Brand Marketing

By Liam Dowd - December 18th, 2013

The million dollar tweet, the don'ts of social media and video ads on Facebook

The million-dollar tweet

Brand owners and their marketing agencies have continued to innovate across all social media networks in a bid to gain that elusive viral trait that will see their campaigns propelled towards the stratosphere. An agency in the Netherlands is attempting to use Twitter to raise one million dollars for charity.

This experiment will run as an auction between December 19 and 23. If the one million dollars is reached of course has yet to be seen, and with a less than meteoric rise in the followers of the campaign, we will have to wait and see if this innovation catches the eye of businesses or individuals alike. Charities of course have been looking closely at how social media can help with fundraising, which can often get overlooked in the heady waters of business that is still trying to understand the DNA of social media.

Social sharing shifts away from Facebook

New research and infographic from Gigya brings into sharp relief how the social media landscape has changed. Where Facebook and Twitter have dominated, newer social networks are making their presence felt.

Says Gigya: “Gigya’s Q3 data shows the rapid growth of another player: Pinterest. The photo-sharing network, which already has over 70 million active users, has truly become a top sharing destination and, in some industry verticals, even surpasses more established social networks like Facebook and Twitter, in its ‘share of shares.’ Internationally, meanwhile, Facebook and Twitter, continue to dominate the sharing landscape though regional networks like Japan’s Mixi and Russia’s Vkontakte are starting to gain traction as sharing destinations.”

These figures show that for the first time Facebook’s share has dipped below 50% but is more telling for corporations that have perhaps placed all of their resources in developing Facebook and Twitter across their businesses. These stats indicate that now is the time to expand your presence on more social media networks to ensure that your brand presence stays ahead of the social wave that is constantly shifting, as consumer taste changes.

10 MORE Don'ts of Corporate Social Media

Corporations that have been paying attention to social media will have seen and devoured the original ‘don’ts’ series that ran a couple of years ago authored by Davia Temin, CEO of Temin and Company, and Forbes columnist along with Ian Anderson.

"The field is changing so rapidly, and there are so many conflicting ideas of how to best deploy resources that very few know the best way to go,” says Temin. “And people are making mistakes. We created this series of deep-dive articles on corporate use of social media to explore not only best practices, but worst practices – not only the 'do's' but the 'don'ts' – in this emerging field."

With the social media landscape changing so rapidly, the authors have come back with more don’ts that will culminate with a ‘do’ post and infographic in January. Catch up with the series so far and bookmark the blog for the New Year round up.

Autoplay video ads on Facebook now

Facebook has been working on how it can include video ads in its News Feeds. Scheduled to begin rollout today as a test, the video ads will automatically play, but their sound will be muted. The first ads will promote the new feature film Divergent. Facebook said:

“This week, we’re starting to test this richer storytelling format for advertisers. Compelling sight, sound and motion are often integral components of great marketing campaigns, particularly when brands want to increase awareness and attention over a short period of time. From launching new products to shifting brand sentiment, this video format is ideal for marketers who are looking to make a large-scale impact, and for people who will discover more great content in their News Feeds.”

Until next time….

The Useful Social Media team.