We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #165
Exposure to car brand tweets increases brand consideration
Research produced by Twitter into 1800 UK Twitter users has found that those exposed to a tweet by an automotive brand are more likely to visit their website, search for an auto-brand or engage in ‘lower-funnel’ activities, including registering for a test drive and locating a dealership. Dividing the participants into three groups: those who had been exposed to at least one automotive brand tweet and two control groups representing the average Twitter user and average internet user, they found that those in the first group were 74% more likely than the average internet user to visit the website of a car brand, 54% more likely to search for one and almost twice as likely to engage in the lower-funnel activities mentioned above.
The most talked-about brands on Facebook
Socialbakers has produced a list of the top-10 brands on Facebook by the ‘people talking about this’ metric, both in the US and on a global scale. Interestingly, New York-based ‘DealDash’ top both categories, despite a much smaller audience than other pages, suggesting that people enjoy talking about low-priced offers to an extent that even Coca Cola and Walmart cannot replicate.
Tesco top for Twitter customer service
UK Supermarket giant Tesco has been ranked as the top brand in the world for Twitter customer service by Socialbakers, answering a volume of 7,129 questions. In terms of response rate and time, however, Halo BCA are the winners, responding to 95.06% of questions, with an average time of just 3 minutes.
The finance industry ranked highest of all sectors for response rate at 62.8%. Considering their equivalent for Q2 2012 was 27.4%, that also amounts to the biggest year-on-year increase.
Social media users attempt to perfect their persona online
Social media users seek validation from others and look to attain this through massaging the truth in their online personas, according to research from the Future Foundation. 34% of social media users agree that they hold a “strong desire” for recognition from others, which has led to certain ways of behaving online, including 68% of drinkers admitting to de-tagging themselves from at least one photo. In total, 44% agreed with the statement “I wish I could be more like the person I describe myself as on social media.”
6 in 10 UK residents own a smartphone
According to eDigitalResearch and the IMRG, 60% of all UK residents now own a smartphone, with women accounting for 58% of these.
Yahoo to purchase Tumblr for $1.1 billion
As has been rumoured for the last few days, Yahoo is set to purchase Tumblr in a deal worth $1.1 billion, as announced by both parties today. For the full low down on the deal, and what effect it’s likely to have, check out our full blog post on the subject.
Facebook bringing structured updates to mobile
Facebook’s structured updates, which allow users to share how they are feeling or an activity through a set of pre-ordained emoticons, are being rolled out on mobile. Available to some desktop users since January and more widely rolled out in April, the feature is now accessible via m.facebook.com, though not yet on the platform’s iOS or Android apps. Constructing one of the new status updates will look as follows:
Then, once it’s been posted, you’ll see something like the following:
Twitter strikes deals with ESPN and Fox
Twitter is looking to grow its connection with the TV industry through two new deals with ESPN and Fox. The first will see ESPN host highlight clips of major sporting events within its tweets, an opportunity for both rich content and mutually beneficial advertising opportunities; ESPN will sell ads within the clips and have also agreed to purchase a minimum number of ‘Promoted Products’ from Twitter. Fox, meanwhile, are set to feature show previews, recaps and more.
YouTube introduces new functionality to allow purchase of goods
Google last week announced a new ‘channel gadget’ for consumer goods brands. The plan is to allow users to seamlessly move from watching, say, a video about hair straightening, to looking at featured products, browsing retailers and checking prices and availability, then purchasing the product online. Unilever are set to be the first to use the system, for their TRESemmé haircare range.
The new Google+
Google+ has made a number of updates to its service, specifically in stream, related hashtags, hangouts and photos. The updates to stream are intended to create a more visually immersive experience across all devices, with changes including a multi-column layout, larger photos and animated elements, such as the sharebox bouncing and cards flipping or fading.
Related hashtags look to enhance your ability to enter conversations about the topics you love. So, whenever you write a post about, say, your favourite sports team, Google+ will determine what it’s about and tag it accordingly. The system can then identify and rank conversations and allow you to click on the relevant hashtag for more opportunities to browse related content.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XSZ–ul_qYk
Hangouts have been expanded as stand-alone apps on desktop, iOS and Android for sharing not just live video, but also text and photos. Additional features such as a conversation history and notifications synced across devices attempt to produce a more seamless overall experience.
