Tag Archives: Latest Trends
Social Media Week 2012: Hashtags, Infographics and Momentum, Oh My!
Cities from London to New York City to Tokyo participated in “Social Media Week” celebrations this week. The event is one of many that was spawned through social media and that has been kept alive by social media gurus. In fact, some of our very own CMers supported the cause with amazing presentations in the Toronto festivities. A number of interesting trends and themes came out of the week, some shocking and some we all could have predicted. In the “expected” column we heard about, Segmentation within Networks (ie. the Google+ model) and the wildfire growth of Mobile. Participating in social media through mobile devices grew 6 times in 2011… a number that is only expected to rise in 2012. Something that people might not have predicted, is the trending data shows people beginning to become more passive participants as the future of social marches on.
Plenty of really interesting and helpful trends and facts were uncovered this week, but what is really important about Social Media Week is what everyone does after. How will brands begin to incorporate the growing trends into their strategies, and how will individuals actually react compared to these predictions? It’s going to be a massive year for social media, that’s for sure, and events like SMW are just the beginning of it.
Did you participate in any SMW events? What trends or specific presentations most caught your attention?
If you’re interested, CM presented the following topics and you can learn more by checking out those decks on SlideShare.
Scot Wheeler presented Getting to Social ROI
Lindsay Renwick presented Social Storytelling: Creating and Curating Content Strategies that Work
Super Bowl Ads Are Social Media Savvy
If you hadn’t already seen, some of the most anticipated Super Bowl ads have been leaked onto social media sites everywhere this week, and it’s looking like it should be a good year for commercial entertainment. However, this is one of the first years that we have seen these ads leaked in such high volume. There is already buzz about which brands have gotten it right, and which completely missed the mark.
So what is with this new phenomenon of leaking ads prior to the most hyped live event in America? It’s simple. Super Bowl spots cost about $3.5 million for a 30 second spot, so advertisers are really just trying to get the most for that money. This article sums it up best when they say, “100 million people are expected to tune into Sunday’s broadcast on NBC. But with well over a billion people on Facebook and Twitter combined, it’s a goldmine for advertisers if a fraction of those people continue to talk about their commercials days after the Big Game.” Many of the ads this year even come complete with their own interactive social media portion, including smartphone apps and hashtags.
Community Manager Appreciation Day 2012
This week, community managers everywhere participated in the third annual Community Manager Appreciation Day (also known as CMAD)! Now, while some of you may be thinking “oh no, not another made up holiday”, let me explain why Community Manager Appreciation Day is such a wonderful holiday to celebrate.
First of all, I’m sure all of you know at least one Community Manager. Whether you work with them, are friends with them, or interact with them through the communities that they manage, everyone knows a hard-working Community Manager. And because you know them, you know what an exciting and unique opportunity it is for them! Whether they are acting as a head-cheerleader, managing a disgruntled consumer or simply representing a brand, Community Managers wear many different hats throughout their days.
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Apps Bring Your Timeline to Life
Facebook announced 60 new apps for Timelines this week, and with further extension of the Open Graph, there will be plenty more on the way. Essentially, that means developers will have the opportunity to create the apps they desire and add them to their timelines. With this opportunity, the possibilities are endless. The whole idea of adding apps to Timelines really amplifies the “social factor” of the initial idea.
Is Pinterest the ‘Next Big Thing’ in Social Media?
Pinterest has been getting a lot of buzz recently. The social network, which is essentially a digital scrapbook that allows users to “pin” things they like across the Internet onto their own personal “boards”, is seeing so much traffic recently that they were launched into the 10th spot in Experian’s list of the most popular social networks. So what is it about the site that is capturing people’s (mostly women’s) attention?
It seems that Pinterest is just the combination in a social network that people have been looking for. Rather than posting long arduous blog posts, or even 140 characters in Twitter, Pinterest allows people to click and go. Find something on the Internet that you want to come back to later, pin it, and move on. It’s quick, easy, and most of all, extremely addictive.
The Beginning of the End for Facebook?
Not using Facebook as much as you used to? You’re not the only one. We all secretly knew this day would come–the day you didn’t need to login to Facebook to feel complete. We all knew Facebook could someday be replaced by the next big thing. But were we expecting the decline to come so soon?! Whether or not you’re still logging into Facebook everyday, or every hour, new studies have shown that Facebook usage is way down and that shockingly, people have gone on with their lives.
According to comScore, in September 2011, the average number of minutes each US Facebooker spent on the site was 410. Last year, that number dropped way down to 287. All this at a time when Facebook has been responding to negative press about their privacy and is heading for an IPO. While these range on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of excitement, I would bet that all of this is playing into the usage decline. People have become weary and far less trusting than back in the good ole days.
