Sysomos Blog

Want More Shares on Facebook?

2013-05-16T13:17:47Z

It seems the more a digital marketer tries on Facebook, the more elusive it becomes to get your audience to share your content.

Nothing in social media is easy, but wherever there is a will there is a way.

One of the big goals for social media is making sure what you doreaches the largest audience possible.

How do you achieve this?

Well, here’s a couple of proven ideas and you should give them a shot to discover the results.

Timing is Everything

You need an editorial calendar to map out when you will be releasing content. It needs to be logical and reflective of your goals. Things shouldn’t just happen when it comes to digital marketing.

You also need to consider when your audience wants to receive key messaging. If you’re reaching out to a younger audience, you might want to approach it differently than an older demographic group.

Visuals Matter

Social media is a lot of content but you need to engage your audience in a way that is more enticing than just the written word.

An image or video can make someone more willing to click on a link or want to go a level deeper. Your job is to find a visual that enhances the copy. Not an easy task.

These are only two ideas but there are dozens more that are proven and effective. Take the time to learn what can work for you and build it into your strategy.

This Is Social Media To Commander Hadfield

2013-05-16T05:24:43Z

On Monday night the crew of Expedition 35 at the International Space Station touched back down on Earth for the first time in five months. Among the crew was Commander Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut that some call “the first man to master social media in space.”

Five months ago Chris Hadfield headed to the ISS, but never really lost contact with us here back on terra firma. Commander Hadfield kept in touch by using social media to wow the world with the things he was doing up in space. Whether it was his tweets, his pictures from space, his YouTube videos and anything else he sent back down to Earth, the world was enthralled by it.

Using MAP, our social media monitoring and analytics platform, I took a look at the impact that Chris Hadfield had on the social media world.

I started by looking for all mentions of Hadfield by name or his Twitter screen name for the past 6 months. In that time I found him mentioned over 1.7 million times across social media. There were 14,956 blog posts, 29,689 online news articles, 11,921 forum postings and 1,680,939 tweets about, to or from Hadfield.

On average, people were mentioning or talking to Commander Hadfield about 10,000 times per day while he was up in space. The giant spike we can see at the end of the six month period below was people watching and tweeting along with Hadfield and the other two crew members as they descended back to Earth.

While Hadfield was up there, he managed to capture the attention of the world through his social media communications from space. A look at where tweets about the Commander came from shows that people around the world were talking to and about him over his five month stay at the space station. Below is a pie chart that shows where mentions of Hadfield were coming from. And below that is a world map plotting out where tweets about him were coming from.

What’s most amazing about most of this is that Chris Hadfield just got into social media right before his trip thanks to some convincing from his kids. Now the astronaut boasts over 842,000 followers on Twitter. With all of the tweets he sent back to the planet he wowed and amassed his large following over his five months in space.

His Twitter handle, @Cmdr_Hadfield, was mentioned 1.5 million times during his trip as well.

I also looked up some of the most retweeted tweets either from or aimed at Commander Hadfield.Five of the top six tweets were sent from Hadfield himself. Most of them were amazing videos and pictures (like the one below) that he beamed down for us from space. The fifth most RT’d tweet was the first one he sent once he had touched back down on Earth.

Tonight’s finale: Northern Lights – recent aurora in green and red waves, USA and Canada below, the universe above. twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield/…

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) February 11, 2013

Not only did Commander Hadfield mange to rack up an impressive Twitter following, but he also did the same on YouTube. The Commander started a YouTube channel where he would beam back videos of things he was doing up in space including answering questions that us common folks had about things worked in space. His most popular video though was his last one from the station where he gives us one last look at the station while singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” The video was only posted a few days ago and has already racked up over 11 million views.

Commander Hadfield utilized social media to capture the attention of the entire world while he wasn’t even on it. He gave us all a chance to experience something that most of us will never get a chance to do ourselves (although I hope that’s not true). He truly was the first man to master social media in space. But let’s hope he wasn’t the last.

Is a Kickstarter Backlash Upon us?

2013-05-14T01:03:46Z

Kickstarter has been all the rage in social media for the past year. It seemed to cement itself as a force when Veronica Mars creator used it as a means to fund a movie based on the popular TV show.

There’s a debate raging within the digital world about whether Kickstarter has lost its way. Has it become a tool for people and brands with money and power to get their vanity projects off the ground?

If this is true, then it has definitely deviated from its original purpose. This would be a shame because Kickstarter shows real promise for digital marketers along with budding entrepreneurs.

