LinkedIn launches plan to grow its follower system with new button

Ever wish you could follow a company on LinkedIn via its homepage?

Well now you can!

LinkedIn recently created a “follow company” button that can be embedded in to a company’s Website.

Some of the company’s that have already started using the button include Starbucks, AT&T and American Express.

How to embed the “follow” button 

To get your button, click this link. First, you can chose to show a count of how many people have followed your company or pick a button with no count. Then click, “Get Code.” Copy and paste the code into your website and voila!

Other buttons

LinkedIn also has a handful of other useful buttons that you can install on your company’s page.

The “share” button allows you to share articles with others in your network and the “recommend” button shows others brands that you approve.

And remember, LinkedIn is still growing each day. The site now has 150 million users!

Potential vs. Useless: The future of QR codes

Invented in 1994 for tracking parts in Japan’s automotive industry, the quick response or QR code is most influential in Japan and South Korea. However, most people living in the United States don’t know what they are, let alone how they work. This leaves many companies wondering, What’s the point? Do QR codes have a profitable future?

Remember your objective

Some believe that QR codes will ultimately fail because there are other ways to obtain the same information quicker (ironically). If you want the consumer to visit your company’s website, don’t use a QR code; state the URL. QR codes should be an inexpensive way for the consumer to INTERACT with online marketing.

Endless Opportunities

As a general rule, QR codes should lead consumers to a call for action on a mobile friendly site that links the offline content to more online information.

Real estate agents put them on property listings to lead the consumer to videos. Electronic stores place them next to products so that consumers may instantly obtain unbiased reviews of products or an option to buy the product online instead. Retailers may also put them on storefronts so that consumer can be directed to the website and shop 24/7.

People even use them for self-advertising by putting them on laptops, t-shirts, and baseball caps.

Competitors

Another mobile marketing technology, 1ring addresses some of the problems found with QR codes. Instead of scanning a photo via a smart phone app, 1Ring allows all cell phone users to simply dial a number to audibly learn more information about a product, item or service.

As knowledge of QR codes grows and more people become familiar with smart phones, the effectiveness will depend on the quality of content linked to the code. Although it is hard to predict if QR codes will catch on, you can stay ahead of the pack by making sure your QR code is mobile-enabled, stimulating and interactive.
More information on QR codes today: http://www.allbusiness.com/small-business-qr-codes/16641260-1.html

Shawna Polivka
Student Intern
Burgie MediaFusion

Connecting offline content to online content via mobile messaging

The fact that we can now fit what used to take up a whole room, into our pockets is mindboggling…and exciting! It allows advertisers and marketers to reach their consumers on the go.  When successfully integrated, mobile messaging can take a campaign to a whole new level. With 93% of Americans using a cell phone, it would be wise to look at the possibility of adding mobile messaging to your marketing mix!

The good and the bad

Using mobile messaging, or SMS, is an inexpensive way for personal interaction with the consumer. It is a channel for advertising that can be accessed 24/7 and is “within an arm’s reach” 80% of your consumer’s day. It is a link from offline to online content. However, the newer technology has yet to be standardized and has a limited reach.

Why choose mobile messaging?

Mobile messaging is good way to increase brand awareness and introduce new brands. It can create a buzz. 48% of people are already using their phones to find promotions and coupons.

The message

Mobile messages work best when delivering website URLs, coupons and sales notifications. Different channels include:

-Mobile Web

-Text messages

-Mobile PPC & Banner Ads

 

Text messages should:

-be easy to navigate

-correlate with the rest of the campain

-no more than 160 characters

-have a stimulating subject

-include clickable URLs with the “www”

-allow users to stop receiving texts and review terms and conditions (via a link)

-contain additional links to share information

You can also send pictures, but this should be used with caution. It could be a great way to say happy birthday or highlight a new product notification or promotion.

Links and mobile sites

In order to have a marketing campaign, you should determine a goal and target market, the mobile message, and how it will be integrated with other parts of the campaign.

Keep in mind that your site needs to be mobile friendly. This means the website will work best if you:

-Use coding software meant specifically for mobile devices

-Use HTML or XHTML

-DO NOT use Flash, action script or large image

Always test the mobile site on different devices!

