Aysegul talks about Facebook Graph Search

Facebook Graph Search has been recently rolled out to everyone using Facebook in US English.

The tool lets users find specific information including their friends’ favourite hotels, restaurants, films and more, using filters such as location, gender, specific personal interests etc...

In some ways, Graph Search is a natural extension to the News Feed. However, rather than reviewing friend’s news feeds, now you can ask questions to Facebook about your friends and quickly find out the results. For example; searching 'Friends that have gone to Barcelona on holiday' would bring up a list of all the friends in your network who have either listed Barcelona as somewhere they have visited on their timeline or have checked in to a location in that city. You can then message your friend to learn more about it.

With its features, Facebook Graph Search is believed to be really big for marketing from creating awareness to purchase decision making process, as most of the people searching for pubs or restaurants etc... that their friends ‘Like’ when they’re figuring out where to go and in general friends’ recommendations are important decision making triggers.

Via this tool, people will be exposed to a huge range of new results.

Let’s try a research for hotels:

You can narrow it down by making it more descriptive:

What does Facebook Graph Search mean for brands and businesses? 

From a business perspective, whether you’re a small or a large business, you would really want to get your data into Facebook so that you’re showing up on the results pages.

Not all the businesses probably have physical locations on Facebook, so that they will need to think of clever ways to get themselves found in Facebook.

In terms of marketing, this change also support the need for an Integrated Social Search approach as this development is additional proof that the search and the social teams can’t be separated anymore. Brands and companies would want the SEO efforts to be taking into account what is happening in the search as well as in social media and in this case Facebook.

Below we have listed a couple of points about how your Facebook pages can best take advantage of the opportunities presented by Facebook Graph Search.

1)      Make sure your Facebook listings include the right information and are optimised.

This can be ensured by checking if the right category has been chosen and the added business address is correct. To fully optimise your page, suggest completing your profile including important keywords, posting and correctly tagging photos and videos, and encouraging your fans to add recommendations to your profile as the reviews will show up in Graph Search results.

2)      Encourage Check-ins

For local optimisation, encourage your fans to check in to your business page whenever they visit. It is one of the most important features as people mainly tend to search by location.

3)      Learn more about your fans to provide more value

This tool lets you learn about your fans’ interests and likes by sorting them into behavioural (hobbies, recent activities) and demographic segments (age, gender, location).

Fans interests can be used for Custom targeted campaigns, contests; and by identifying the other pages your fans like you can learn what content to share will be liked by your fans.

This may help you to provide more value to your fans and to increase brand loyalty.

For more tips and the possible search combinations you could use to help you conduct your research, suggest viewing the article 17 Ways Marketers Can Leverage Facebook Graph Search from Social Media Examiner.

If you have any queries on how social media can benefit your business, please do get in touch with our Sales team.

Author: Aysegul Yigitbasi

Geek Video of the Month

Our Geek Video of the month was sourced from the Bit Rebels' blog (top blog for Geek News, Tips and Trends) who profiled the JWT Intelligence 'Our 10 trends for 2013 in 2 minutes' video, which researched lifestyle trends for 2013. Read the Bit Rebels take on the video here.

The video is only 2 minutes long and features some great content on the lifestyle of 'digital natives'; a lifestyle we may all soon be living.  The purpose of the video is to profile the JWT Intelligence's 171 page corresponding report, which is available to purchase.

Find out more about JWT Intelligence, the New York based HQ, Marketing Communications brand and their methodology for retrieving all the data over at their website.

The research is relevant to a UK audience, as the survey included 519 Americans and 497 from the UK.

We are especially interested in this video as several of the featured trends for 2013 link with the work we are conducting for our clients; such as database developments, personalisation, connectivity from objects to brands and peer power / social media strategies.

The 10 Trends for 2013 include: 

1. Play as a competitive advantage
2. The Super Stress Era
3. Intelligent Objects
4. Predictive Personalisation
5. The Mobile Fingerprint
6. Sensory Explosion
7. Everything is Retail
8. Peer Power
9. Going Private in Public
10. Health and Happiness Hand in Hand.

If we can help you get ready for the 2013 online digital lifestyle trends, then we would love to talk to you further. Call our Sales team on 01202 678777 or visit our contact us page.

We hope you all enjoy your Sensory Explosion this year and here's wishing you a happy on the move shopping trip.

Author: Sarah Griffiths

Acquiring Fans on Facebook

Research from Efficient Frontier (Jan 2012) found that on average, brands are acquiring fans at a rate of 9% per month.

Are your fans/likes growing at this pace?

If you regularly post updates but get little feedback from fans, it may be because you are talking rather than conversing. Because, people don't go out and "like" random pages for businesses that they haven't already used, or plan to use.

Customer Engagement is key

Facebook isn't just about broadcasting your news; it's about customer engagement and via the sharing of interesting content, enhancing your brand awareness to the friends of your Facebook page fans.  The above image is from the Mothercare UK Facebook page, who regularly post 'Facebook Exclusive' offers, giving their customers a reason to 'like' them and stick around.

To increase engagement on your own business Fan page, consider who your customers are and how your customers want to engage on Facebook (i.e. helping shape the brand, contests, visual experience, events and incentives for sharing).  Secondly, consider what they search for on Facebook, where else are they active, take a look at the other related pages where your target market are regularly commenting, what is a hot topic?

Who are your customers?

Along with viewing popular conversations/engagement, questioning what your fans want from your page and considering who your fans are/will be, will help you develop engaging content.

For example, for hotels, guests' needs will differ from those interested in family breaks to business trips; fun breaks to activity bases; somewhere quiet to a lively restaurant; local attractions to events at the hotel.

Use Facebook to seek out and engage with local news stories and regular events where there may be a potential for a tie-in with your page. For example, hotels could offer group rates to an event or conference organiser and invite the organiser to tag the hotel page when mentioning the discount for the event to attendees/delegates.

Goals and expectations

When tasked with the objective to 'enhance your Facebook page acquisition rate', two good places to start are establishing goals for your Facebook page and considering why your target audience would like your page / what are they expecting?

As a means of example, we have listed below ten goals for a Hotel Facebook page and ten reasons why a fan may want to join a Hotel Facebook page.