Finally, photos have been upgraded with four different ‘auto’ features. Assuming permission is granted, Google+ will ‘auto-upload’ your images to the network, preventing them from being left on your phone and ensuring that they’re backed up online. ‘Auto highlight’ helps choose the best images in any given album by emphasising or de-emphasising on a number of factors, from the people and landmarks present to the quality of image or fact that it’s a duplicate. For those photos that aren’t as high quality as others, ‘auto enhance’ will fix things like the light and focus. Finally, there’s a feature called ‘auto awesome’, which looks to automatically create exciting content from the photos you upload. Say you upload in a series of similar photos, for example, Google+ will try to create an animation from them. If you post a few different family portraits, the feature will choose their best smiles and compile this into one image.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PmQ-d71GdPc
Pinterest release new brand-friendly pin
Pinterest have produced a new type of pin, which allows for additional information to be shared beneath the pin when a user clicks on it, with different variations for food, retail and films. The first will include a recipe list, the second a list of purchase locations and the third additional information such as cast, ratings etc. Whilst these pins will currently only link to an initial list of partner sites, they already include big names such as eBay, Etsy, WalMart and Netflix, and the list is certain to continue growing.
Blackberry to launch BBM on iOS and Android
Blackberry are planning to launch their ‘Blackberry Messenger’ (BBM) service on iOS and Android this summer, which will include a “social engagement platform” called ‘BBM Channels’ that is looking to connect users with their favourite brands and celebrities. According to Blackberry, BBM has more than 60 million monthly active users and over 51 million daily, with daily active users spending an average of 1.5 hours a day on the service. Around 10 billion messages are sent via the service each day, suggesting that it will be interesting to see BBM go up against competitors like WhatsApp and WeChat.
Polyvore’s success for indie fashion brands
Fashion social network Polyvore released a mentorship campaign earlier this year, aimed at promoting less well-known designers to a new audience. Judging by their latest results, it seems as though it has been a success. For example, an accessories brand named Meredith Wendell was picked up by Shopbop, a retailer owned by Amazon, with Polyvore continuing to drive 20% of sales. Shoe designer Madison Harding saw overall sales increase by 2,250%, with 70% of traffic through Polyvore. This goes to show the extent to which social engagement can be used to grow indie brands; indeed, Polyvore are planning to make the campaign a yearly affair, with a new set of designers each time.
Facebook bans ‘Social Roulette’
Social Roulette, an application that offers a 1 in 6 chance of deleting a user’s Facebook account, has been banned by the network. The idea of the game is to connect to your Facebook profile and ‘spin the barrel’. 5 out of 6 times this will just post a message on your behalf saying ‘I just played Social Roulette and survived’, but if you’re unlucky (or lucky, depending on how you look at it) the app will delete your entire Facebook presence. Or it would have done. Facebook has removed the application for ‘violating its platform policies’.
We Are Social’s ‘Tweet & Shoot’ campaign with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
We Are Social has partnered with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to create a ‘Tweet & Shoot’ campaign for BNP Paribas, sponsors of the French Open for the last 40 years. This Thursday, in the build up to Roland Garros, Tsonga will take on tennis balls fired by a machine in a secret location somewhere in France. However, this isn’t just any tennis machine; the campaign is using brand new technology that fires balls based on encoded hashtags from Twitter. Fans can enter a competition in advance to become one of 40 ‘VIP trainers’, who are guaranteed to have a ball fired and receive a ‘Tweet & Shoot’ tennis ball as a memento. Many others will also see their tweets turned into tennis shots through the system explained below:
Oakley, Sunglass Hut and Shaun White’s ‘Gold Rush’
To celebrate the launch of Oakley’s new Shaun White collection, the sunglass manufacturer has produced a Facebook campaign that encourages users to match a Shaun White quotation with one of their own Facebook pictures. The 5 photos judged by the man himself to best summarise the pictures will win a pair of gold-plated sunglasses.
We Are Social launch #beginwithabulmers
We Are Social have produced a campaign for Bulmers, encouraging the cider brand’s drinkers to share their experiences of starting off a great experience with a Bulmers, in exchange for a number of rewards throughout the summer. This includes a #beginwithabulmers Facebook app, where fans can share their ‘good times that begin with a bottle of Bulmers’ – We Are Social will also be tracking all mentions of the hashtag across Facebook and Twitter, whose volume will contribute to unlockable milestones and prize giveaways. On top of this, digital outdoor displays will display the best entries in real time across the UK, while XFM will produce a guide to what listeners are doing on Friday evening based on the campaign tweets.
