SOCIAL MEDIA EVALUATION

MARK 490Week 2

Categorizing social media companies as either first-, second-, third- or fourth-generation (for Assignment

2)

• First-generation companies are startups, many of which don’t make it.

• Second-generation companies often get through an initial public offering and then confront the challenge of trying to stabilize.

• Third-generation companies are stable, with proven market appeal, often in a niche area.

• Fourth-generation companies are long-standing, often approaching a saturated market

• http://recode.net/2014/06/09/delete-your-history-does-too-much-career-experience-turn-off-silicon-valley/

Today’s class

• Current use of two social media tools – identifying main uses, demographics, usage behaviours, and success factors– Twitter for business and organizational

marketing– Pinterest for business and organizational

marketing

TWITTER

What makes twitter unique?

• “Twitter stands in a class apart from other social media because of the open invitation it gives us to talk to the world at large. On Facebook, Tumblr, or Instagram, you have only two options if you want to meet new fans and potential customers..First, someone might find you..and decide to follow you. Second, a customer might share a piece of your content and [someone] might be intrigued enough to follow you. Either way, you’re stuck outside until that person decides to let you in….Everyone else is off limits”– Gary Vaynerchuck

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

Caveat…

• Don’t abuse that open-ness and use twitter to do overt selling or self-promotion

• Tell a story• Provide value in an authentic manner

Twitter Basics• Tweets and direct messages• Replies, retweets, modified tweets, and quoted

tweets• Hashtags• Followers• Images, Video, Animated GIFs• Lists• Twitter chats• Twitter Search• Your Profile• Twitter for Websites (extending reach)

Tweets – they happen in real-time• A tweet can be no more than 140 character. • A tweet can be addressed to someone (an @ mention) by

including their @username• A tweet does not need to be addressed to anyone at all• A tweet can include a hyperlink (usually shortened so it

uses up as few characters as possible)• Tweets are PUBLIC by default and practice. ANYONE can

view all of your tweets by going to your profile or by using Search

• Your FOLLOWERS can view all of your tweets in their TWITTER STREAM or TIMELINE

• However - If you start a tweet with @username it will be seen only by those users who follow both you and the person you are tweeting to (unless someone looks directly at your tweets via your profile)

• Starting a tweet with a ‘dot’ or a word means that it will be seen by everyone following you

Direct messages

• DMs are private messages, viewable only by the sender and the receiver

• Start a tweet with DM or D then the person’s @username

• You can send DMs only to users who follow you

• You can receive messages from any user that you follow.

• Be careful about how CASL might apply

Replies, retweets, modified tweets, and quoted tweets

• Replies go to the person who authored the tweet (and usually) anyone else who is mentioned in it

• Replies are public just the same as any other tweets

• Retweets (RT) are just what they sound like! A repost of a tweet from someone you follow

• Modified tweets (indicated by MT) are retweets that have been altered slightly to make them shorter

#Hashtags

• Hashtags are hyperlinked words that form a way to indicate a topic so that tweets can be followed and connected – via link, search, trends, lists etc

• You can use an existing hashtag in a tweet to add to a conversation – maybe your tweet will be seen that way

• Or create your own #nospaces – short is best as they use up characters– What’s the challenge with this?

• Don’t overuse them (The Tonight Show "#Hashtag" with Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake)

Followers and Following

• Follow relationships do not have to be reciprocal• When you follow an account, you will see the

tweets from that account in your stream• Twitter does not algorithmically manipulate

your stream• The list of accounts you are following is public

and can be viewed via your profile– Yes, we are judging you….– If you find someone interesting, look at who they

are following to find more (potentially) interesting accounts

Images, Video, Animated GIFs

• In late 2013 Twitter introduced inline images from its own pic.twitter.com service and then video from Vine – examples from Buffer

• Tweets with images get more engagement

• Instagram photos and videos that are tweeted do NOT appear inline and need to be clicked to be opened

• Animated GIFs introduced in June 2014

Lists

• Lists are used to slice and dice your twitter stream to focus on what is most important to you

• You can add twitter accounts to your lists even if you don’t follow them

• The number of lists that your account has been added to is another good measure of success