Ten goals for a Hotel Facebook page

1. Extend marketing campaigns
2. Community engagement (attract fans of your friends) / be a story teller.
3. Generate extra web traffic
4. Boost brand awareness and increase brand loyalty
5. Support customers and receive instant feedback
6. Increase bookings to accommodation
7. Increase bookings to events
8. Increase bookings to conference and meeting rooms
9. Keep up with the competition
10. Obtain further insight into customer base (using Facebook insights)

Ten expectations / reasons why a customer may 'like' a Hotel Facebook page

1. They are passionate about their location (images)
2. They let me know about events happening in the area
3. They like to share with me the special Facebook promotions
4. They inspire me to get creative in the kitchen
5. They are eager to know how the hotel can make our stay even more comfortable
6. Should I post a recommendation on the page, my Facebook friends will see this
7. They keep me up to date on those who supply the hotel
8. They are helpful and generally care that I have had a pleasant stay
9. They share their latest reviews from customers and citation websites (i.e. Trip Advisor)
10. They make me feel part of their story

We hope you can relate these goals and reasons to your own business and that it will enable you to think more strategically about growing your Facebook page popularity.

Should you require assistance for social media strategy and growth, please visit our Social Media Strategy page or contact our Sales team today to discuss your requirements.

Author: Sarah Griffiths

Pinterest for Business

Pinterest, once classed as the third most popular social network in the US, is a visual social network for 'pinning' images and videos to users' own or other pin boards (which are collections of 'pins' usually with a common theme).  The social network encourages it's users to download a "pin it" button on their computers, so that they can share/pin any images/videos they find on the web, that they want to share. The pinners/users distribute your content for you, by repinning, liking and sharing.

Find out more about the social network over at our: Introduction to Pinterest Blog published in February 2012 and our Utilising Pinterest for Brands and Business Blog published in March 2012. 

In November 2012 Pinterest launched brand pages for businesses. After being active on Pinterest, the social network will allow you to advertise your website address (top level domains only), so that the users of Pinterest can find out more about you.  Once verified, you will receive a 'tick of authority' next to the website name.  

Via a business's landing page Pinterest are helping businesses get the most out of their network by providing advice on how businesses can use the network to:

• Tell their story
• Build a community
• Send traffic to the website
• Identify what is working well and how to develop further.

Find a useful 'pin board' of Brands and Businesses using Pinterest here:

http://pinterest.com/mshahab/brands-businesses-blogs-on-pinterest/

The above image is from a recent Pinterest Christmas campaign from Joules Clothing.  They invited Joules Clothing fans to Pin 5 items that they would love to get to Christmas, on their boards and email notify them via email of their Pinterest Board URL.  The campaign was integrated with Facebook, with a custom Pinterest tab.

The benefits of the Pinterest campaign to the brand include:

• Organic sharing of their products around Xmas time.
• Profiling the brand to a creative community which suits their target market
• Increased traffic to the website on product pages.  
• Gain increased followers on company Pinterest board and Facebook for further campaigns.

The Flashlight Search Marketing team are briefing a number of clients on how to use this social network for business growth, with focus on campaign integration.  

If you require any assistance learning how this social network can benefit your business, visit the links listed above and should you require further assistance talk to our sales team.

Author: Sarah Griffiths (AKA Pinterest Addict)

Why we love Google Hangouts

We were recently invited to the Google Plus Page, 'Google Live Events' and just had to share it with you. The page lists all the Google Hangout Events happening right now, visit and Google+ connect with them here:

You can save the live events to your Google calendar and even publicise your own. Google Hangouts launched last summer at the same time as Google+ in the summer of last year is growing in popularity. 

There is a really useful post over at Social Media Examiner, which talks about five creative ways that businesses are using Google+ Hangouts. Including a live Q&A session with Cadburys UK and their customers. Read the article which talks about businesses using Google Hangouts here:

Google Hangouts enables you to share expert level information with your audience wherever they are. The free service is great alternative to Webinar's and are very simple to set up.

Google Hangouts allow individuals, groups and businesses to:

• Easily stream broadcasts directly into Google+, your YouTube channel and your website. (And if you are feeling confident enough you can broadcast live to the world).
• If the customer on the Google Hangout just wants to ask you a question they can sign on, chat and bring their questions. 
• Host a video chat instantly with up to 9 people (useful for in-house & partner meetings) Share files and documents with your hangout.
• Watch a YouTube video together and chat alongside it.
• Share your screen with others.
• Record your hangouts for viewing later. (useful for in-house meetings)

How businesses can use hangouts

Businesses may wish to hold themed hangouts and invite their customers to bring questions to the hangout on particular topics, for example a 'commercial property consultant' could invite their customers to ask questions on ‘flexible leasing options'. The following week the 'commercial property consultant' could hold another Google Hangout on a topic that was brought up at the last.  The main benefit of inviting customers to 'hangouts' is that you can segment customer needs and target them at a later date.

Businesses may also wish to:

• Offer customised coaching sessions using Google+ for time saving benefits as broadcast and published (to YouTube) virtual coaching sessions will help replace query emails and lengthly training documents.  This however could just be a simple 10 minute Q&A between your team and clients.
• Host a hangout where you interview a key member of your team or related partner or client.

How Rocktime are planning to use Google Hangouts

To reduce travel time, Rocktime are soon to set up virtual brainstorming hangouts with their client's and client's partners for training and brainstorming sessions. We have plans to host a few ‘how to chats’ with regards to search marketing, mobile websites, ecommerce and social media.
If this article has interested you and you are keen to look into the possibility of using Google Hangouts for your business, please get in touch with our sales team to discuss further.
 
In the meantime learn more about Google Hangouts and connect with us on Google+ by adding us to your circles,  Rocktime's Google+ profile page can be found here.

Author: Sarah Griffiths

What is Social Commerce

Social media has changed the way we shop online. Consumers are receiving advice from friends and family and businesses through social networking sites and the majority rely on feedback from social media to guide their purchases via researching online product reviews on blogs, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.

There is a gorgeous (you have to see it!) Infographic here from Tab Juice, which shares with you the statistics, relating to Social Commerce, check it out:

Social Commerce Psychology of Shopping (Infographic).

