed placement, and users will be able to hide unwanted ads or advertisers from their feed.

It seems getting your brand to appear in the news feed may end up being a game of hide and seek, then.

6) Unsurprisingly, users prefer to login with Facebook
When given the option, more users will login to external sites with their Facebook credentials than any other service accroding to this infographic by Janrain.

Not a great surprise, but perhaps the fact that more users choose to login with their Yahoo IDs than with Twitter will make you spit out your tea. Thought so.

7) Predicting social media trends, Mayan style
The world might be ending this year, but we’re not going to go down without a Tweet.

Spreading Jam have compiled their predictions for the Social Year ahead, and it makes an interesting read, even though some of these seem a bit first base, or entirely off piste.

The renaissance of TV via social media? Sounds a little bit 2011…

8) BBC reports on the rise of F-Commerce, with help from We Are Social
We Are Social MD Robin Grant gave the Beeb a leg-up into the world of F-Commerce this Christmas, adding industry perspective to the report while showcasing our very own Heinz Get Well Soon campaign.

Catch the video on the BBC here. Great work, Robin!

9) Kleenex use social to help us Feel Good
Kleenex showed how to combine social and real-world to create a compelling story this winter, with their Feel Good campaign.

Using listening tools, they tracked down sick people on Facebook, asked that users friends for their address, and sent them a Kleenex care package by courier within the hour;

It’s enough to bring a tear to the eye.

10) We Are Statistics
Everyone likes a good stat, so We Are Social MD Robin Grant, always happy to oblige, has given readers a look under the hood of the We Are Social blog.

In the process, he’s managed to both impress us and fill us with the kind of little brother envy one might get when your big brother gets this kind of traffic…

Between appearances on the BBC and picking up awards, Robin, we don’t know where you find the time.

We Are Social: Tuesday Tune-Up #20

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