There has been a fair amount going on this week in social media with the Social Media World Forum (smwf) on Monday and Tuesday and SXSW the other side of the pond. Due to this, there is a bonus post in our top six this week.
1. Brands Must Become Media to Earn Relevance – Brian Solis
Always on the money in terms of in depth analysis and forward thinking, Brian Solis looks at how brands have to become adept at creating content and actually becoming media. He also breaks down the differences between paid, earned and owned media and looks at how, as content creators, brands and individuals can use social media to build influence and trust within their niche.
2. Social Fans More Likely to Buy – emarketer.com
Who’s looking for some ROI ammo? That’s most of us then! A recent study from Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate (US) indicates that if you are a friend or follower of a brand then you are more likely to buy their stuff. Not exactly a Eureka moment but anyone working with B2C clients, it may be worth throwing pointing them here.
3. 4 Ways the Entertainment Industry is Getting More Social – David A. Yovanno
If you are a fan of something or someone then social media should be your friend. TV companies, Movie studios, bands or labels and especially sports teams or athletes now have the tools to bring their fans into their world like never before. In this guest post by David A. Yovanno on Mashable, he looks at some examples of how the entertainment world is getting its social on.
4. Hats off to Heineken - Molly Flatt
I had originally credited this one to Mashable but a tweet from James Whatley at 1000Heads set me straight on how they had it first! This is one of the best WOM (word of mouth) campaigns I have seen in a while. The video is below so doesn’t need too many words, but note the harnessing of: real life, both genders, online and offline and the human touch. Enjoy.
5. Social Listening for Economists? – Aaron Lewis
Interesting angle from Aaron Lewis on how social media can be used as an economic prediction engine. By using the social media monitoring tools (in this case Crimson Hexagon), a decline in social chatter about job hunting pre-empted a slight increase in overall economic performance in the US. Not sure if we should hang our hats on the data just yet…but I like the way he is thinking!
6. Sequoia’s Kvamme: Social Media Marketing Can Replace Advertising – Liz Gannes
According to Sequoia Capital’s Mark Kvamme, “If you can harness social media marketing, you don’t have to pay for advertising any more.” With so many people now creating their own media, if marketers and advertisers of old can navigate the new waters and find a way in to these communities then they can turbo charge their messages. They are going to need to learn the new languages and etiquette though.
7. Chat Roulette Funny Piano Improv #1 – PianoChatImprov (Merton)
Controversial, I know but I couldn’t resist throwing in a seventh this week. If you aren’t familiar with chatroulette then go here or here. Then watch the below video and laugh accordingly!