Kickstarter’s appeal is to let the average user realize a dream that has been halted by a lack of funds; a common problem for most. A celebrity could more likely kick start their own projects without the help of the Kickstarter’s crowdsourcing means.

It’s important to remember that whatever you do in the digital realm, you must stay true to your original intention if it worked. Kickstarter still works on several levels for brands of varying sizes.

Kickstarter might be at a bit of a crossroad because the celebrities are bringing mountains of publicity to the site. At the same time, however, they might also be overshadowing the true purpose of Kickstarter’s existence.

Of course, it helps when Zach Braff (who is using Kickstarter to fund a sequel to Garden State) asked those who joined Kickstarter to make sure they browse the site.

As for digital marketers, you need to still figure out if Kickstarter is a network that can help get your project off the ground. There’s a good chance that with the right incentive, it could be a great boon to your brand.

B2B Social Media: Who, What, When, Where, How and Why [Infographic]

2013-05-14T04:40:48Z

Social media isn’t just for consumer brands. In fact, more and more B2B brands are waking up to the power that comes from being able to connect with their customers and potential customers through social media. More importantly, they’re seeing results from it.

Did you know that 83% of business marketers say that they’re using social media? Or that 75% of customers of B2B business customers plan on using social media to connect with and learn more about vendors? With numbers like that, it’s hard to ignore.

So where does one start when using social media for the B2B space? Well, lucky for you, we’ve put together an infographic to help you get started.

Below you’ll find our infographic with three tips to get get started in B2B social media, along with some pretty interesting facts about the space.

But if this was just enough to wet your whistle, don’t worry, we have more for you in our latest white paper. If you want to learn how to use social media for B2B effectively, check out B2B Social Media: A Roadmap To Revenue.

A New Approach to Social Influencers

2013-05-11T11:29:09Z

As social media has evolved and matured, the value placed by brands on social influencers has gained more traction.

In theory, brands want to connect with social influencers because they have the reach, networks and, frankly, power to encourage people to do take certain actions (e.g. buy a product, follow, tweet, recommend, etc.).

The question is whether brands are placing too much emphasis on social influencers? As brands battle to stay ahead of the pack digitally, do they pay too much attention to influencers in the overall scheme of things.

One of the key themes in a new book, Influencer Marketing, by Danny Brown and Samy Fiorella, is how brands should focus on customer rather than influencers. It’s a straightforward but, in some respects, different approach because customers often get lost in the social mix.

This may have to do with the myth that social media is not a sales medium, and brands that try to push their products are doing something wrong. Instead, social media is supposed to be a place to engage, have conversations and build relationships.

This may explain the fascination with influencers because brands can focus on winning them over, and then use their influence to drive awareness and sales.

While brands looking to court influencers has been around for a long time, the spotlight on social influencer was driven by Klout, which attempts to give people social scores. It was an approach that resonated initially because it was new and established an easy to understand benchmark.

But Klout seems to have lost its cache, partly due to competition and partly due to more people questioning the accuracy and relevancy of social scoring.

As brands look to establish and nurture their influencer marketing programs, they need to embrace new ways to do it that balances the needs to leverage people with large networks and, at the same time, focus on the people (aka customers) that buy or could buy their products and services.

Is Taco Bell the Coolest Digital Brand?

2013-05-10T10:04:19Z

There are many brands that do it right in social media.

Every quarter, we are treated to a new digital delight. The cream will always rise to the top; it’s a truism within the industry and the medium.

I’m here to anoint Taco Bell as a nominee for the coolest brand in social media. If you have to ask why, you really need to start paying attention to their creative and bold digital team.

What Taco Bell does best is they’re never scared to be bold or take risks. This shouldn’t be the approach taken by every brand, but if it works for your culture then you really have to own it.

Taco Bell continues to pile up the wins in the social media world.

The way Taco Bell’s team interact with users is often fun and hilarious. They always seem fair game for a good time, and it’s hard not to enjoy their antics.

Their friendly Twitter battle with Old Spice is still a personal favourite. While this is just one example, they have found the perfect voice for their brand. It works on just about every level.

Do you consider your brand to have a cool presence in social media? Have you found your digital voice?

The Future Of Investing And The Great Social Shift [Infographic]

2013-05-08T21:32:31Z

A few weeks back the SEC (The Securities and Exchange Commission) ruled that public companies were now free to release their important information though social media channels. Since this ruling there has been a debate in the investment community as to what this means for the future of the industry. Some welcome the use of social media while others are continuing to lobby that the way things were worked just fine.

