Edit And Be Happy

Lo and behold! You no longer have to suffer or bear the misery for making the mistake of putting up incorrect comments on a post on Facebook despite having impeccable English; you can finally edit your comments! People can see your history of editions though, mind you. You’d think that this feature would have been integrated into the social network a lot sooner, but it comes after a long wait.

We can all be happy now that the upgrade is here. It doesn’t exactly make the biggest difference to our lives (maybe most of us have gotten used to the incorrectly posted comments). The point is that it will take a while for us to get used to the idea that there need not be any mistakes or misgivings in our comments. Now, after much ado, we can finally write our long criticisms of someone’s status, blog, video update, and Godknowswhatnot. If an error is to be made, it is all in fate’s hands.

But it need not be in fate’s hands for long because if you read your super-long comment again, for review (as most of us tend to do. Don’t. Lie.), and don’t like something about it, you can change it. A Godsend, maybe, is what this update is.

On the brighter side of things, the delay in this update seems to have taught us something too. It has taught us how to avoid those irresistible “foot in mouth” situations; the staple food of the mockers, the very soul of the cynics.

A word out of line, even a careless typo would mean social suicide, at least virtually.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

You suddenly become like the sheep that is being watched endlessly by the big bad wolf from the veil that is the tall grass.

He waits patiently for you to make one wrong move.

Then he runs at you with everything he’s got.

He finally pounces on you and does this:

Never before did you ever put so much thought into what you wrote, and were careful to check and double-check how the meaning came across to the reader. This is mostly because of the pressure of having other people read what you wrote; the complex web that the concept of social media weaves.

So the invaluable lesson learnt in the process has been the need to measure your words carefully before you speak them. Now I need to give credits before I end this post or it could cause a stink, so that’s all for now folks.

Credits: 9gag.com, link to actual post: http://9gag.com/gag/4463358

All the IPO Hype

Lets look at the chain of events that took place over this past week leading up to the launch of the Facebook IPO.

Monday, 14th May – CNBC Web Producer, Lee Brodie says that the Facebook IPO is a “sign of new revolution”.  Venture capitalist John Frankel of FF Venture Capital says that ‘the Facebook IPO is much more than a hot stock coming onto the market – it’s a meaningful sign of the times.’

Tuesday, 15th May - The world’s biggest car company General Motors has pulled $10 million USD of Facebook advertising just days before the social network begins trading on the stock exchange.

Wednesday, 16th May - Encouraged by strong market demand, social networking site Facebook has increased the price band and number of shares for the initial public offer that could garner up to USD 18 billion (up from USD 16 billion, which was earlier upped from USD 12 billion).

Thursday, 17th May – Is Facebook California’s savior? Facebook’s IPO, by some estimates, will turn a thousand of its employees into instant millionaires. So many suddenly wealthy taxpayers in California couldn’t come at a better time, especially when “The Golden State” has a growing budget deficit.

Friday, 18th May - Just hours before Facebook opened on the public market today, a group of Facebook users sued the company in a $15 billion class-action lawsuit over privacy, according to Bloomberg.

This was the working week prior to the much anticipated Facebook IPO launch (at $38), and in all this anticipation Facebookipodayclosingprice.com was born, and it predicted the closing price of the Facebook share to be as high as $54.

So we waited with bated breath to see if this was really going to happen, hoping to witness history being made.

So, what happened in the end was that the IPO opened and closed at roughly the same price.

Conclusion: Everyone added fuel to the fire, and now they say that the Facebook IPO disappointed them. Does this seem logical to you??

Get Going, Get Known

So many of us have created pages on facebook with a motive to either raise awareness or promote a band, or a short film, or a famous personality, the list goes on and on.

Don’t you wonder what is it that brings people to your page and keeps them interested? When is the iron hot so that you may strike it? Not once, not twice, but as many times as necessary?

Here are a few pointers that should help you maximize the number of people checking in to your page, and getting engaged.

We all know how important it is to get likes and comments on our Facebook page. The reason for that is to keep a good EdgeRank. Facebook admits that the average Facebook page reaches only about 17% of its fans, and since less than 1 to 2% of fans go back to your page, EdgeRank and newsfeed visibility are critical. These statistics are of course based on an average.

Once you get a new fan, if your page makes him happy or intrigues him, he will continue to come back to your page, otherwise he would simply stop.

Now you need to know who you are appealing to and when these people are most active. Therefore, it is necessary to know which days of the week your fans are most and least responsive. This factor differs with every company and industry.

