The Hello Bar is a simple notification bar that engages users and communicates a call to action.

Swiss Know More Than Cheese

by Jerry Battiste · 1 comment

lori r taylor, revmediamarketing, social media, social media marketing, branding, product branding, networking, oneclicksociety, social caffeine, mobile marketingSwitzerland: Home Of The Alps And Social Media

Pssst…wanna know a secret? Switzerland is one of the fastest adopters of social media marketing in the world. That’s right, when they aren’t skiing in the alps, business owners in Switzerland are quickly learning to navigate the Social Web, integrating social media marketing into their existing infrastructure making them one of the largest growth markets for social media managers.

Now, before you start packing your parka, hot chocolate and ski boots, remember, lots of new social media markets are emerging all around the world, just as they are in Switzerland. Chief among these are China, South America and of course, right here in the United States. It doesn’t matter so much where you are wanting to work, it is very likely someone in that area is already using social media marketing to promote their business, brand or product or they want to.

Sure, some countries make it easy to create a social media marketing plan that works because their population is comprised mostly of smartphone users (like Switzerland) and early adopters of new technologies, but that doesn’t mean opportunities are limited to a few choice locations. Instead, you should look at this latest piece of information about the growth of social media use in Switzerland as yet another sign that this new communication method still has plenty of room to grow.

True, the Social Web is far into its adolescence, but it’s also true that the end is no where in sight. There are still miles to go before anyone sleeps when it comes to new ways of using social media to market your products. In fact, as quickly as we learn to effectively use one social media tool another one, entirely unique in its own way, pops up. In this way social media is offering a multitude of diversity to fit all needs and a near endless ability to redefine itself as new technologies become available.

 

Despite this Switzerland is in a unique position, said Schäfer, as it has an incredible density of people who use smartphones that can consult social media sites, especially the iPhone which is owned by some 1.2 million people. The alpine nation is also home to an estimated 200,000 Twitter users.

Switzerland’s sensitivity to language issues and distinctive cultures can also be an advantage when it comes to social media, say the founders.

“Each different language region has its own style. This means that each area uses specific themes to create or produce news for social media,” said Schäfer.

Zurich and Geneva are the two most active social media hubs in Switzerland. Geneva organises an annual new digital technologies conference called Lift, which this year takes place from February 22-24. Bern also has a very active blogging scene.

Click here to read more about the growth of SMM in Switzerland.

Latinos Flocking To Social Media (And Other Social Media Statistics)

by Jerry Battiste · 0 comments

lori r taylor, revmediamarketing, social media, social media marketing, branding, product branding, networking, oneclicksociety, social caffeine, mobile marketingWho Do You Want To Reach?

When it comes to the ethnic group which is most often using social media to communicate, Hispanics outpace all others. This latest information comes via a recent poll conducted by BIGinsight of more than 3,200 Americans. A whopping 60.7 percent of all Latinos say they log into social media at least once per day, compared with a slightly lower number for Black Americans (60.2 percent) and about 7 percent fewer Caucasian Americans (53.7 percent.)

So, what does this mean for your brand, company or organization? You tell me.

Too often companies are asking others what they themselves should know best. Questions such as “who should we reach?” “what messages should we put out there?” and “when is the best time to reach the people we want to reach?” This is information your company should already know. What a social media manager can help you do is reach the targets you are aiming for, but you should know who or what you are trying to hit before you call us.

Social media is arguably the most effective communication tool ever devised by human beings. However, it is only effective if you know how to use it. Oh sure, it helps if you have some idea who you can reach with which network, and when during the day is the best time to reach them, but still, without being able to correctly identify your target audience in the first place the best tools in the world won’t help you much at all.

The new American Pulse Survey by BIGinsight does provide some interesting information about who is using what networks. It breaks down the main sites, like Google+, Facebook and Twitter, but also includes information on some of the smaller sites too like Pinterest and Foursquare.

Study the information, understand how social media can help you reach who you want to reach, but remember, it cannot help you understand your own business. That’s your job.

While Facebook and Twitter remain the most popular social media sites, Pinterest has also gained popularity quite rapidly-15.2% of Adults 18+ say they have an account (for comparison, only 11.1% have an account with check-in site Foursquare). Hispanics appear especially “Pinterested” in the new photo pin board site, as 28.5% say they have an account.

While social media engagement is growing, talks of censorship and pirated content also flourish. Likely due to uncertainty about how it will affect their experiences on their favorite social sites, Americans seem divided about the issue of censorship. Just over a third of Adults 18+ (36.5%) somewhat or strongly agree that offensive content should be censored on the Internet. Blacks are more likely to approve of censorship (51.7%), while Hispanics (38.4%) and Caucasians (35.8%) are less supporting.

Click here for a link to the complete report.

