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Facebook introduces ‘missed call’ ads for feature phones

Facebook is going to debut its ‘missed call’ ads  in India, in a bid to connect advertisers with a large untapped market of feature phone users in the country.

The feature allows users to press a button to place a call to relevant advertisers and then disconnect it. The user then receives a call back playing a pre-recorded message, detailing offers and discounts by the advertiser. These ads will allow users to request content, such as game scores, music or celebrity news, by clicking on a mobile advertisment and placing a missed call company. This way people can recieve branded content without using airtime or data.

The missed call unit was part of an announcement Facebook put out Wednesday touting its expanding reach in markets outside of North America and Europe. Often called “the next billion,” the market includes areas in which feature phones are still the predominant mode of mobile communication.

It will be interesting to see if the ‘missed call’ ad makes its way to our neck of the woods.


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Twitter: Flush Your Unfollowers with Tweepi

I recently got turned onto a new FREE Twitter service called Tweepi. Tweepi helps you clean up your Twitter account and figure out all sorts of great things. Let’s talk about it!

Tweepi Flush

This feature shows you who you follow that is NOT following you back. You can aggregate the info alphabetically, based on location, number of followers, or the last time they tweeted. I recommend listing them by the last time they tweeted (ascending). You will be amazed how many people you follow who haven’t tweeted in YEARS! My rule of thumb: If they haven’t tweeted in 15+ days, flush ’em.

If you are actively following people hoping for follow backs, you may reach a follow limit. Tweepi flush is great for helping you figure out who to stop following…so you can find better people to follow who will reciprocate!

My favorite part of the flush section is seeing who is not following my clients and making a wish list. My wishlist includes people my client has either directly asked me to interact with, or fits within their target demographics. Users with large followings who don’t yet follow back might just need a personal tweet or two before the follow back comes. Create relationships with these people and watch your retweet and mention numbers soar!

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Tweepi Reciprocate

It doesn’t make sense to follow back everyone who follows you – your feed would be such a random mess! But every so often you might miss following back someone in your industry and that’s where this section becomes relevant! Tweepi Reciprocate shows you everyone who follows you that you don’t follow back, and makes it easy for you to follow them right there in the dashboard. Simple!

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Tweepi Cleanup People I’m Following

This section is very similar to Tweepi Flush and honestly I never use it. The only difference is that it shows people who follow you and those who don’t (vs. flush which only shows people who don’t follow you). You can skip it.

Tweepi Cleanup People Following Me

This section is interesting because — who wants less followers? Believe it or not some clients really only want VALUABLE FOLLOWERS. 100s and 100s of followers from Russia who don’t even use English characters aren’t going to be retweeting you, and they definitely won’t be referring you business. I love this section because it helps you get rid of the random followers who aren’t doing anything for you. **This section is only available with a paid membership.

So obviously we love Twitter – hope to see you there! @BelleStrategies

 

 

 

 


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LinkedIn’s List of North America’s Most InDemand Employers

Can you guess who took the top spot for LinkedIn’s list of most desirable companies to work for? Google, of course!  For the second straight year, Google claimed the top spot on LinkedIn’s annual list of most InDemand Employers, a ranking of the companies LinkedIn members “most want to work for.” Who was runner-up you ask? Apple!

You might be wondering what the average salary for a software engineer at Google is. Well, it’s nearly $119,000 per year, according to Glassdoor, and took the top spot on Fortune‘s Best Companies to Work For list in 2014. Not too shabby right? Google even donates $50 to charity for every five hours each employee volunteers.

Tell us, what company would be your dream company to work for?

You can see the complete list of LinkedIn’s list of most desirable companies to work for here.


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Facebook Audio Recognition

Facebook Audio Recognition is here!

  • Facebook’s new update for its Android and iOS app has Shazam-like audio recognition. It can listen and identify the background music/TV show playing when users update status.
  • It’s great for Facebook’s data mining purposes because it can further improve its targeted ads campaign.
  • The more specific Facebook’s advertising platform is the more effective your ad dollars are.
Adding audio recognition to identify background media when users update their status using their phones or tablets, help Facebook’s data mining operations. Advertisers demand increasingly personalized data for their target demographics. Hollywood and music bigwigs want the Facebook Shazam-like feature to gain real-time or always-updated feedback on what TV shows, music, pop stars, and genres are hot.