Wikipedia definition of Social Commerce

"Social commerce is a subset of electronic commerce that involves using social media, online media that supports social interaction, and user contributions to assist in the online buying and selling of products and services.  More succinctly, social commerce is the use of social network(s) in the context of e-commerce transactions".

Read the full definition of Social Commerce here.

The shift from e-commerce to s-commerce

Mashable report that "the shift from e-commerce to s-commerce has only just begun and reports that revenues from social commerce are expected to reach $30 billion by 2015".

To help understand how to get social commerce right, take a look at four startups that are making e-commerce social right now. 

Turning social into sales

There are a number of strategic ways you can turn social into sales, such as:

• Integrate the social networks with your site ie: 'claim this offer on Facebook'.
• Consider how your products are found in social media, web and mobile.
• Identify the demand for products, by using social networks and social media research tools.
• Acquire customers from social networks by engaging within the networks.
• Could you offer more online gifting options?
• Consider whether you and your customers would benefit from Geo location offers. 
• Review your customer retention plan in the age of customer reviews and comparison sites. 
• Gain an understanding of your impact and publicise it for ROI. 

Interesting times ahead

We all continue to watch social commerce trends with interest.  Last year Rocktime set up an internal steering group to grow our e-commerce website solutions for social commerce further.  Back in July 2011 this blog had a sole focus on social commerce, for more information on social commerce view the social commerce blog posts here.

Are you making the most of Social Commerce opportunities on and off your website. Talk to our sales team today to help you determine your room to grow.

Contact our Sales team.

Also if you find a website that is doing a great job with social commerce interactions on and off their website, feel free to leave a comment below.

Author: Sarah Griffiths

Social Mobile Local Global and the Olympics

Team GB uniforms by Stella McCartney and adidas

At the time of writing this, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, or Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or more recently 'Team GB' are doing rather well at London 2012 Summer Olympics. With a haul of 26 gold, 16 silver and 14 bronze medals - it’s our best showing for over a century. With 204 countries competing, this Olympic Games is truly a global event and shared throughout the world on social networks.

Social - Twitter
Before the games even started a Greek athlete was kicked off the team for tweeting with a racist overtone and it’s been a story of highs and lows for Twitter ever since. After posting some pretty malicious tweets about the diver Tom Daley, a teenager from Weymouth was arrested and given a dressing down by the police. For a fleeting moment this story was global headline news and seems to have re-ignited the debate as to how the authorities should deal with social network incidents of this nature.

Adam Naisbitt set up @2012TicketAlert after he tried to get hold of gymnastics tickets for his fiancée. This unofficial ticket alert helped thousands of people get tickets and filled the empty seats that were causing such a stir in the media. Of course the people at Ticketmaster and  LOCOG didn’t like his code crawling their site and they put a stop to it. But 30,000 angry Twitter users ensured that the service was re-instated. The Ticket Alert profile now has 54,466 followers.

Google
Each day Google has been running little games on their home page that typically take less than 30 seconds to play. They look nice, well illustrated as with all Google Doodles, are easy to play and are relevant to the day's sporting events.

Any search involving the keyword ‘medals’ results in an up to date medal table at the top of the SERPS. Yep, the UK does seem to be doing rather well!

Facebook
After winning gold in the Women's Heptathlon, Jessica Ennis had amassed over 600,000 followers and counting: today it is 726,516 with 957,976 talking about this page. Chances are that at least one of your Facebook ‘friends’ has liked her official page. But that is still a way off from the American basketball player, Kobe Bryant’s who has 13 million 'Likes'!  David Beckham, Britain's most decorated football player of all time, has 20 million. There’s even a trend in celebrity chart  if you prefer that to the actual medal count! Naturally, Usain Bolt is the most popular Olympian today.

There’s an app for that.
Shortly after the first athletes started arriving at the Olympic village, 'GPS, location-based Grindr', an app, or also known as a 'geosocial networking application', that hooks up gay men with others in the local vicinity, crashed due to the increase in traffic. Both the BBC Olympics and the official London 2012 apps have proved extremely popular. The free BBC Olympics app for iOS and Android devices gives headlines, video features, schedules and details about every sport, country and competitor.

The Join In app for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry phones connect viewers with local news updates and information about everything that is going on, in and around the Olympics, such as maps, guides, schedules, information on cash machine locations, ticketing issues and wheelchair access.

Rule 40
“Except as permitted by the IOC Executive Board, no competitor, coach, trainer or official who participates in the Olympic Games may allow his person, name, picture or sports performances to be used for advertising purposes during the Olympic Games.”  In the interests of protecting big global business sponsors, this effectively barred athletes from thanking any unofficial sponsors on social media platforms. The athletes are considered 'labelled marketing assets' and Twitter as a 'marketing tool'.

Media - BBC
The BBC, as usual, have done us proud. The 'Danny Boyle, Isle of Wonders' opening ceremony had 27M UK viewers and not surprisingly, generated more tweets than the entire Beijing Olympic Games four years ago and amassed a staggering 9.66 million worldwide tweets . Nice touch honouring Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the Web, in the ceremony. You can watch any event live on the BBC website. You can get involved with live comments and nowadays the BBC even retweet comments.

All the major newspapers like @Telegraph2012  have set up dedicated Twitter streams of Olympic coverage. Many of the newspapers regularly make direct quotes from Twitter posts.

The Olympics inspired blogs from all over the world, from sport clothing designs, jokes, politics, women's rights, celebrity to youth engagement ideals.

Transport
In addition to Transport for London’s (TfL) permanent Twitter account (@TfLOfficial) a number of Transport for London Twitter accounts were set up to provide additional local advice on how services and roads are operating during the Games @TfLTrafficNews, @TfLTraveAlerts and @GAOTG.

The 'social media accounts' and 'travel mailing lists' introduced by TfL are supplemented by a number of other online travel platforms. Concentra launched an interactive graphic detailing which Tube stations were likely to face the most severe disruptions on any given day of the Olympics; Google maps offered cycling directions for Londoners planning on cycling to work during the Games.

Mashable Tech did their own article on The Olympics of tech which makes some entertaining reading about achievements in digital, mobile, social and programming.

