By: Stacey Furtado
Throughout the week, we come across a lot of great articles, blogs and other social marketing minded content. Here’s a look at the best ones we found this week.
Monday:
- The quote: “Edelman had managed to collect 200,000 “likes” for the Facebook page for Slim Jim beef jerky, owned by long-standing client ConAgra Foods Inc. But those fans showed little interest in interacting with the company. By introducing a community manager who hosted videos and responded to comments, Edelman quadrupled the number of Slim Jim post views and more than tripled the number of comments, likes and shares within a month. Today Slim Jim has 1.26 million likes.” – Brigid Sweeney (Crain’s)
- Why it matters: With all the recent changes to the Facebook News Feed, it’s important to remember that great engagement doesn’t happen without great community management. Finding one-to-one connections within large brand communities can have a huge impact
Tuesday:
- The quote: “A recent survey of more than 10,000 social media enthusiasts found that 86% of respondents say the opinions of family and friends have the most impact on their purchase decisions. Some 56% report that professional reviews carry weight. Bloggers (39%) and celebrities (11%) trail in influence by a significant percentage.”- Susan French (MarketingProfs)
- Why it matters: Get to know the fans in your brand community and give them a voice. Empowering influential brand fans is the most authentic and efficient way to build a strong word of mouth presence for your brand.
Wednesday:
- The quote: “So congrats, J. Crew, for being decent human beings who just couldn’t let a woman drown in a sea of shitty swimsuits.” – Rebecca Cullers (AdWeek)
- Why it matters: J.Crew brought back a vintage swimsuit at the request of one of its superfans. The move got them some positive PR and showed that good things can happen when brands listen to their best advocates.
Thursday:
- The quote: “The biggest change I made to my digital presence is that I stopped trying to please everyone and I started serving the very specific community I’ve had the pleasure to serve.” – Chris Brogan
- Why it matters: Understanding your audience is the most important step to building sticky content that will drive fans to engage. While catering to all of your brand’s fans is nearly impossible, trusting a small group of influential advocates to drive the conversation is much more manageable and rewarding.
Friday:
- The quote: “For most of its life, Facebook merely cloned the competition. Yet starting with its acquisition of Instagram in 2012, Facebook has embarked on a unite-and-conquer strategy, seeking to expand its empire and hold on to our time by buying any service on which we socialize.”- Bianca Bosker (Huffington Post Tech)
- Why it matters: Facebook has been on an acquisition tear this year, acquiring everything from WhatsApp to Oculus Rift. Where each investment fits in the puzzle isn’t clear yet, but there’s one thing that is — Facebook wants to grow.