• Using Twitter Lists

Twitter chats

• Really useful for increasing your exposure and building a professional network

• Real-time discussion using a hashtag• Very wide range of topics• Schedule of twitter chats

Twitter Search

• The native Twitter search is rather cumbersome

• Search by username, keyword, hashtag

• When we look at Hootsuite we will take a more detailed look at the data that can be extracted into separate streams and how we might use it

Profile

• Have one! Fill it out• For professional purposes you should have a

photograph of yourself or at least a logo – your objective is to make connections

• Profile should contain information about your interests and who you are

• Should contain a link to another online presence of your choice

• New profile that looks like Facebook with big images

• Think about how your profile looks on mobile and on the desktop

Extending the use of twitter – website integration

• Twitter provides a variety of widgets – Buttons for following an account, hashtag etc–Widgets for embedding tweets on a web

page– Embedding a timeline– Tweet buttons on a page

• Code for tweeting a text snippet – ClickToTweet tool generates the code. Some examples of how to use itTwitter for Websites

Owned, earned, and paid media on Twitter

• Owned – an organization’s own twitter account or accounts

• Earned – follows, retweets, favourites, lists, mentions

• Paid – Twitter for Business: Advertising– Promoted accounts– Promoted tweets– Promoted trends

Questions to ask about your twitter content

• Is it to the point?• Is the hashtag unique and

memorable?• Is the image attached high quality?• Does your voice sound authentic?

Will it resonate with the twitter audience?

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

Twitter successes and disasters

• Oreo shows what it means to be responsive and seize the moment– SuperBowl 2013 power outage “You can

still dunk in the dark” tweet

• Too many disasters to choose from…..for example Chrysler’s famous critique of Detroit’s drivers

Twitter successes and disasters – your turn

• Work in small groups• Do some research• Find one example of a fabulously

successful use of twitter• Find one example of a terrible twitter

#fail• Be ready to demonstrate your

findings to the class

PINTEREST

What is distinctive about Pinterest?

• VERY visual• Female demographic outnumbers

men 5:1• Very fast growth rate since launch in

2010 • Very effective for actually selling

stuff…via direct click through to product

• Some worries about copyright issues because of image placement on third-party website without permission

Think creativity…

• “Unless you sell a product that no woman in a million years would want for herself or any person in her life – and that’s a pretty limited list of products – or your legal department is dragging its feet, you’re a dope if your brand is not on Pinterest”– Gary Vaynerchuck

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

It’s all about understanding the psychology of the user

• Creative• Aspirational• Somewhat playful• A bit like an instant gratification

magazine• Users 79% more likely to purchase

something via Pinterest than via Facebook

• Pinterest produces 4 times the revenue-per-click of Twitter

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

What is Pinterest?

• Place to create online collections – primarily images and video

• Pins are “visual bookmarks” that link back to the site they originated on – a referral for a brand

• People add pins directly from websites or apps via a “Pin-It” button

• Users create collections of “Pins” into “Boards”• Any pin can be “re-pinned”• Home feed – pins from people you follow

appear there

Interaction and engagement

• Likes• Follows• Re-Pins• Comments

Business accounts• Identify yourself as a business

– Verification available (adds to consumer confidence)

• Create a range of boards with different themes related to your business (people follow individual boards according to their interest)

• Naming of boards is important (so they can be found via search). Keep the name length to 20 characters or fewer (so it doesn’t get cut off). Be clever and creative

• “Secret” boards available – create a collection before you publish

Best practices

• Don’t just pin your own products• Pin related products from others• Be creative – tell an inspiring story• Make sure your own product pins link

back to somewhere useful (NOT just your home page)

• Pinterest for Business

Some examples of good use of Pinterest

• Whole Foods Market – food and aspirational kitchens

• How realtors are using Pinterest• NHL – note use of hashtags

What’s important

• High quality content – especially photographs

• Good descriptions (used for search too)/ aspirational messaging

• Encourage a sense of authentic community – not overbearing selling. Think long term

• Make sure the link goes somewhere useful. Every photo should have a relevant hyperlink