Mobile
Half of all the searches and video streams in USA and UK are coming from mobiles and tablets during the Olympic games. Social Mobile Local Global; it’s all the same thing!

It is amazing to see all the technologies, social and search all coming together. Here at Rocktime we feel very proud of the Olympians and we are reminded yet again what a great industry of digital development we work in.

Which social or technical innovation inspired you the most at the Olympics?

Authors: Foz, Fiona Anderson

2012 Social Media Startups

Hot on the coat tails of social media’s current love affair with Pinterest, come a handful of start ups that have all kicked off in 2012. Some less subtle then others! Let’s take a quick look at just a handful of them.

“Social Travel” has been growing in leaps and bounds. As everything seems to follow Pinterest in trending towards more visual approaches to content; we’re seeing a lot of similarly styled sites popping up.

Trippy recently redesigned its site to jump on the Pinterest bandwagon. Users can now create travel boards and can pin images to them, comment, and also choose to tag their images with “Want to go” or “been there”.

Though originally launched some 3 years ago, just earlier this month, the visual-travel-discovery site, Wanderfly, redesigned and re launched their site. Gtrot, another social travel site has also opted for a more visual focused design update, with similar photo uploading and recommendations.

Now moving away from travel and more to commerce, Fancy can be described as a Pinterest catering for ecommerce merchants, facilitating ecommerce in two ways;

• The majority of items pinned on Fancy come straight from ecommerce stores, so a ‘Buy it’ button takes users straight to the merchant's page

• Users can also purchase items directly from the Fancy site, involving merchants more directly in the process. This requires merchants to find items that users have fancied, when they find something that they stock the merchant can place a bid to sell that particular item, through Fancy, by using the ‘I want to sell it’ button.

Pingram.me sells itself as a mash up of Instagram and Pinterest, though you’d be hard pushed to tell the difference between it and the latter of those two at a glance. The major difference between the two is that pinning on Pingram is only enabled on photos taken by other Pingram users. This approach is intended to both respect Pinterest etiquette and protect other Instagram users from having their images shared unknowingly.

Now moving momentarily back to the world of Social Travel, but refreshingly un-Pinterest like, we have this new site, Tripbirds. Rather than relying on friends to create content, Tripbirds instead organises geotagged content from other friends on different platforms, which at the moment includes popular media such as Facebook, Foursquare and Instagram.

Mashable has kindly outlined ‘9 social networks to watch’; such as Path, Highlight, Sonar, Banjo, Glancee, Localmind, Forecast, Gogobot and Fancy which we mentioned above. All these social networks are trying to win an audience over from Facebook, yet trying not to become too similar to Facebook; which already offers some very similar features to these new start-ups and has the added bonus of being used by many of the businesses we work with and certainly all our friends.

Of course, whilst spreading your influence is important, getting on board every social media fad that pops up isn’t a constructive use of time and effort. If you’re interested in investing into social media and discovering where to focus your efforts, why not get in contact with Rocktime and talk to our Flashlight team about discovering a Social media strategy tailored for you.


Author: Alice Cheetham

Facebook Timeline for brands

As the final roll-out of Facebook Timelines for personal profiles rolls ever nearer, this week sees the introduction of Timeline for brands as well. The option to switch to Timeline is already available for Facebook Pages, and it’s looking like the 30th of March will be the date for compulsory uptake of Timeline for pages. Some well-known brands have already got in there with some great displays of what a business can do with Timeline, but what do these changes really mean?


There's a lot of new changes to take in, perhaps the most immediate change off the bat is the removal of the landing page. In our previous thoughts on organising a Facebook Page, we were all for using iframes to create your own custom, free from Facebook formatting, landing page. In place of a landing page we now have the Timeline page, with its large header banner and Timeline arrangement down the side. Extra tabs that were once the mainstay of Facebook brand pages are now for the most part removed, and instead we have a section for photos, apps and company info.

The large cover photo is a new addition right at the top of your page, which offers a large space to personalise and open the look and feel of your page. Taking into account it’s prominent positioning, updating this regularly offers a great opportunity to make your visitors aware of new opportunities.

The profile image has also changed, from the sizeable rectangle we were allowed before, now we’re reduced to a much smaller square profile image, on the plus side, it will at least thumbnail neatly when making posts on your own wall!

Bear in mind what an app comprises of is largely up the administrator, whether it’s what was once a custom page in an iframe, or a list of free issue apps for things like events and other social network integrations, it’s likely that all previous custom tabs will be converted into ‘apps’ that the visitor can click into.

Furthermore these now load on a separate page. You can also rearrange the order of this section to highlight particular content to users.


When it comes to the actual wall, as you can see on the side, we can now add in significant events from the past and date them appropriately. As a whole the wall becomes a more dynamic and visual experience. Images and videos are larger and take a more prominent position in the wall content over text, and can either cover half or the entire width of the wall.

Timeline also adds the ability to send private messages, meaning that fans and visitors can converse with you privately, adding another dimension to potential customer services.


The backend has also been thoroughly updated and streamlined, as well as the ability to receive and send private messages. Through the admin panel overview you can check out notifications, new ‘likes’ as well as basic analytics for your page. As an administrator you now have more control over the content posted onto your wall by fans, allowing the option for all content to be reviewed before going public on your Timeline.


What are the benefits to brands?

The new cover image is a whopping 850 odd pixels wide, which presents you with a lot of graphical real estate right smack bang at the top of your Facebook page, excellent for grabbing a potential visitor and drawing them in. Its prominent position makes it great for product promotion and pushing, since it’s the first thing your visitor will see.

By pushing the info section right to the top of the page, rather than leaving it lingering in the sidelines, it now becomes a lot easier for users to get the gist of your brand immediately. Furthermore offering the ability to send private messages to and from pages opens up new channels of communication and prevents walls from becoming cluttered with conversation between admin and client, which whilst handy for engagement, may be entirely irrelevant to every other visitor to the page.

The Timeline format itself lends itself to giving out information and content much more so then the previous wall designs. Of course, the conversation between brand and client is as important as ever, and in a sense Timeline lends itself to encouraging such discussion. The constant stream of information is easily accessible on the first page, and limited only by as much information as you, the brand, put in. Offering up more information for the user to consume leads to further engagement, and prolongs the interactions you have with your visitor. Timeline appears to be less a case by case display of content and more of a streamed story, dependant of course on the information you put in in the first place.