For instance, recent research indicates that the most responsive day for high fashion brands is Wednesday, while the same for outdoor clothing brand pages is Thursday. So, even if you post every day, you should make sure that your most engaging posts are kept for the most responsive day of the week. It’s true that there is no sure way of determining how any post will be received but data from past experiences really helps one to trace a pattern of sorts that works for him/her.

Facebook provides you with methods to study this data for strategic planning for your page. Here are the steps:

• 1. Go to your Facebook page insights and click on likes.
• 2. Click on export data. Choose post level data, and then select at least a two-month range so you have a good sample.
• 3. Save it and open it in Excel.
• 4. There’s not a quick way in Excel to group dates by day of week, but with a bit of manual work, you can find the average lifetime of engaged users per post, per day of the week.

Now you know what happens and why it happens the way it happens, and how to change what happens to something you want should happen. You get it right? That’s good, you’re smart.

Credits: mashable.com, edgerankchecker.com

Pin it if you love it

Have you guys heard about Pinterest? What is Pinterest? The name definitely invites some interest. Oh look! It happened again.

At first glance, the home page of Pinterest looks like a tasteful collection of eye-catching images put up by users from all over the world. The images range from a picturesque location to a small piece of equipment, from pets or animals to works of art, from landmark events in history to latest trends in fashion, to name a few. Of course, a lot of these categories often tend to overlap one another, making it a more memorable experience.

Pinterest is a pin board style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme based collections such as events, interests, hobbies and more. Users have the option of browsing other pin boards for inspiration,’re-pin’ images to their own collections and/or ‘like’ photos. Pinterest’s mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the things they find interesting”. Obviously, once it gets put up, it’s not interesting anymore, its ‘Pinteresting’ now!

Founded by Ben Silbermann, the site is managed by Cold Brew Labs and funded by a small group of entrepreneurs and inventors. It draws our attention for the following reasons:

- It is one the fastest growing social services in the world.

- It drives more traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn, combined!

- It is extremely viral. Over 80% of pins are re-pins. This means your content goes on autopilot.

- You do not need to repost your articles over and over like on some social sites because your pins can be posted and re-shared over and over.

- It is driving more traffic back to websites than Twitter.

Here’s an info graphic, which will do the rest of the detailing. After all, the site is about images, and writing more about it will spoil the fun, honestly.

Credits: wikipedia.org, mashable.com, socialmediahelp4u.com

Its all about the Fans, now.

The recent headlines on a Sports news website –

“Kaka becomes first athlete to pass 10m fans on Twitter”

“The IOC’s ‘Olympic Athletes Hub’ – good idea or social media fail?”

“FIFA launches YouTube Channel”

“Arsenal advises young players on use of social media”

“Liverpool first Premier League club on Pinterest”

“Social Media & Sport – the importance of interacting with, not just talking at fans”

All this points to one, and only one thing: Social Media is big, and it cannot be ignored.

The fact is, social media does not require a big budget and you don’t need millions of fans to see a positive return from your social media efforts. If you could put a few more people in the stands at your games or sell more merchandise at your team store without it costing you anything, wouldn’t that be worth your time?

Every team has fans. Some are more loyal and engaging than others, but every team has a fan base that wants to see your program succeed. What social media does is give you the tools to engage with your fan base and turn them into advocates that will help you achieve your goals. The only thing you have to do is provide value. And, yes, value can be defined in a number of ways. It doesn’t mean you have to give away something that costs a lot of money. Value can simply be providing your fan base with something that they normally wouldn’t experience such as access to behind the scenes action, exclusive offers on tickets and merchandise and creative online contests that encourage participation.

Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms are having a tremendous impact on the sports world for fans, players, teams and sponsors alike.

Here’s an infographic to better depict the picture (too much reading gets boring, we know).

The zipper and things you never knew

So the guy who invented the zipper, the simple object that has caused both great convenience and a lot of suppressed discomfort to the masses, is more popular than the cricketing legend who has diligently served his nation for over twenty years.

Gideon Sundback (April 24, 1880 – June 21, 1954) was not so popular till today, but for the latest Google Doodle, now every Google junky, which is virtually every one of us, knows his name.

Gideon Sundback was a Swedish-American electrical engineer. Born in 1880 in Sweden, he eventually immigrated to the United Stated in 1905. Sundback improved Whitcomb Judson’s 1851 patent for the Clasp Locker, working for Judson at his Universal Fastener Company in St. Catherine, Ontario.