 

Integration

When trying to connect your other media with mobile marketing, keep in mind where people generally have the opportunity to use mobile devices such as bus stops, subways, billboards.

The future of mobile messaging

Newer technological advances are sending your previous customer a text message with an incentive to visit your store based on location tracking stating that they are in the area.

Information from: http://www.slideshare.net/Suzzicks/integrating-mobile-in-the-marketing-mix-presentation-848133

 

Shawna Polivka
Student Intern
Burgie MediaFusion

Volunteering Counts- LinkedIn Changes

Volunteering is a great way to meet people who share a common interest and passion for a cause or charity. It is also a means of meeting professionals and acquiring valuable references without having a paid job. LinkedIn recently added a new profile field that allows users to acknowledge these personal passions that show they care about others. It could also be a way to show consumers how your company gives back to the community.

The feature

The new LinkedIn section is called “Volunteer experience and causes.” According to this article on Mashable this feature allows users to “highlight and showcase their unpaid or charitable work experience.” Users can also check which causes and organizations they support.

Volunteering pays off

According to LinkedIn, many people don’t like to acknowledge charity work on resumes because they find volunteering to be personal, as opposed to professional. They do not believe they should be rewarded for the time they volunteered. Others simply don’t want to appear as if they’re tooting their own horn.

However, a recent study performed by LinkedIn showed that 41% of the professionals interviewed said that they consider volunteer work when interviewing candidates. In some cases, it even got them the job.

Be proud of what organizations you stand behind. You could bring in help from other supporters and who knows, maybe even land the job!

Shawna Polivka
Student Intern
Burgie MediaFusion

Google+ us!

Have you been able to register for Google+? We have been doing our research on this amazing new social network and all we can say is…wow. Send us a message if you would like an invite! Here are some videos from Google explaining how this newly launched network takes “being connected” to a whole new level:

 

 

 

 

 

 

See you on Google+!

Social Media Solves ROI Problem

Social Media is great (obviously you know we think so…) but it is difficult to track the ROI on social media activity. Hopefully this will help! Originally posted by Media Post.

by Erik Sass, 4/1/11

While everyone and their mom is now using social media, it has continued to suffer in comparison to established media like, say, television in one crucial regard: ratings and measuring return on investment. Fortunately a new cooperative effort by leading social media companies, the Social Media ROI Taskforce, has resolved the problem of measurement once and for all.

“We hope that by eliminating some of the uncertainty that has surrounded social media, the Social Media ROI Taskforce will help put the industry on the same footing as established competitors,” stated SMRT president Jim Callow, adding: “There can be no mistake about the position of ROI in social media, going forward.”

Specifically, SMRT concluded that ROI is “just not important,” according to Callow, who volunteered that “behind closed doors, most CMOs will tell you they really don’t care about ROI.” Asked why their public statements have been so at odds with their actual stance, he speculated it’s “just something they have to say to make their bosses happy.”

In keeping with its conclusion, SMRT rejected the idea of formulating a common metric, or group of metrics, for the social media business. While this goal was written into the group’s charter, most members of the SMRT board of directors felt that it was “too hard,” requiring at least several weeks of work and an excessive amount of business travel, which they dismissed as a “tedious bummer.”

In addition to ruling out the possibility of formulating a common metric itself, SMRT has also agreed on a policy forbidding individual members from attempting to nail down ROI on their own time — addressing this injunction to “all the nerds who… have nothing better to do on the weekend.”

Asked whether he believed the move away from ROI and measurement generally would have a negative impact on social media ad spending, Callow said “absolutely not. I mean, what are they going to do: not advertise in social media? C’mon. It’s like, a law that they have to.”

Check This Out: Google’s Very Own “Like” Button

We wonder if this will take off? Interesting choice by Google! Will saying “I plus-one-d it” become as common as “I liked it”? Originally posted by Fast Company.

BY David Zax Wed Mar 30, 2011

Google encroaches on social, with its new +1 feature.

You click on stuff that your friends like. It’s a simple enough fact, but it’s tremendously important. It’s the insight behind the Facebook “like” button, wherein you can share with your social network what links interest you. And it’s the insight behind a new feature launched by Google today, something it’s calling +1.