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Read the full post originally published HERE

 


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Introducing Facebook Context Cards

On Wednesday, Facebook rolled out a new feature to its iOS app that encourages users to share more about what they are doing.

Now, Facebook users will start seeing “Context Cards,” which will appear over their News Feeds and provide detailed information after they check in or link to subjects such as movies or songs in status updates.

Here are some examples:

  • If a user checks in to a location, the context cards will show friends who have recently checked in to the same location and when those check-ins occurred, as well as related photos they have posted.
  • If a user posts a structured status update referencing listening to a musical artist or watching a movie, the context cards will show friends who have consumed the same media.

Facebook is hoping the cards will provide helpful information and encourage users to interact with their nearby friends.


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Twitter’s ‘Fave People’

Twitter is currently testing a new feature that could be very popular for users following thousands of people.

It’s called ‘Fave People’, and it allows you to easily build a separate timeline for your favorite Twitter users. Building your ‘Fave People’ timeline is pretty simple – just tap on the star icon in the profile of the user you want to add.

It’s also possible to choose to receive notifications every time someone in your ‘Fave People’ timeline tweets. This concept is similar to Twitter’s existing “Lists,” which lets you organize users into labeled groups such as “reporters” or “celebrities.”

But don’t get too excited yet…

As we mentioned before, this concept is in the testing process! Tell us, would you like to see a feature like this on Twitter?

 


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Flawk and Yik Yak: The Good and The Evil

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You may have heard of these two new socially driven platforms, Flawk and Yik Yak.

They are completely different, but they are both getting a lot of buzz, so let’s talk about them. One is good, and one is…well, not so good.

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Flawk:

Flawk describes themselves as “a real-time platform for engaging with your twitter followers. Host a Q&A, share media, and interact with your followers like never before.” and their service promotes a more streamlined version of AMA’s (ask me anything) and Twitter Q&A’s. Flawk offers a host the ability to “chat” with their guests in real time. This is a much more engaging communication model because it offers one-to-one interaction – exactly what every fan is hoping for.

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On top of the chat window feature, you can watch the other flawker’s conversations at the bottom of the screen. Everything is run using twitter, so you don’t need a separate log in/password to remember. Check out their video, it’s short and sweet:

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Yik Yak:

This relatively new app has gotten a ton of attention recently because of the trouble it is causing. Now – we’re logical people here – we aren’t saying the creators of the app are bad people so let’s get that straight. What we are saying is that the basis of the app (anonymously saying whatever the heck you want) is a recipe for disaster.

Yik Yak is a free app that allows users to send comments anonymously. It uses geo-tracking to share those comments with any user who is nearby (the closest 500 users). Users don’t have to be logged in to see comments from other local users.

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This app has already been associated with instances of bullying, and TWO students have already been arrested for using it to make school-shooting threats.

Yik Yak makes money by charging you to send your message out to more than 500 users. Here’s how it all looks:

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If you’re wondering, yes I downloaded it to get those images, and yes, I have already deleted it from my phone!

So overall – Flawk…expecting it to gain some traction for all the right reasons; Yik Yak…expecting it to become even more infamous. Let us know if you use either of these already and what you think!

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Instagram: Changing the Face of Marketing

In a world increasingly filtered through Instagram, a carefully crafted photo shoot starts to look dated. That’s why retailers are rushing to crowdsource their product shots — harvesting a stream of photos from social platforms to help sell everything from West Elm couches to Coach handbags.

The photos are typically curated in galleries, where each picture is linked to a page selling the product. Increasingly, the amateur images are also showing up directly on product pages, next to professionally styled pictures. “The path to purchase has evolved tremendously, and consumers are much more likely to trust their peers than a brand,” said Mimi Banks, director of social media at L’Oreal’s Lancome brand.

The team at Lancome recently goaded women into posting portraits of themselves sans makeup for a project coded “#bareselfie.” The campaign urged women to “be proud of the skin you’re in,” but it also tied in nicely with one of Lancome’s newest products: a cosmetic called Dreamtone that promises to correct blemishes and weird skin tones without blush and powder.