While we wish a very happy birthday to Sachin Tendulkar, the little master, the master blaster, the living legend, and the very lifeline of Indian cricket, the inventor of the zip is simply too hard to ignore now that he has been highlighted by Google. So here we delve into some interesting facts about the simple ‘zipper’.

• Wait a minute, simple? Wrong! The development of the zip happened over a period of 8 years, from 1906 to 1914.
• Sundback filed for a patent for the design of the zipper (or the Hookless No.2 as it was known then) in 1914. It was issued to him in 1917.
• The name “zipper” was created in 1923 by B.F. Goodrich.
• Before the name ‘zipper’ was coined, the device was called “Hookless No.2”.
• Initially, boots and tobacco pouches were the primary use for zippers; it took another twenty years before they caught on in the fashion industry.
• About the time of World War II the zipper achieved wide acceptance for the flies of trousers and the plackets of skirts and dresses.
• Thousands of miles of zipper are manufactured daily.

The inventor of the zipper was pretty much an unknown entity until today. We verily took for granted the existence of the zip and the essential role it has been fulfilling for us for such a long time.

But when Google decided to do a doodle on the zipper, the whole story was suddenly brought to the forefront and everybody took notice. This, folks, is the power of social media to bring to light something that was obscure, to influence minds and to cultivate opinions. Don’t let it pass you by.

Facebook Timeline – A revolution for brand pages

After having launched the Timeline feature for personal pages, Facebook recently announced that brand pages on Facebook will follow suit. All brand pages will automatically convert to the timeline layout by the 30^th of March, but they have also been given the option to convert as and when they feel like before the end of this month. This time period has given brands a good opportunity to research and experiment with the new timeline scheme. It could be a big game changer for brands on Facebook as this, quite visibly, is a radical change in the layout for brand pages. A big disadvantages, many brands would agree, is that the Facebook Timeline is compulsory for all brand pages from the 30^th of March.

On the other hand, a few brands have already embraced the new Facebook Timeline feature, meaning greater interaction with fans and more controlled branding on pages. Here are some of examples –

• Coca-Cola
• 
• Coldplay
• 
• Starbucks
• 

There are a number of key changes regarding the Facebook Timeline, which will prove to be beneficial to the brands. Here are a few of them –

• Aesthetics – One of the biggest changes, quite literally, will be the cover photo for the brand. Facebook Timeline now allows brands to have a huge horizontal cover photo instead of a tiny vertical one earlier. This gives them an opportunity make an impact the instant anyone lands on their Facebook page.
• Brand History – Timeline allows brands to highlight their history in chronological form, giving their page a more personalized feel.
• ‘Pinning’ posts – Once the Timeline is implemented, brands have an option to ‘pin’ their important posts to the top of their page for greater visibility.
• Personal Messaging – Brands will now be able to send private messages to their fans. They do not necessarily need to answer of communicate with their fans publicly on their brand page, instead they can send a more personalized message directly to the concerned fan.

The Facebook Timeline is bound to revolutionalise they way we have been seeing brand pages on Facebook. It has given brands a huge opportunity to better enhance consumer interaction with their brands. Brands that constantly create engaging content for their consumers and share important milestones with them will stay ahead in the race to grab a consumer’s attention.

So how have you or your brand devised of a strategy for your page on Facebook? Share your views.

Get real feedback from your social networks

We all know that social networking is a serious business. Most top brands of the world already have a prominent presence on social networking sites like Facebook & Twitter. They have a steady audience participating on their pages and it’s a great way to create a direct connect with the real consumer.

One great thing about these social networks is that companies can take advantage of social feedback for the betterment of their products and services. Through social networking marketers can skip the barriers posed by contrived feedback methods and get direct access to honest consumer opinion. Hence, the more conversations a brand has on its page, the more insight they can get. But since all these social networking are public forums, data can be quite difficult to extract from these conversations at times.

Most companies do understand the importance of social feedback and that they need to take advantage of it; however, many still aren’t doing anything about it. According to a survey, 85% of marketers think that customer insight is the best potential advantage of using social media, but only 6% of businesses are actually using social media to collect customer feedback.

Statistics also suggest that between 50% – 75% of messages companies receive on Facebook & Twitter do not need any action as they are just general banter. But the real challenge and the game changer is to filter out all the valuable stuff and learn from it.

So once the company has sorted the mess and filtered all the useful data, how do you make the best of it?