In a blog post today, Google explained how it was building on its recent decision to include information in your searches about whether your friends liked a given link (shared it on Twitter, for example). With +1, which Google’s Rob Spiro calls “the digital shorthand for ‘this is pretty cool,’” anyone with a Google account can now opt in to publicly endorsing websites they like.

Google introduced the new feature with a video. The web is a big place, it explains, and we could all use some friendly pointers to help us navigate it.

+1, of course, continues a longstanding tradition of the social web: the desecration of the English language. Now, on top of “friending” people and @mentioning them, we will now “plus one” things, as in, “Hey, did you see that great article on Fast Company?” “Oh yeah, I plus one’d that yesterday.”

If you want to get on board with plus-one’ing things ASAP, go to Google Experimental Labs, here. Be aware that anything you click is public–shared with everyone in your social circle, as determined by Google (essentially, for now, your Google Contacts–people you chat and email with–though Google has suggested it may add Twitter contacts and others soon).

+1′s aren’t broadcast across Twitter or Facebook, it seems–rather, they’ll pop up when your friends conduct Google searches. They’ll also appear next to ads, and soon, on other Google-affiliated pages. Says Google: “Initially, +1’s will appear alongside search results and ads, but in the weeks ahead they’ll appear in many more places (including other Google products and sites across the web).”

What does Facebook think of all this, we wonder?

Follow Fast Company on Twitter. Email David Zax, the author of this post.

Read More: Most Innovative Companies: Google and Facebook

Delta first to offer check-in via Facebook

Take our poll and let us know…do you think this is a good idea? Originally posted by Pittsburgh Business Times.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Delta Air Lines Inc. has enhanced its Facebook page to include online check-in within 24 hours of a scheduled departure, according to a Delta blog.

The airline becomes the first in the U.S. to offer the feature. The site also shows flight status and SkyMiles account info.

Delta started its Facebook page in August, but there were limited options. The newest functions also include the ability to check in-flight amenities including Wi-Fi and entertainment. Passengers can also share a travel itinerary with friends and family on Facebook rather than sending a separate email.

Access the Facebook page here.

Delta is the fourth-busiest airline at Pittsburgh International Airport, 344,870 enplaned passengers between September 2009 and August 2010.

Read more: Delta first to offer check-in via Facebook | Pittsburgh Business Times

Facebook “Likes” More Profitable Than Tweets

Originally posted by Mashable.

by Sarah Kessler, 3/17/11

If event registration site Eventbrite’s experience is any indication, social media marketers looking for monetary returns on their efforts might get more value from Facebook than Twitter.

The company announced Wednesday that an average tweet about an event drove 80 cents in ticket sales during the past six months, whereas an average Facebook Like drove $1.34.

The study, which used in-house social analytics tools to track ticket sales on the site, was a continuation of a similar analysis the company released in October after analyzing data from a 12-week period. That study also indicated Facebook drove more sales for Eventbrite than Twitter, although the difference between the two networks’ sales per post was greater at that point than throughout the entire six-month period (the “value” of tweets increased).

In addition to each individual Facebook Like driving more sales than an individual tweet, the study also revealed cumulative activity on Facebook was greater than activity on Twitter for Eventbrite. People shared Eventbrite events on Facebook almost four times as often as they did on Twitter. The company attributes this disparity to Facebook’s wider reach and greater emphasis on real-world ties.

It’s important to note that only a very small percentage of site visitors shared event pages on either network. Just 1% of people who landed on an event page shared it with their friends; 10% of people who had purchased a ticket did the same.

Obviously people are more likely to share events if they are attending. Their friends, according to Eventbrite’s data, are also more likely to buy tickets to an event shared on Facebook by a ticket holder than one shared by an uncommitted friend. Whether these trends, or any of Eventbrite’s findings, are relevant to other types of purchases is still a matter of speculation. But Eventbrite is betting they are.

“We carefully track sharing behavior in an effort to help event organizers tap into a new world of distribution for their event promotion,” wrote Tamara Mendelsohn, Eventbrite’s director of marketing and former senior analyst at Forrester Research, in a blog post about the study. “But the findings apply broadly to all e-commerce businesses, because the foundations of e-commerce are shifting as the social graph becomes a meaningful influence in driving transactions.”

