If you’re a brand or individual using Twitter, listen up! This major social media platform has made recent changes and developments that will impact you and the overall network functionality. Don’t have time to skim through your constantly-updating Twitter feed but still want to find out about the latest happenings with your followers? Worry no more folks, because Twitter will be delivering weekly e-mails to you regarding the most interesting news and items you may have missed from your connections.
Another interesting change that Twitter has recently undergone is a new “tailored suggestions” feature. This feature is is based on a user’s recent visits to websites that integrate Twitter buttons. Tailored suggestions provides more details about the information Twitter collects from its users and how to improve the overall network. Don’t want your browsing habits tracked? In your preferences, simply turn on the “Do Not Track” (or “DNT”) setting, which stops the collection of information used for tailored suggestions. Want to tweet on the go? Download the latest Twitter app for your mobile phone here at Twitter.com/download.
What do you think of the latest changes to Twitter? What will these changes mean for businesses with Twitter accounts and branding? Tweet your thoughts to @TRA360 and let us know!
How do you measure ROI?Have you ever thought about what social media success means? Is it a successful Twitter campaign? Is it a certain amount of likes a Facebook business page receives? Yesterday, Social Media Today’s CEO, Robin Carey, presented a webinar on social video content and how marketers can better understand ROI (return on investment). Guest speaker and author of “Social TV”,Mike Proulx, spoke on the convergence from television to social media and how marketers should monitor digital television. Social media success can come in many different forms, but measuring that success is key to determining ROI.
One of Proulx’s main points to understanding viral social media, was to find a way for relevant people or brands in your industry read or watch your content, and find it interesting enough to spread across multiple platforms. By providing custom content to a specific demographic that is human and relatable, more web media coverage will be generated.Piggybacking on this concept is the idea of web video content and how this type of content is more accessible to consume and create. Today, American businesses are catching on, and quickly. Over 54% of North American companies plan on spending more on video content this year. One extreme example are the highly anticipated Super Bowl commercials. Humans play a role in distributing content that brands and marketers are producing through their computers and mobile devices because they find the content amusing, relevant, interesting or funny.
Furthermore, what is a successful social media campaign, video or non-video, without an accurate measurement of marketing success? First, understanding the types of measurements to show ROI on content marketing is crucial. The idea of not all media impressions are created equal is a major factor to consider when eyeballing the number of hits on your video or social media page. Yes, the number of views measures content consumption, but paying attention to strictly numbers will not fully measure your social media success because who is viewing your page, socializing your content, and taking action to share with others are the hits that really count.
How do you measure social success and ROI for your marketing initiatives? Let us know by commenting below or tweet to us @TRA360!
After activating HootSuite’s 30-day trial of HootSuite Pro, we have some new features, impressions, and overall thoughts about what the first week experimenting with Pro was like for TRA360. Check it out.
First, just last week, HootSuite announced a new “Teams” functionality to HootSuite Pro users. “Teams” provides large-scale team management in addition to smaller teams. I watched a video on Teams and found this feature to be particularly useful for largerorganizations, as an agency or fairly large company will have specific departments for marketing/PR, social media, and internal communications. Teams are only available for HootSuite Pro and Enterprise users. Basic users, you’re out of luck! With this new feature comes an increase in price. As mentioned in my previous post on HootSuite, Pro members were charged at US$5.99/month. New Pro users will be charged US$9.99/month. Already use Pro? Don’t worry because you’re already grandfathered in to the monthly US$5.99 price!
Next topic to cover: the Analytics Points system. An in-depth Google Analytics report can be extremely useful to not only TRA360, but to any company looking to measure success of their website and social media marketing efforts. After exploring this feature of HootSuite Pro, I realized the analytics component is based on a points system. “Analytics Points,” as HootSuite calls them, help keep track of analytics modules for building reports (weekly, monthly, etc.). Each component is worth a certain number of points, ranging from 0 (free) to 100. HootSuite Pro users are allotted 50 points per month which can be used to purchase report templates or any other analytic module.
Thoughts and impressions: The analytic modules seem beneficial for putting together social reports for your business. HootSuite’s point system makes it easy for users to find and purchase specific modules to build their customized social reports. However, in the grand scheme of things, 50 points per month does not seem adequate to build a substantial report based on the cost of each module. Yes, some modules or templates are only 5 or 10 points, but the modules that are crucial for accurately and professionally showing your company’s growth tend to use your total allotted points budget altogether. Looking to build a simple Google Analytics report for your company? That’s 50 points. Creating a proposal report to monitor the progress of your social media campaigns? That’s 45 points. As you can see, these modules come at a hefty points price.
I would like to know, how can a user acquire more points without purchasing them? If I had one suggestion about this points system, I would recommend HootSuite to allocate 100+ points to each Pro user and give out more points through a referral system. For instance, if you have a friend or business owner looking to use Pro, you can refer them with a unique link and receive 50 points! In the meantime, we will try to reach out maximum analytical potential using the allotted 50 points we are given.
What do you think about the HootSuite Pro Analytics Points system? Is 50 enough? Let us know!
It’s hard to deny that social media has become a way of life these days. Individuals, brands, and now even some grandparents are using various social networks to connect to friends, family and consumers. Times are changing and along with this change brings a new generation of people to influence society. Brian Solis, the author of “Generation C…And What To Do About It” discusses the rise of this new generation, also known as “GenerationC”, and what is happening, digitally, around the globe as a result of this generation.
Businesses, marketers, social media strategists and PR professionals across the world have been pondering the same question for years: what is the formula for social media success? Solis raises the question what do successful customer relationships and experiences look like in terms of social media? Before becoming “successful”, a company must define what success is and how it will be measured. When creating a social media strategy plan, many businesses tend to skip this step or are unsure of how to define success. Not sure where to begin in creating a social media presence? Here are several ways:
Branding– create and define your own brand. By targeting specific demographics and creating an image for your company, social media will come easy.
Developing a social media strategy– No two companies are the same so why should their social media strategies be? Some companies need blogs, while others require Facebook pages. Assess your company’s social media needs and act accordingly.
Investing in your community– if you believe in your business and social media strategy, so will others!
Stay tuned for a follow-up post about GenerationC: the future of social media and which is more valuable: social media or traditional media?