As Mashable puts it in their explanation of why Timeline is great for brands post;

“With the focus shifting from building conversation to sharing content, the purpose of a Facebook brand page will be less about selling and more about telling an authentic story. Brands can express what makes them unique and build an emotional connection with fans through behind-the-scenes photos, blooper videos, real-time mobile pictures, sound clips and exclusive news. In addition to expressing the brand in the present, a brand can utilize the Timeline to speak to its past to reignite nostalgia and sentiment that may be associated with it.”

If you're interested in making the most of your online presence, or wanting to find out how you can include Facebook and social media into your online strategy, then why not get in contact with our Sales Team here at Rocktime.


Author: Alice Cheetham

Introduction to Pinterest

What’s the interest in Pinterest?

We’ve all heard of the likes of Facebook and Twitter, but there’s a new young upstart making waves in the Social Media world. But what exactly IS Pinterest?

Based on the premise of a virtual pinboard, Pinterest allows users to build their own image boards, adding in all kinds of media from images to videos, or discussions, and comment on both theirs and other users’ pinboards. Registration is by either invitation from an existing user, or applying for an invite through the website.


It may sound like a bit of a fad, but there’s some impressive statistics to back it up.

Pinterest has actually been around for almost 2 years, but most of that’s been spent in an invitation only beta state. It wasn’t until December 2011 that the site catapulted itself into the top 10 social networks (according to Hitwise) and the tail end of 2011 also led to TechCrunch naming Pinterest the best new start up of 2011.
January 2012 has seen that success continue, and it’s now reported that Pinterest drives more referral traffic to sites then LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ combined! Last month comScore reported the site had 11.7 million unique visitors, making it the fastest site in history to break the 10 million unique visitor mark. Not only does it boast some impressive numbers, but Pinterest has become a top traffic driver for Retailers.

Not only is it high in the visit numbers, but there are now over 10.4 million registered users. Furthermore, a surprisingly high percentage of them are women. AppData and Facebook’s advertising tools show that just shy of 98% of Pinterests Facebook fans are female. Women between the ages of 25 and 44 make up 59% of Pinterest users. Its a great way to share and build a community of enthusiasts. The pinboards and pinner profiles are found easily and high in the search results.

Pinterest doesn’t shy away from its appeal to women either, on the Pinterest About Us page they describe their pinboards as a method to plan weddings, decorate homes and organise their favourite recipes. Of course, there are a fair few blokes as well, Fiona, here at Rocktime, has an exclusively male following of 'pinners' (each with their own beautiful looking pinboards!) for her own Music pinboard.

Naturally, Pinterest has it's own YouTube Channel, full of useful How To tips and a Twitter feed.
The biggest brand on Pinterest is 'Perfect Palette', with 244,163 Followers, 113 Boards and 6,925 Pins. The success is due to this wedding blog helping visitors to explore and choose the colour theme for an upcoming wedding.


Popular content on Pinterest covers a whole range of areas, from cooking to crafts and skincare to pets. So far it seems to have great appeal through its simple interface and ease of use. These attributes make it a great method of sharing content, your Pinterest content not only shows up on your pinboard, but can integrate straight through to your Facebook feed too; Facebook-connected Pinterest.

When reviewing web analytics, it is likely brands will start to notice new trends in keywords, traffic sources, what is driving traffic and where content is getting shared the most. So, it is well worth factoring Pinterest into an Integrated Digital Strategy.

If you’re interested in finding out how to get your foot in the door and how Social Media can further your business online, why not drop a line to our sales team here at Rocktime.


Author: Alice Cheetham

Geek Video of the Month

This month’s geek video has taken a bit of a morbid direction, asking the question “What happens to your digital life when you die?” As we invest more time and effort into our online presence, the size of our online footprint grows, but what happens to all that information after we kick the proverbial bucket?

The video infographic above by lifeinsurancefinder.com gives us some insight as to the pure amount of information about ourselves we can leave floating around the internet during our lifetime


Author: Alice Cheetham

Google plus one goes Global

A few months ago, Google released their +1 button on English search results on Google.com. The objective of the +1 button is to make search more personally relevant to you.

The above video provides a good introduction to how this all links with Google Social Search.

If you are running a Google Adwords account, you should have received an email this morning to say that in the coming weeks, you will note that your paid for ads on Google along with organic placements, will include the +1 button, which users can click to recommend your adverts.

Google advise that you "think of the +1 button as a way for fans of your business to recommend what you offer, for all their friends and contacts to see". Google believe that by helping searchers see more personal, relevant ads, then we will start to see more qualified traffic. We believe this is dependent on who your Google contacts are!

If you would like to add the +1 button to your website, and encourage recommendation of your site or certain pages, blogs etc please contact Sales.

Extra reading: Search Engine Land report here that on the 27th June 2011 Google Plus One button goes global


Author: Sarah Griffiths

Channel Optimisation

This month we have a big focus on channel optimisation. We are reviewing the objectives of our own digital channels, reviewing success and integrating future developments of the channels into our wider Marketing Mix. This blog post seeks to share with you some ideas on how you can consider optimising your own channels for your online or offline business.

Definition of channel

A channel, could also be described as a platform, it is anywhere (billboard, website, mobile phone) in which you are advertising your business / service / product. It could be online or offline and links with activities such as: Direct and Indirect Sales; Branding; Customer Services; PR; Promotions; Viral; Campaign management; Local Targeting.

Rocktime can not only provide you with the skills in which to grow your channels, they can also encourage you to consider new ways to think about channel development. We advise all our clients when commencing a digital strategy, to start with an end in mind for each of their channel and to always consider an integrated approach.

Definition of channel optimisation

Channels should be an extension of your shop front or/& website, optimising your channels helps develop your brand and makes it easier for those not already socially connected with you to find your networks / websites via search.

Channels are a great place to hold conversations

It may be that you have already created starting channels in which to hold conversations around your brand / product / service and that you regularly have moments of “what to say next?” in these channels. The reason for this, is that you haven’t defined your strategy, and you have simply set a strategy for “being out there”!