1. Shed Light on Perceptions of Your Brand

It is said that over a third of the messages on these social networks say something about the brand. It helps the brand determine whether their social strategy and even in fact their overall brand strategy is working or not.

2. Peek into Your Customers’ Heads

Social networks also act as a great platform for brands to really understand their customers. Conversations on their pages can give them insight they would’ve never considered. It gives the brands community managers an opportunity to directly ask questions to their customers.

3. Understand Which Products Resonate the Best

When a brand comes out with a new product, Facebook & Twitter act as the perfect source for immediate feedback on the product. This valuable feedback can help in responding and making any required changes.

4. Learn from Major Customer Issues

Complaints and questions on Facebook & Twitter are a nightmare for any social media manager. But the solution lies in responding to all the queries in real time and take timely action in resolving them.

5. Construct a Social Media Customer Conversation Plan

A proper plan of action is needed to get on top of diverse and jumbled social conversations, and to make the move toward effective research and analysis. Social media insight is something worth capitalizing on. If you have a social media presence, you’re already generating valuable, organic data. The next step is to prevent it slipping through the cracks.

Source – Mashable.com

Tweeting our way to a front page article

When a senior assistant editor from The Economic Times walked into the office of Bloggers’ Mind, he least expected it to be a small set-up of 15 employees. Considering the clients we handle & the amount of work we take care of, everyone is amazed to know that it is taken care by such a small team. And that is where the strength of this company lies, with such a close-knit team where everyone works together towards achieving their goals, and where efficiency and specialization of each team member is of utmost important.

The article in yeterday’s, 21^st February, 2012, The Economic Times talks about how firms like Nokia, Reckitt Benckiser and others outsource their social media activities to digital agencies like Bloggers Mind. The article, written by Shelly Singh, starts off by talking about Abhishek Guha Roy, the 25-year-old commerce graduate who tweets for a living, besides being a heavy metal addict. Bloggers’ Mind has been given the primary focus in the article, which is a great achievement for all. It goes on to prove that one does not need to have a huge workforce, but a smart and concise team to be the pioneers in an ever growing industry like Social Media.

It goes on and gives examples of kinds of tweets we make to engage our clients’ customers, answer their queries, et al. The article also mentions the account director for Nokia at Bloggers’ Mind, Aditya Vaidyanathan, who talks about the kind of work done at Bloggers’ Mind.

The ever changing world of marketing and advertising is being led by the revolution called social media. We all know that websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, among others are growing at a rapid pace and the way firms market their products have changed almost completely from what it was a few years back. Being with the times, Bloggers Mind has always focused what’s the ‘in’ thing and kept pace with the dynamic pace of the industry it deals with.

It is a proud moment for all of us here at Bloggers’ Mind and it is a well deserved and long due recognition we have received for our efforts. Being featured on the front page of India’s leading business daily is surely something everyone can look up to and take inspiration from. It surely motivates us to continue with our efforts and to reach for even higher goals. Here’s to more such big achievements in the future. And a big congrats to the whole team at Bloggers’ Mind.

Read the complete article here – http://bit.ly/zra8he

Embrace online criticism, don’t remove it

Often you must’ve noticed how quickly certain brands remove any negative comments posted on their website or their Facebook pages. Till the time they receive positive feedback, they are happy. And that is natural. But brands need to know that negative feedback, in a way, is as important as positive feedback.

In fact, removing those negative comments could prove to be worse than the criticism initially. It could cause more damage than anticipated if a brand is accused of hiding any negative comments they received from their fans and consumers alike. Spam should obviously be taken care of, but a lot of times there are genuine issues faced by the consumers, which the brand tends to ignore.

Having visible criticism on a brand’s blog, website or Facebook page actually gives a sense of authenticity to it. It creates a healthy balance between both positive and negative comments, and as we all know that nothing in this world is perfect, it leads to a more ‘real’ connect for the brand with its fans.

Critical comments also give brands a chance to clear any related doubts, answer their fans’ queries and talk about the issue in the open. It helps in resolving any complaints or consumers’ grievances as well. And if these issues are resolved on time, rather than just putting them away, brands could avoid getting those problems escalated.

It actually holds true when they say ‘Any publicity is good publicity’. Even in the case when a brand receives negative feedback, it simply means that people are talking about your brand. It, at times, leads to healthy arguments and discussions between both kinds of fans, happy and unhappy.

These conversations should be promoted rather than restricted. A little criticism does not hurt, it gives an opportunity to the brands to improve where they are lacking and work in it to give their consumers a better experience. Because after all, consumer is king.