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, imagedepotpro

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5 Twitter tools to manage your tweets

Which one do you use? Originally posted by MSNBC.com.

By Michael Gray, 3/14/11

Programs for your smart phone or computer help keep things straight

Twitter is a great tool for keeping in touch with friends and family. It’s a simple service to use, and it doesn’t take any time at all to get started. For that matter, even learning the basic Twitter lexicon doesn’t take much effort. Twitter really is a pretty straightforward thing to use. You can quickly find yourself gathering more friends on Twitter than you thought were possible — and when that happens, it’s sometimes helpful to use a Twitter client.

These clients are basically programs that run on your computer or smart phone. They automatically load Twitter updates and often chirp or make noise to let you know there’s a new message. This saves you the trouble of going to the Twitter website and constantly refreshing it to keep up to date on your tweets. Most clients have additional features to help make tweeting a little more convenient. Let’s take a look at five of the most popular Twitter clients and what they can do for you.

TweetDeck
TweetDeck is one of the most popular Twitter clients. TweetDeck is available for both Windows computers and Macs, as well as most smart phoness. TweetDeck does a great job of managing both your incoming and outgoing tweets, and it can even help you post images, videos, and link to your Twitter account more easily. TweetDeck runs quietly in the background of your computer, using both a chirping sound and a small pop-up in the corner of your screen to let you know when you have received a new message.

HootSuite
HootSuite is a little more of a professional Twitter tool than a personal client like TweetDeck. HootSuite is built to work with teams, track the results of your tweets, and promote team collaboration. You can even schedule your Twitter updates for a future time, assign tasks to team members, and gauge the impact of your tweets across multiple social networks. If HootSuite sounds a little in depth for the average Twitter user, that’s because it is. However, if you’re getting into Twitter to support your home business or charity, then HootSuite could be a good tool.

Twitteriffic
Twitteriffic is a Mac-specific desktop Twitter client, though it also has versions for the iPad and iPhone. Twitteriffic has a lot of the same functionality as TweetDeck, making it easy to control your incoming and outgoing tweets in one location. If you have multiple Twitter accounts, Twitteriffic also allows you to open multiple windows, which reduces the likelihood that you’ll accidentally send a critical tweet to the wrong account. You can color-code your incoming tweets to help you highlight mentions and replies.

All things considered, Twitteriffic is a simple desktop client for Twitter, even easier to use than TweetDeck. If you want something fast, friendly, and uncomplicated, Twitteriffic is probably the best way to go.

Tweet Button
Twitter provides what it calls the “Tweet Button.” Using Twitter’s online tool, you generate a snippet of HTML code that you can drop on your website. When users click the button, they automatically send a Tweet on their accounts about your website.

This is in no way a traditional Twitter client like TweetDeck, HootSuite, or Twitteriffic, but it is a very meaningful way to get your message out to the public. Dropping this code on your website, blog post, or any place you use HTML will help your audience and readers quickly tweet about your content. This Tweet button is in the top 10 ways tweets are sent to Twitter, so it’s worth a mention.

Flock
Flock bills itself as a “social Web browser.” Essentially, Flock is a Web browser like Internet Explorer or Chrome that includes a sidebar that scrolls incoming messages from Twitter and Facebook. Flock includes tools to manage your contacts across multiple services, sending out tweets and messages to social networks and otherwise supporting your burgeoning social network lifestyle.

Flock is a pretty handy tool if you like to watch your social messages fly by, but it’s not really a dedicated Twitter client. If you’re doing other Web browsing but want to keep Twitter in your peripheral view, Flock is a great option. If you just want to focus on Twitter, though, TweetDeck or HootSuite is probably a better choice.

The final comparison
Ultimately, TweetDeck remains the most popular Twitter client for your computer for a reason. HootSuite is pretty good, but it’s more intended for professional users. Twitteriffic is a strong contender to TweetDeck, but it only exists for Macs. The Tweet Button can let your audience spread your message for you, and Flock is a nice Twitter-integrated web browser. In the end, what you choose is going to be about your own Twitter use.