Being out there, is a bonus as search engine are a discovery channel, and we know that most digital content can be indexed by search engines and they create additional entry points (for your site).
To win with channel optimisation, we would advise you to use channels as a tool / technology and look at them as supporting mechanisms to wider goals and campaigns.
Use the channels to: promote, build and network with customers and to Inspire, Inform and Interact with fans. The majority of channels include 2 way conversations, don’t forget this and look at scheduling in conversation resource.


Channel Management Optimisation

Channel management optimisation is very much a part of our own evolution, as we are soon going to be changing our campaign objectives worksheet to include: “Tactics/Social Networks" and “Tools and Technology” required.
For campaign planning, around your channel or to include your channel, Rocktime’s Flashlight Search marketing team would work with you to determine the below;

• Audience / Target marketing
• Objective:
• Strategy:
• Tactics/Social Networks:
• Tools & Technology required:
• Metrics / Tracking to be implemented:
• Updates to website required:
• Updates in house required:
• Review the current environment:

Choosing Channels

Just because Facebook is the most popular network, doesn’t mean that you need to focus on just that. Facebook currently suits the current environment, with all evolution things can change.

Example: Johnny Cash’s album Live at San Quentin was a best seller when released in 1968. For decades it didn’t reach the top 50, but, in 2005, when a successful movie was released about Cash’s life, the environment changed. The album flew up the charts, as the environment changed.

Don’t just choose a channel because of its popularity; choose it because your audience reside there, or because you have seen conversions / page engagement from that channel (within web analytic reports). Listen to the audience within the networks first, would they welcome you?

Competitor Review

While you are creating new channels, or making steps to engaging in new channels, please note you won’t be alone. Your competitors have most probably noticed your new channels and are following suit. Keep an eye on them for collaboration opportunities, inspiration or to be tactical.

Just because a competitor is running a Groupon campaign i.e. 2 for 1 on meals, it doesn’t mean you need to. Look at the wider picture in creating campaigns, have a goal in mind i.e. Increase business over Winter months. Consider you channel strategy i.e. check that no other local events are on in the area, put a promotion plan in place. Schedule time tio measure campaign performance.

Managing internal fears of moving into new channels

Rocktime can also help you manage any internal fears of moving into new channels, by presenting the facts, the ideas associated with the channel, and the solutions that the channel can provide.

We would always encourage the process: Listen and Learn before Engaging.


Rocktime’s Channels

Our objectives for each digital channel (off website):

To visualize connections and conversations between our networks, we use a diagram similar to a mindmap. The main aims for our channels are to promote (Rocktime), build (Channel), network (with the like minded).

We will share our business objectives for each of our channels below:

• Google Places: Increase local presence; Promote products; Log testimonials; Show expertise at local campaigns.

• YouTube: Store Geek Videos; Showcase our Video Blogs; Investigate communication opportunities; Share introduction video, promote products.

• LinkedIn: Inspire, Inform and Interact with the like minded. Share our stories. Encourage conversions. Promote products.

• Facebook: Additional channel in which to distribute our News; Blogs; Images; Products. Network with local businesses (Like feature). For SEO benefits.

• Twitter: Inspire, Inform and Interact with the like minded. Encourage clients and prospects on best practice. Increase brand awareness. Encourage conversions. Be an expert in our field.

• Slideshare: Great place for storing presentations on latest products, innovations. Time saver after meetings. Cost avoidance strategy.

• Business Forums: Great places to share our expertise, be an authority and increase awareness of our brand /products. Inspire, Interact, Inform.

Channel Development

The Flashlight Search Marketing team at Rocktime is so very passionate about channel development. They are always on the ball with the latest happenings with the Search Engine Updates and new guidelines facing the social networks. They love to hear of new innovations that will benefit their clients and regular test and trial networks before passing over recommendations for growth.

Channel management

Should you require assistance managing your channels, determining your next steps for each channel, evaluating success of your channels, please give the Flashlight Search Marketing team a call or talk to Sales about arranging a meeting.


Author: Sarah Griffiths

Credit for the above image goes to Papermag Blog

The Pros and Cons of Microsites

What is a Microsite?

As you may already be aware, our blog focus for May is creating useful content. We are answering questions this month such as “How to edit a PDF” among other topics. This week we are answering the question, “Do I need a microsite?”. We will begin by outlining the pros and cons of implementing, we have also outlined ‘what a microsite is’. We hope you find it useful!

Wikipedia definition of a microsite;

“A microsite, also known as a landing page, minisite or weblet, is an Internet web design term referring to an individual web page, or cluster of pages, which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. The microsite's main landing page most likely has its own domain name or subdomain. This is also known as niche marketing”.

A micro site is typically between 3-10 pages. It will be focused on a solution, or client type, or promotion and provides a more personal experience.

Do I need a microsite?

A microsite is useful if you wish to target and engage with a particular niche, through Search campaigns, which may encompass Online PR, SEO, PPC, Social Media, mixture of all.
A good example of a microsite, targeting a specific audience, is from 'Signature Travel Network', who has launched a culinary travel microsite. The site is described as a one stop shop for culinary travel enthusiasts and includes strategic partners, Food Network and Bon Appetit.

View the Culinary Travel microsite here.

Retail clients regularly use Microsites for promotional purposes, the below image is Kit Kat link/partnership with Love Film (Marketing Magazine 22.3.11) to help promote their Kit Kat Pop Choc product.



Microsite content example

Within the Microsite you can offer a diversity of content in several formats, which may currently not sit well with your main site.

For example, for a hotel wishing to increase conference / meeting room bookings, they may opt for a microsite to deliver targeted content, for those looking to book a meeting room in their hotel locations.

They would need to consider what information would be useful to their niche.
What key content will enable visitors to make a booking (use images and text).
How they can speed up Call to Action on their Microsite.

Useful content:

Text: Useful information for Niche page (to include range of material, videos, downloads – see below)
Video: Running an Effective Presentation (from Affiliate).
Video: Team Building Events (from Affiliate).
PDFS: Conference Meeting Tick List (from Hotel Conference Team).
PDFS: Conference Meeting Room Brochure (from Hotel Conference Team).
PDFS : Confidence in running presentations (from Hotel conference team).
Image: Viral HTML badge for others to promote (bloggers / partners).
Social: Bookmark this page / Share this page.

