COMMUNITIES
How to Integrate Customer Service Into Social Media Marketing
More and more, social media is becoming a forum for customer service. Consumers are looking for brands to listen and interact with them in order to help solve their brand-related problems. But what are some good ways to go about integrating your customer service into social media marketing? This article describes the 12 best ways to do so. The examples range from in depth (making special offers) to the simplest ideas (giving your business a human face). No matter what level of involvement you and your company are looking for, this list will have a great option for you.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
WHERE Uses Facebook and Bump To Socialize Local Recommendations
The worlds of location based services and local recommendations are colliding with the new WHERE app. WHERE allows users to find local recommendations based on their locations. However, they are now upping the ante and integrating Facebook and Bump to allow users to do this with more ease. For starters, WHERE will let users connect with Bump so they can easily exchange recommendation information. Their integration with Facebook will allow users to sign into Facebook Connect to see who else is using WHERE and get recommendations from them. This app will not only make it easier for users to find out what locations are good in their area, but it will be a more personal experience with the Facebook, Bump and location features.
MEASUREMENT
The best free social media tracking tools you should know about
Social media measurement is not an easy task to accomplish, so worrying about price can get in the way sometimes. This blog outlines the best free ways to measure your social media metrics. While the free tools may not be the most in depth way to go about find your influence, they are a definite option for simple statistics. Some of the tools reviewed here are Topsy, Klout, Backtype, CoComment and plenty of others. Take a look and see if any of these measurement tools may be helpful to you.
INFLUENCERS
Why David Karp Started Tumblr: Blogs Don’t Work For Most People
As a part of the “Founders Stories” series, Tumblr founder David Karp sat down with Chris Dixon this past week to discuss his motivation for starting the site. Tumblr usually gets lumped in as a micro-blogger, along with Facebook and Twitter. But according to Karp, Tumblr was created in order to give people more of an online identity than Facebook or Twitter. According to Karp, no one is proud of their identity on Facebook. Tumblr is aimed to give users a very personalized experience and was created for that reason. Check out the video to hear more of Karps opinions!
PARTNERSHIPS
Is Baidu About To Get Social With Facebook?
For the latest potential social media partnership, Baidu may be getting social with Facebook. Baidu is China’s largest search engine, and earlier this week the two companies met in order to discuss a potential partnership. Partnering with up Baidu may be a great idea for Facebook. There are over 400 million Internet users in China, and when you add that to the number of people already on Facebook, they may be able to reach the one billion-member mark.
FUN STUFF
Coca-Cola Releases “Happiness Truck”
A while back, Coca-Cola released their “Happiness Machine”, a vending machine placed on a college campus that rewarded students with Coke swag. Now, they have upped the ante and have released a video of their new “Happiness Truck” on the Coca-Cola Facebook page. 
So far, there are no plans to cut the 2 minute video into a 30 second tv clip, so for now, it will be living in the realm of social media. The video takes place in Rio de Janeiro, because according to Shane Grant, the global brand director for Coke, “we wanted to show how happiness translates in markets around the world, not just the U.S. or Western Europe.” Both the “Happiness Machine” and the “Happiness Truck” do a spot-on job of conveying the brand message from Coca-Cola in creative and new ways, while employing social media as the main focus.