Nike ask football fans to put their country first
To celebrate the launch of their first ever England shirt, Nike are producing a campaign called ‘Country First Club Second’. Running through social media, Nike will encourage fans to show pride in the new shirt, to be worn by England for the first time against the Republic of Ireland next Wednesday. The timing is certainly good, as the domestic football season draws to a close to be replaced by a number of International friendlies and World Cup qualifiers and it will be interesting to see if Nike manage to capture a wave of patriotic sentiment. The shirt itself was first shown via Twitter, with England international Jack Wilshere posting:
Like this kid, my England dream began here, so he was first in #theshirt – England’s new kit from @nikefootball twitter.com/JackWilshere/s…
— Jack Wilshere (@JackWilshere) May 20, 2013
F&F and We Are Social’s ‘Seven Days of Summer’
F&F are promoting the launch of their Summer 2013 range with a ‘7 Days of Summer’ campaign, created by We Are Social. Revealing a new trend each day for seven days, F&F are asking fans to upload a photo of their take on the look to Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, or a video via Vine. One winner from each social channel will be selected to receive a £75 voucher and the best will be featured on the ‘Inspire Me’ section of the F&F site. We Are Social’s own Deola Laniyan said:
This campaign will show off F&F’s summer collection in a lighthearted way that will appeal to fashion fans. F&F is all about making fashion affordable, and we’re looking forward to seeing how imaginative people are in pulling together their looks.
Volvic Juiced produce games for Facebook and digital billboards
We Are Social has produced a Facebook game for Volvic, in which fans attempt to align similar types of fruit in a row, incentivised by prizes including surfing and zorbing sessions. This is being supported by activity on digital billboards in Bluewater shopping centre, where fans can play a game attempting to crush virtual apples. Every player will win a bottle of the drink, whilst some will be selected for other prizes such as Frisbees, Super Soakers and underwater cameras.
Guardian celebrate 1 million followers on Twitter
UK newspaper The Guardian has reached the 1 million follower milestone on Twitter and is celebrating with a #1msides campaign, playing on the idea that there are ‘1 million sides to every story’. The newspaper is looking to find out more about its followers by asking them to tweet a picture of where they are with the relevant hashtag. They also posted a Vine of their journey from ‘The Manchester Guardian’ to today:
Historical journey through The Guardian in print to 1M followers on Twitter #1Msides vine.co/v/bEbqFI1W029
— The Guardian (@guardian) May 15, 2013
The Guardian are lightyears ahead of their British news rivals on the platform, with even their closest rival, the FT, on 789,000 and no other paper above 300,000. Activities like this are clearly the work of a paper embracing the age of social media.
Discount for tagging on Instagram
The ‘Sweden Calling’ pop up store has offered shoppers a 5% discount for uploading a photo to Instagram using the hashtag #swedencalling, or by checking in on Facebook. The idea displays both the growing importance of Instagram, as well as a nice way for a small business to create a cheap social campaign. 
Colin was here
Sky News followers were surprised last week to notice a tweet reading simply ‘Colin was here’. By the time it had been deleted and blamed on a hack, a number of others had managed to get in on the joke:
#Colin was here too — Comment is free (@commentisfree) May 14, 2013
Colin drinks IRN-BRU.
— New From IRN-BRU (@NewFromIRNBRU) May 14, 2013
Has anyone seen Colin?
— Nando’s (@NandosUK) May 14, 2013
An interesting method of dealing with complaints
‘Amy’s Baking Company’ from Arizona last week gave an absolute masterclass in how not to deal with complaints online. Having featured on an episode of ‘Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares’ in which the chef claimed they were beyond help (see clips from the show here), ABC received a number of complaints on social. They responded in the most vitriolic fashion, including posts like:
Eventually, they released a statement claiming that all of their online presences had been hacked simultaneously, but never fear! They had the FBI on the case.
Their comments, naturally, led to a huge response from trolls, including many coming in from Reddit. The number 1 response to their FBI tweet? This.