Decision making content:

Text & Images: Home page: Why are you here today? Book meeting room, Browse meeting rooms; latest images from team building events (from Hotel conference team).
Images: Images of meeting rooms.
Image: Promotion banners – to also seed out to paid and free content networks.
Text : Case studies and testimonials from previous attendees.
Text: Location & Directions.

Calls to action
Function: How many seats do you require? Date? Show availability, rates, images, layout, presentation material.
Function: Book room / View room.
Function: Call us / View room.
Function: Join email list for latest offers – or follow on our social networks.
Function: Leave a testimonial.

The benefits of having a microsite

SEO benefits:
Cross pollination from Microsite to main site / associate microsite with the main site.
Increased relevancy.
Keyword rich domain name.
Link to the microsite from a Google Places account, create appropriate categories (which are limited in Google Places).

Social Media benefits:
Social share on the microsite will enable you to socially seed your microsite to a niche audience, found in social media. Social media accounts will need to be created.

Paid Search benefits:
Reduce CPC due to page relevancy “Quality score”.
Targeting to appropriate sites within your regions and industry.
The site can hold contextual advertising from Google Content network (revenue from affiliates).

Design benefits:
Tailor the microsite so it appeals to the markets target audience.
Offer promotions specific to target audience.

Commerce benefits:
Higher conversation rate, as the site may enable you to look more specialist and provide you with authority in your respective niche.
With more relevance to query, the conversion rate will increase.
Easier to remember site username.
Work with an affiliate / partner to increase reach of microsite.

THE CONS OF HAVING A MICROSITE

SEO cons
Link acquisition risks, link building for the microsite will not benefit your main site. Link building can be time consuming. We do not recommend multiple microsites to link to your main site as this could look like “link farming” – bad SEO and could get you banned from search engines.

Social media cons
It makes sense to create a specific social media account/s (Twitter/Facebook) for the microsite. This of course takes time and budget.
Commerce cons.
The site will need to be advertised to a target niche.


THINGS TO NOTE WITH MICROSITE DEVELOPMENT

• Don’t duplicate your content from the main site to the new microsite. It is bad practice for SEO.
• Design the site so that it doesn’t take up too much resource.
  

MEASUREMENT

• Review take up of microsite (online mentions and site visits and page engagement).
• Set up data capture and understand who is interested in your microsite.
• Review icons visitors click on for further microsite enhancement.
• Track the number of leads/sales by site visits.

STEPS TO TAKE

• Determine objectives; Note: keep focused on promotion opportunities and conversions and where appropriate, fun.
• Establish a time line.
• Allocate sufficient budget.
• Create the Microsite social media and content outreach plan.
• Talk to Rocktime Sales

We hope the above is useful, if you need further guidance on whether a microsite would suit your business, feel free to give the Rocktime Sales team a call.


Author: Sarah Griffiths

How can Foursquare help your business

You may remember us talking about Foursquare before; we’ve even done an introductory post on Foursquare for businesses here on the blog.

As it is operation sharing useful content on the blog this month, a couple of days ago we found this great article from Mashable on how to set up a Foursquare Special, which we just had to share with you.

How to: Set up a FourSquare Special by Lauren Drell, Mashable

We have also provided our own take on FourSquare specials for your review. Enjoy ;)

So what are the advantages of registering your business with them?

For starters, it’s a popular service, growing in numbers; in 2010 alone on their official blog, Foursquare reveals they experienced a 3400% increase in growth, and a staggering 381 million check ins.

Not only does signing your venue up on Foursquare open up a huge potential audience, but you can actively encourage visitors through Foursquare via the use of their ‘Foursquare Specials', from a Friends Special encouraging groups to a Newbie Special to encourage newcomers through your doors, there’s a wide range of potential deals to set up with the aim of encouraging people to check into your venue.

When it comes to promoting these specials, Foursquare can lend you a helping hand providing you with official window stickers, encouraging visitors to check in.


In addition to Specials, ownership of the venue on Foursquare will allow you to view a full set of real-time data about your customers. Imagine it like a real-life analytics! On your dashboard you’ll be able to see statistics such as total daily check-ins over time to viewing your most recent and frequent visitors and even whether they are broadcasting their check-ins to Twitter and Facebook.

Of course, whilst Foursquare might be one of the larger and (currently) in our opinion the best established of these services, it is by no means the only option! We’ve covered other location based marketing services as MePlease and Facebook Deals among others, in previous blog posts, both of which are more than worth a peruse. Enjoy ;)


Author: Alice Cheetham

Natural Disasters and how Social Media responded

Natural disasters are a terrible occurrence, and two huge earthquakes in as many months is a reminder of how unstable and unpredictable our environment can be at times. The most recent, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake not far from the coast of Japan early Friday morning on March 11th, certainly gave me a personal pause for thought.

Having a number of friends living and working throughout Japan led me to dive on to Twitter and Facebook with vigour that morning and within two hours, much to my relief, I had worked my way down my list with one case of concussion and a few power cuts and swaying buildings between them but in the grand scheme of things, a good outcome.

Without social media and the communication capabilities we have at our fingertips today, rather than a mere two hours it could’ve been more like two days, or even two weeks before hearing anything back. With the Japanese government advising reduced phone use at the time and rolling blackouts across the country, other methods of communication exploded; Tweet-o-meter reported peaks of 1,200 tweets per minute coming from Tokyo alone, after the countries phone system was taken offline.


As other countries began to wake up, news began to spread and updates travelled exponentially, with users sharing reports and video streams, more often than not, faster than official news sources could verify and update. Mitchell Cuevas posts on the social media blog Salty Waffle about how a friend in Hawaii had Tsunami warnings out on Facebook before any articles and another had warnings for the West Coast of the US before any major news networks had information out. Inevitably Twitter’s trending topics of #tsunami and #prayforjapan were both throwing out thousands of tweets per second discussing the event.


Google is also playing its part in supporting and aiding the flow of information, releasing a Japanese version of its Person Finder, as it did when the fatal earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand last month, alongside its Google Crisis Response.
The Person Finder app allows members of the public to upload information about themselves or others, and allows anyone to search through the database for specific individuals; within the first few hours over 4,000 records had already been logged.
The Crisis Response is a fluidly updating all encompassing report for those in Japan, including weather warnings, disaster bulletins and blackout warnings.


