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Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What’s New This Week?
Facebook Introduces Facebook Groups App: An app “that helps people share faster and more easily with all the groups in their life.”
Twitter Rolls Out Ability to Search for Every Tweet Every Published: “Twitter now indexes every public tweet since 2006.”
We’re rolling out the ability to search for every Tweet ever published. Learn about how we built this https://t.co/KhbgVHZtYE #TwitterSearch
— Twitter Engineering (@TwitterEng) November 18, 2014
LinkedIn Allows You to Extend Your Professional Brand to SlideShare: You can now showcase your unique professional story “on SlideShare with just one click, extending the visibility and reach of your professional identity.”
LinkedIn Allows You to Showcase Your Professional Certifications in One Click: The new Add to Profile for Certification Providers allows “members to add professional certifications to their profile.”
Twitter Allows Users to Share a Tweet Through Direct Messages: With this update you’ll be able to share a Tweet privately with any of your followers.
New Plugin Allows You to Embed Vine Videos Into Your Blog Posts: Anyone with a website powered by WordPress can download and install the newly released and open source Vine plugin for WordPress to automatically turn Vine links into embedded Vines.
Path Talk Places Expands Outside of the US: “Now if you’re living or traveling across the UK, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand, you can text any local business for free.”
Snapchat Introduces Snapcash: “After you enter your debit card, it’s securely stored by Square, who will swiftly process your payment and send cash directly to your friend’s bank account.”
Here’s a cool social media tool worth checking out:
vyte.in: “The easiest way to schedule your meetings.”
Vite.in helps you find the best date and place for a meeting in one click.
Here are some recent studies worth noting:
Social Relationship Strategies That Work: The latest Forrester report, Social Relationship Strategies That Work, notes that top brands’ Facebook and Twitter posts only reach around 2% of their fans and followers, and less than 0.1% of fans and followers actually interact with each post on average. The latest updates to Facebook’s news feed algorithm will soon make it even less likely that brands’ unpaid posts will actually be seen by users. This report details where brands can successfully reach and engage their customers, what social relationship strategies they should use, and what this means to the future of social marketing.
Research: Consumers Expectation For Service at an All Time High: The Webby Awards team in partnership with Harris Poll found that 90% of consumers surveyed expect real-time customer service and 89% expect to get what they want, when they want it. Complete transparency, personalization, and a seamless experience also rank high in terms of customer expectations of brands and services.
The State of Mobile Marketing Strategy: A new report from CMO Council and SAS found nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents believe mobile is a critical channel for engaging customers. Yet, only 17% have mobile fully integrated into their overall marketing strategy. An additional 44% indicating that integration is in progress. Of those who do not think mobile is critical for engaging their customers, 24% admit that mobile is an area of confusion in their organization and has no clear owner.
STUDY: Facebook Still #1 Social Network in the World, Tumblr and Pinterest Are Growing Quickly: The 3Q 2014 GlobalWebIndex Social report shows Facebook is still the #1 social network in the world, but 50% of adults surveyed say they are accessing it less frequently, citing lack of interest and boredom as the top reasons why. This figure rises to 64% among the key teen demographic (16-19). The study also finds that Tumblr and Pinterest are the fastest growing networks, with active members increasing by 120% and 111% respectively in the past 6 months. Instagram is third with a 64% rise in active usage.
New Research: Engagement With Brand Tweets Up 83% Since 2013: Simply Measured’s Q3 2014 Twitter Study finds that Twitter is a brand essential. 98% of the Interbrand Top 100 Global brands surveyed have a Twitter account and 94% are tweeting daily. 75% of the brands send at least three tweets per day. The study also revealed that Twitter users are more willing than ever to engage with branded content as evidenced by the increase in retweets, favorited tweets, and followers on brand accounts. Tweets with hashtags and visual content get more engagement than those without.
REPORT: Facebook Accounts for 60% of Global Video Shares, Twitter 14%: A new study from Unruly called the Geography of Sharing reports that 83% of video shares are generated by just under 18% of internet users, with the most shares taking place on Facebook (59.4%). Twitter accounts for roughly 15% of shares and Google+ is at 9.3%. Not only do these power-users drive video shares, they are sharing faster than ever before with 42% of videos being shared across social networks within 3 days of upload.
Global study by Experian Marketing Services Reveals Key Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2014 Holiday Season: The 2014 Holiday Marketer Report by Experian revealed that, globally, 49% of marketers who run social-media campaigns will do so via organic Facebook posts and 34% plan to use paid ads or boosted posts this holiday season. 40% of all marketers and 68% of those running cross-channel campaigns plan to integrate email in their holiday campaigns, making email the hub of 2014 holiday marketing campaigns. Furthermore, more marketers will be focused on better targeting rather than attracting deal-seekers this year.
The Importance of Honesty and Authenticity For Brands: New studies issued by Mindshare North America and Cohn & Wolfe both found there is desire for openness and authenticity from brands, especially among millennials. The study from Cohn & Wolfe found 63% of consumers surveyed across 12 global markets would buy from a company they consider to be authentic over and above its competitors. Moreover, 6 in 10 would recommend an authentic organization to family and friends. Likewise, the Mindshare North America study found it’s vital that brands communicate their good intentions and “friendship values”.
Business Blogging Secrets Revealed: Content curation software provider, Curata, surveyed over 425 marketers and found that 80% continue to use blogging as part of their marketing strategy. Of the blogs with 10,000 monthly page views or above, 70% have had a blog for 2+ years and 2/3 are small companies (<$100M in revenue). 65% of those with blogs that are 5+ years old are not getting as many page views, which suggests that an established online presence does not automatically lead to success. This study takes a deeper look into the specific strategies and tactics of successful blogs.
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