Because of this debate, we took to the street, Wall Street, to ask the people that this ruling will affect what they thought. We surveyed stock brokers, financial and market analysts, financial advisors, individual traders and fund managers, and made their results into the infographic below.

What we learned by doing this was that Wall Street, and investor relations in general, is changing. As the younger generation that embraces technology is coming into power in the workplace, we found that they are also the new workforce that embraces social media. And for more than just keeping in touch with friends.

We found that the investment crowd under 40 support the SEC’s decision to allow the distribution of information through social media. In fact, 60% of those surveyed and were under 40 said that they regularly consult social channels to research investments. But it’s not just the under 40 crowd. 40% of all survey respondents said that they were using social media to find information.

We also found that 49% of our responders companies blocked social media from the workplace, making it hard for them to use it as a source while at work. However, 48% of those people said that they had witnessed colleagues using personal devices, like a smartphone or tablet, to consult social media for investment information anyways.

It appears that the younger generation of investors is rewriting how business is done, and social seems to be part of it.

What do you think?

Learning from HMV’s Social Media Crisis

2013-05-07T16:09:34Z

Earlier this year, HMV had a social media crisis on its hands. a situation that any digital marketer or PR professional should be able to relate to and, potentially, fear.

HMV’s Twitter account (@HMVtweets) was hacked by an employee, who after being laid off decided to tweet a lot of the company’s internal personnel decisions. A nightmare for any company.

What would you do if this happened to you?

There’s no one right answer, but there is one thing you must do and that is act immediately and have a plan in place.

HMV acted quickly but the story and tweets had already gone viral by the time anything could be done. While the company did many right things during this crisis, there are still lessons to be learned.

You have to be careful the employees who have access to your social media accounts, as well and the backend of your Website. A new employee or someone without senior authority should be trained thoroughly before being given access.

A social media account has great value and can do a lot of good and bad. Make sure there is training protocol and proper supervision, especially in the early going for all social media activity.

Most important, learn from HMV’s situation and be prepared for whatever crisis can occur in the digital arena.

Marketwired Names Jim Delaney CEO

2013-05-07T17:21:29Z

It’s an exciting day for all of us at Marketwired. Chief operating officer Jim Delaney has been promoted to CEO, and Michael Nowlan, who has served as CEO for the past 14 years, will remain on the Board of Directors.

Over the past year, Michael worked closely with the Board to ensure a smooth transition. In fact, when Jim was named chief operating officer, he filled a newly created role at Marketwired – one that was established in anticipation of this day. Over the past nine months, Jim and Michael have worked closely together to plan for an orderly, evolutionary change in leadership.

In the coming days, Jim will take to the blog to share more about his priorities with you. In the meantime, we’d invite you to read the release distributed earlier today. You can also join us on Twitter to wish Jim and Michael well in their new roles.

Social + Website Conversion = Success

2013-05-06T11:06:23Z

What are your goals for social media? At the end of the day, what is social media going to do help drive your business?

Maybe it’s customer service, brand awareness, content distribution or, heck, generating sales leads.

In many cases, social media is leveraged to drive inbound traffic. All the time and energy spent on tweets, updates, shares and pins are intended to get people to your Website.

Then what?

In an ideal world, you’re able to meet their needs. It could be more information about your products or services, it be videos, white papers, blog posts, case studies or memberships/subscriptions.

Whatever the inbound goal, your Website needs to perform or, in other words, it has to be optimized to drive conversions.

Given the importance of conversion, it is interesting to see that 53% of companies spent less than 5% of their marketing budgets on optimization.

This news came was part of the Adobe 2013 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey, which includes analysis by eConsultancy. Adobe interviewed more than 1,800 digital marketers in North America, Europe and Asia.

In many respects, conversion (along with driving sales) is one of the dirty little secrets of social media. We spend a lot of time talking about conversations and engagement but why would a brand do anything if it’s not about boosting the business, particularly the bottom line.

Brands should not be shy about using social to get people to convert (aka take an action). Social media is marketing, and marketing is designed to get potential and existing customers to do things.

The worst thing a brand can do is cut themselves off at the knees by having a great social media program but not having a Website that can take advantage of the traffic generated.

Social media and a Website are a great one-two digital marketing punch. Both parts need to work well and be optimized to turn activity into success.