When it comes to outside help, it’s not just a matter of donating via the conventional means; there are so many more ways of helping out no matter how small. Mashable put together a short overview in their article Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: 7 Simple Ways to Help, with suggestions from Facebook to iTunes. Sony Online Entertainment's Playstation Store has also been acting as a donation platform, receiving direct donations or offering virtual goods, where each item bought ensures a $10 donation from Sony to the American Red Cross to help the relief effort.

Bloggers have also been keen to jump in with aid, not just in spreading information, but on the donations drive too. One of the prominent movements for bloggers, the Silence For Japan campaign, which you can read more on here, has gone on to raise (at the time of writing this) a phenomenal $59,952 for ShelterBox, a charity which provides emergency shelter and supplies.


Whilst my friends and colleagues have escaped relatively unscathed, many others haven't been so lucky. Our best wishes go out to those in Japan and if you're interested in donating, the Red Cross is running an ongoing Japan Tsunami Appeal.

If you're considering making a donation, then be sure to read this article on donation scam emails, and remember never to divulge your card details to unofficial sources.


Author: Alice Cheetham

TwitRelief: Bid for a Celebrity Follower

If you are on Twitter, you may have noticed the launch of the Celebrity Twit Relief Campaign for Comic Relief. The concept being: you can bid for Celebrities to follow you on Twitter for 90 days, they re-tweet one of your tweets, plus there is a chance to also win amazing ‘extras’ in a celebrity auction.

The #Twitrelief celebrity auction is in aid of Comic Relief’s work in the UK and Africa and ends on the 20th March 2011. The campaign is fun, easy to join in with and is a great idea for generating awareness of the event.

A special eBay page has been set up for the auctions and includes: a signed manuscript, a character named after you in the book and dinner from Emma Kennedy, a chance to hang out on set with Kirstie Allsopp and her Phil, Suzi Perrys Bike Jacket, Silverstone passes and meet up with the Perry, plus a walk-on part in the next film by Notting Hill writer Richard Curtis (courtesy of his partner Emma Freud).

Rocktimers have been invited to dig deep in their pockets after we received a tweet from our favourite Gadget Show presenter Suzi Perry. We can’t quite describe how very overjoyed we were (esp: @sarahgriffiths), when we received an @ reply followed by a Direct Message with a “X”. See above image.

To find out more about how you can contribute visit the Red Nose Day site here. Whilst mentioning #Twitrelief, it suits to let you know that we were impressed with their Red Nose Online Giving pages, enabling all the sponsored transactions to be sent in via individuals unique fundraising personalised pages. Nice work.

If since reading this blog you have identified that the celebrity you wanted to engage with is too expensive, then look for another one. Alternatively find out more about how you can donate and join in with the Red Nose Day activities here.

The Flashlight Search Marketing team at Rocktime, are always on the look out for innovative campaigns that use social media. We track other's successes in which we then seek to implement into our own. If you see anything fun or innovative in Social Media that we might miss, feel free to tweet us @rocktimesocial.

Author: Sarah Griffiths

Update to Google Social Search

We received news this morning that Google have expanded their Social Search networking platform, so thought to share the news with you with the above video which explains what it is all about. It is very exciting indeed and something that we have been preparing for, for some time now.

The big factor in all this, is that Google have said that it will prioritising pages in the search results that have been shared and recommended by your network. To summarise it completely simply think "Personalised results". Note you will only get these results if you have added your connections to Google (Google Settings page) and logged into your Google Account.

There is an official post here at the Official Google Blog, a statement we like from Google is "As always, we want to help you find the most relevant answers among the billions of interconnected pages on the web".

We are making shareability and the management of connections a priority for a number of our clients right now, if you would like to talk to the Flashlight Team about managing your connections, then give the fully trained in Social Media Sales team a call and we can set up a meeting.

In the meantime the Flashlight Team would like to leave you with our new marketing phrase "Content and Connections are King".


Author: Sarah Griffiths

Top 10 Social Media New Year's Resolutions

The Flashlight Search Marketing Team at Rocktime would like to share with you their top ten social media resolutions for the New Year. Need any help setting up yours?

Then feel free to get in touch with Rocktime Sales to arrange a meeting.

Rocktime's top ten social media resolutions

1. Share more about what we are learning in house
   
2. Engage more online & offline with our partners
   
3. Create better content for the benefit of others
   
4. Create a social media landing page from Twitter
   
5. Add more prominent calls to action to our website
   
6. Continue to explore new ways to connect with our prospects and increase our relevant visitor traffic
   
7. Publish no less than one blog post a week and guest blog for our partners no less than once a quarter
   
8. Establish our expertise by asking questions
   
9. Engage, engage, engage
   
10. Set some big goals and analyse the metrics to increase sales & leads
    

Why not head over to Mashable to take part in their poll to find out 'how others plan to change their life this year in the world of gadgetry and technology': Tech-Related Resolutions Poll at Mashable.

Author: Sarah Griffiths

SEM New Year Resolutions for 2011

This week the Flashlight Team will be sharing with you their Search Marketing (SEM) New Year's Resolutions for 2011, focused on SEO, PPC, Social Media and Mobile Marketing.

Sarah (@sarahgriffiths), 'Head of Search' at Rocktime says:

"We are very excited about our 2011 plans and throughout January will be setting some large ROI targets to grow the Flashlight division further, a large focus for our team this year is Local SEO/SEM and Mobile Marketing strategies".

The Flashlight Team hope you can steal some ideas from their 'Search Marketing New Year Resolutions' and would like to mention: where you don't have the resource in house, why not contact them to see how their online marketing expertise can fit in with your business.

New Year Resolution blog posts focused on Search Marketing, Social Media and Mobile Marketing will be delivered to you Wednesday to Friday this week.

In the meantime the Flashlight team would like to recommend that you visit this article over at Mashable, where they have listed 10 websites to watch in 2011, worth a look to gleam some inspiration for your own website development plans.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our blog readers a prosperous New Year.


Author: Alice Cheetham