YouTube’s Move Toward Original Content Takes Another Step Forward

by Jerry Battiste · 2 comments

lori r taylor, revmediamarketing, social media, social media marketing, branding, product branding, networking, oneclicksociety, social caffeine, mobile marketing

Just About Everyone On The Web Watches YouTube Videos

The fact is, when it comes to videos on the Internet, nobody does it better than YouTube. By better, I mean more of it, in more ways, not necessarily the quality of the videos they host.

YouTube has been talking about improving the quality of the videos they offer viewers for some time. In fact, they have often likened what they are doing to the way cable television offered viewers more channels than conventional television. YouTube‘s problem, however, has been finding ways to nurture and develop original content that wasn’t quite so hit-or-miss.

This week they took another step toward their stated goal by announcing a new plan to generate 25 hours of original content per day with a very specific network of content producers. The growth of this content will be fostered through the use of $100 million in seed money it had already committed to the project.

Their goal is to have 96 new, additional, original channels up and running by the summer time. Just like with all YouTube channels, viewers can subscribe and be notified every time a new video is posted. Unlike conventional television, or even what they are doing at Netflix and Hulu, these YouTube videos are expected to be about 10 minutes long. This is perfect for mobile viewers who want to watch something while they wait in the doctors office, or on the train for their morning commute.

By supplying the seed money to these content producers YouTube is making their business model much easier. Where once they had to create a video and wait for it to begin producing revenue before making another, these producers can make several videos and have them all chugging along at the same time-or have a series of videos ready to go, so viewers get regular updates. YouTube is also planning to share revenue produced by the videos with the content producers, so there is still an impetus beyond the seed money for them to produce original content.

This YouTube plan has been coming for some time, but it appears with this latest announcement that it will be here sooner than we thought.

 

The cash has enticed some of TV’s biggest stars, including “Fast Five” director Justin Lin, who directs episodes of “Community,” ”CSI” creator Anthony Zuiker and Nancy Tellem, the former president of CBS entertainment.

Zuiker is teaming up on a horror series for YouTube after observing his own family’s behavior. His three pre-teen sons spend more time on phones, iPads and computers than watching TV these days.

“We want to jointly take the risk with YouTube and roll the dice on the future,” Zuiker says. “The old regime is going to falter because everybody thinks the TV is the only device that really counts, and that’s just not the case.”

For producers, it’s a chance to create shows that are completely free of meddling from major studios. They can also stay relevant with a younger crowd whose viewing is moving increasingly online.

Click here to read the complete Associated Press story on YouTube’s most recent announcement.

Ignore The Power Of Social Media And Face The Consequences

February 17, 2012

Lack Of Preparation Leaves The Door Wide Open For Your Competitors When the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced they were cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, the social media backlash was swift and severe. As Komen executives struggled to contain what became a media maelstrom of negative publicity, members of Planned Parenthood launched a Breast Health [...]

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Franchisees Need Social Media Too

February 16, 2012

Just Because You’re A Chain Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Benefit Being a franchisee of a large chain means you are often limited in the ways you can market your individual store. Decisions about marketing generally come from the main office and there is little you can do to differentiate yourself from the other locations, even [...]

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MySpace Benefits From Playing To Its Strengths

February 15, 2012

What Are Your Strengths And How Can They Benefit You? Last June when the digital media firm Specific Media bought MySpace for a handful of trinkets and beads (about $35 million-but far less than the $580 million NewsCorp paid for it in 2005) many in the business wondered what they would do with a service [...]

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Grammy’s Get Ratings Boost From Social Media

February 14, 2012

Social Media Is Good For TV With almost 40 million viewers tuning in, the 54th Annual Grammy Awards posted its highest television ratings in almost 30 years. And the story was even better when it came to social media conversations. According to Bluefin Labs, there were about 13 million social media comments pertaining to the [...]

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Parental Responsibility And Social Media: Lesson Learned

February 13, 2012

Privacy Settings on Facebook Only Go So Far Perhaps you’ve already seen the YouTube video posted by a disappointed and clearly upset father after finding an obscenity laced tirade from his daughter posted on her Facebook page. In case you haven’t, I’m posting it here for you to check out: So, he reads her Facebook [...]

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Plans For Social Media Week?

February 10, 2012

What Are Your Plans? Monday starts the fourth annual “Social Media Week” and cities around the world are preparing to host thousands of visitors, hundreds of discussions and events and generally immerse themselves in the topic. This year there are 12 host cities for “Social Media Week“: New York, Miami, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Hong [...]

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Being “Nice” On Social Media Makes A Difference

February 9, 2012

Being Good Helps You Fit In (Online) A new Pew Research poll is out which says that 85 percent of adults view the people they meet on social media as being, well, “nice.” This is good news for every company, brand and individual who has gone out of their way to be nice through their [...]

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