“It’s a challenging ask,” Banks said of getting strangers to share stripped-down selfies. “But people love social clout — to be acknowledged by the brand.”

Coach, meanwhile, is burnishing its brand with a website that collects photos from women wearing its shoes all over the world. The pictures — routed to the company via the hashtag #coachfromabove — aren’t a far cry from what one would find in a professional lookbook.

Both strategies constitute more than branding, according to Olapic, a New York-based startup that helps retail companies collect, curate, and display social content. Photo tie-ins from Facebook and Instagram increase the odds of a purchase by from 5 percent to 12 percent on average, according to co-founder Luis Sanz. What’s more, there is plenty of material: Olapic’s clients feature only about 4 percent of the photos they capture.

“The structure of an e-commerce site has basically been the same since the beginning of the Internet,” Sanz said. “But as soon as we started doing this, the results were really good.” Olapic, which launched in 2010, closed a $5 million round of funding in July. It also won the backing of Scott Galloway, a New York University marketing professor known for founding Red Envelope.

Galloway said Olapic is hitting a sweet spot in e-commerce: High-quality cameras are now standard in new smartphones, and consumers are searching for a sense of authenticity that’s lacking in traditional advertising. “If I can show a Coach bag looking great on me, it carries more credibility than if Annie Leibowitz makes it look great,” Galloway said.

The photos also prime purchases by addressing what might best be called a failure of imagination. For instance, consumers who like a throw pillow from West Elm, a Williams-Sonoma home-goods brand, might be more eager to buy if they see it paired with a particular couch or carpet. That’s one of the main strategies behind the company’s #myWestElm campaign, which went up in September.

“We don’t want to be style dictators,” said Abigail Jacobs, West Elm’s vice president of brand marketing. “And there’s this age-old thing that we love seeing inside other peoples’ homes. […] The goal really is for them to inspire each other.”

An “inspired” customer is often a spendthrift customer. What’s more, social media lets retailers engage in an incessant exercise in AB testing. Coach, for example, might decide to make more of a particular shoe in red if photos of that color appear more often and get more positive feedback.

The practice isn’t entirely new, but it is spreading through the retail industry at a rapid pace. Web marketers are starting to develop best practices. Just this week, two marketing professors at the University of Wisconsin unveiled an algorithm that promises to help retailers select the best photos to drive sales. The researchers found that increased purchasing activity comes from unfiltered photos without long captions, question marks, or exclamation points. In short, authenticity is all.

West Elm, meanwhile, has found another surefire attention-getter: pets. Everything gets more “likes” when it has an adorable animal on it. That’s just a law of the Internet — no research required.

This article originally published at Businessweek here

Photo by Coach


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Social Media: Facebook Changes Newsfeed Algorithm AGAIN!

Chris Turitzin, Facebook’s product manager for News Feed ranking says that, “Page admins can expect a decrease in distribution of their text status updates, but they may see some increases in engagement and distribution for other story types.”

Facebook’s complicated ranking algorithm is not new, but it is consistently revised to make the user experience as enjoyable as possible. The revisions require social media administrators to stay in loop…what used to rank well in the past might not have staying power as changes to the algorithm affect each post differently. The newest revision comes after testing that showed people are inclined to interact with different types of content (opposed to text-only status updates) on Pages.

Social media admins are advised to use what Facebook calls a link-share: a link in a status update that generates a preview of the website you are linking to. In other words, do not embed the URL by closing out the preview. The first example shows an embedded link, while the second one shows a link-share.

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Basically, Facebook wants you to stop clicking the “X” that removes the link-share feature. By clicking the “X”, you embed the link and turn the post into a plain text post.

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Facebook is making it clear that plain text posts will not rank as high as posts using the link-share feature. If you’re a social media manager, this knowledge should help!


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Google Plus and Social Media

Up until recently, taking advantage of social media for marketing purposes was just a luxury. Now, it’s a necessity. Google Plus is one of the social media platforms you absolutely need to be utilizing if you have a website. Obviously, it’s owned by Google, and that means your Google Plus account creates credibility for your business website in the search algorithm.

Remember, Google also owns Youtube, so becoming active there will help too! All the different social media platforms can be overwhelming, but if you dedicate the time, you can really help your business through social media marketing!

Oh and…if there aren’t enough hours in your day for that kind of dedication…you know where to find us!

 


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How Often Should I Post? A Quick Tip!

“How often should I post?” Posting to social media too frequently can work against you, so consider how many followers you have, and the type of business you are in.  Some businesses attract the kind of followers who love lots of casual, frequent updates (photographers, local boutiques, hair stylists, etc.) and some businesses require more professional, less frequent posts – think quality over quantity – like most major franchises, authors, motivational speakers, etc.

No matter what you’re selling, make sure the content you post is actually interesting to your potential customers!

The quick tip above reminds businesses that they should post more than just their company information. Company information includes things like location, hours, contact info, sales, and inventory. Followers are interested in your company information, but you should engage with them in other ways too.

For example, if your business sells fashion merchandise, consider posting a photo of a fashionable celebrity or an inspiration quote about fashion. Create a posting ratio based on feedback you get from your followers. We hope this answers the “How often should I post” question! Have fun with it!


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Facebook AutoPlay Ads Are Here

Facebook announced Tuesday morning that the News Feed will now feature a select number of auto-play video ads. These ads are being tested by a small group of advertisers. Luckily, these videos do not include audio at this time; you must tap the video in order to hear it. Tapping it will also expand the video and when it’s finished, you will see a carousel with more video ad choices for you to watch.

As of right now, only a very small number of users will even see the Facebook autoplay ads as they are still in their infancy. Good news for data usage: the videos have been “downloaded” in advance using your wi-fi and will not affect your data plans.

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You may be thinking, “Well I’ve seen Facebook video ads for so long!” and you aren’t wrong. Video ads aren’t new, but the auto-play feature is. You may have noticed that many of the videos (not ads) are auto-playing in your News Feed already, that feature was recently released to get users comfortable with upcoming Facebook autoplay ads.

If you’re a business owner interested in this kind of marketing, you only need to save up roughly $1 million -$2.5 million for a 15 second video! Prices are rumored to be in that range at this time. Expect to see ads for major brands and films at first.

Image: Getty/Jonathan Nackstrand


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Drive More Traffic: Yoast SEO

Driving traffic to a company website is the goal for most social media marketing strategies.

You’ve set up all your platforms, you’re posting and interacting with followers, it’s going great right? Well, if you’re spending so much time trying to bring people to your site through social media, you definitely want to ensure your website is helping bring people there as well.

Enter Yoast SEO.

We are a huge proponent for WordPress; we love building a site and providing our clients with some simple instruction so they can maintain it themselves and save money! If you’re working with a WordPress site, you have to get on the Yoast SEO plugin train. This FREE plugin provides you with everything you need to properly optimize your posts and pages for the search engines.

Take a look at the Yoast SEO panel. Choose a key word or phrase that sums up what the post is about, and then let the SEO checker tell you if you’re optimized.

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You can easily updated your page title, URL, main content, and meta description to include the key word or phrase more (in a natural sounding way) to ensure the post is optimized.

We especially love the super easy color system they use to indicate if you’re doing a good job. Like a stoplight, red is no good and green is great!

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The Yoast SEO plugin is user friendly, effective and we highly recommend it! You can find everything you need on their website here.

Happy optimizing!


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Giving Tuesday on Instagram

Black Friday and Cyber Monday brought our holiday shopping dreams to life, and now we’re paying it forward for Giving Tuesday.

In its second year, the new “holiday” of sorts offers a selfless response to Black Friday and Cyber Monday by encouraging charitable giving and highlighting worthy causes. This year, participants were urged to upload to social media an “#UNselfie,” a hashtagged photo of the user that depicts a cause that’s important to them.

Check out these inspirational Giving Tuesday “UNselfies” found on Instagram! (Thanks to @LXELA ON INSTAGRAM, @MELGOOD711 ON INSTAGRAM, @DAWNELYSE ON INSTAGRAM, @FELTSOCUTE ON INSTAGRAM and  @MMCTIGUE ON INSTAGRAM  for these amazing UNselfies).

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