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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding 5-12-13

May 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Branding and Digital Marketing

Another Sunday in May and another holiday to go celebrate.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms that are readying this!  Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing.  For those interested, you can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Maker’s Mark’s Plain Dumb Move Proved To Be Pure Marketing Genius” – Forbes.com

Premise: Back in February, Maker’s Mark announced that due to rising production costs they would be watering down their product.  This caused a social media circus, with droves of consumers taking to various platforms to complain about the decision.  However, this also drove consumers to the store apparently, as sales skyrocketed for the brand.  Ultimately, Maker’s Mark has reversed its decision to water down its product due to the backlash.

Thoughts: Here is another example of the power of social media.  Fans of Maker’s Mark came out and rebelled against a decision the company made and it helped change its position in only a short matter of time.  There is a bit of a conspiracy theory presented in the article that Maker’s Mark decided to create this news in an effort to boost sales, but I have a hard time believing that; in fact, the author doesn’t seem to either, but brought it up anyway.

#2 – “LinkedIn Tips: 10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Network” – Entrepreneur.com  

Premise: With LinkedIn turning ten years old this past week, the author provides ten tips to build your LinkedIn presence and drive engagement with readers/others.  Beyond the ten tips presented, each one has a follow-up write-up and link to a story of greater detail.

Thoughts: There may not be a better article available for LinkedIn tips than this one.  Not only does the author provide ten thought starters, the links that follow each provides you more robust information and detail for each.  

#3 – “Using Pinterest to Grow Brand Awareness” – ICUCModeration.com

Premise: The article provides several key statistics to warm you up to using Pinterest and then provides ten recommendations for how to optimize your Pinterest page.  No surprise, Starbucks is mentioned as a brand/company that is using Pinterest in an engaging way.

Thoughts: This caught my attention given the numbers presented in the article and the comparisons made to Facebook.  In fact, it drove a search on Pinterest to find an infographic that compared the two sites further than this and was a post earlier this week on our Facebook page.  Pinterest is driving engagement and helps spur purchase decisions at a much greater rate and is a site that must be considered as part of your brand/company’s social media platform.

#4 – “Coca-Cola Announces Global Commitment To Help Fight Obesity” – SustainableBrands.com  

Premise: Earlier this week, Coca-Cola announced that it would offer low/no-calorie beverages in each of the 200 countries it currently has business in.  The company also announced that it will help support programs and/or organizations that run physical activity programs and will no longer market towards children 12 and under.  The company has launched a website (Coming Together) to help promote these efforts.

Thoughts: A little bit of an interesting branding story from this past week from one of the largest companies in the world.  The separate online platform caught my eye as well, given that it isn’t branded in the web site / domain itself, but brings you to the company site right away with a single click off of the hyperlink above.

#5 – “Microsoft Mulling Nook Media LLC Purchase For $1 Billion” – TechCrunch.com

Premise: Microsoft is looking to buy into Nook’s business for a hefty price tag, while other tidbits in this article are equally intriguing.  By the end of its fiscal in 2014, Nook will stop making Android-based tablets and will shift its focus to third-party platforms; i.e. drive its business through Nook apps.  Nook e-readers will not follow suit, but they are planned to be phased out given the declining trends in the e-reader market.  Microsoft’s partnership with Nook continues to evolve and may lead to greater synthesis between the two companies with future Microsoft products coming in the near future.

Thoughts: While the tablet and e-reader market continues to quickly evolve, it is hard to see or understand what the short and long term goals are for both Barnes and Noble / Nook and Microsoft.  Every quarter, one or the other seems to announce a decision that is counter-intuitive to their prior plans for development and growth.  Microsoft continues to baffle me with what their plans are as they look to compete with Apple and Google in many of the same areas.

What caught your attention this week in branding and digital marketing news?

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 5-5-13

May 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Branding and Digital Marketing

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing.  You can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Facebook Earnings Results Show Progress On Mobile” – ReadWrite.com

Premise: Facebook reported their financials from Q1’13 earlier this week and results were largely viewed as positive among investors.  Mobile advertising numbers grew significantly (23%) from Q4’12 o Q1’13.  Facebook also made several strong statements during the earning’s call regarding the advertising benefits of the site, driving traffic to app markets for downloads.  They also showed the overall growth of their mobile platform, a significant focus for the company now and moving forward.

Thoughts: The continued shift in focus towards mobile looks to be righting the ship that is Facebook and its stock performance.  It was also interesting to see the upward trend in the mobile numbers (usage, spend, etc.) from the call.  While brand new for the site, the article hints at weakness on several of the recent launches – Facebook Home and Graph Search – areas that will be of interest in future earnings’ reports through the remainder of 2013.

(In case you didn’t see it, here are our tips and recommendations for using Facebook for your brand or business, released earlier this week.)

#2 – “15 Stats Retailers Should Know About Pinterest” – DigiDay.com  

Premise: This article from DigiDay is a concise summary of why businesses need to strongly consider Pinterest as part of their digital marketing plan.  The articles provides facts and figures from various sources across the web, including the overall size of the site now (~25 million users) and the amount of money Pinterest shoppers are spending online at checkout relative to Facebook and Twitter shoppers.

Thoughts: There are a lot of eye opening numbers available here.  The spend levels mentioned above relative to the most popular social media sites certainly warrants a retailer’s attention.  Two other numbers that really caught my attention were the connection that Pinterest has with moms (a highly influential group) and the level of trust the site has built with its users.  

#3 – “Lowe’s Embraces Six-Second Vine Videos for Spring Campaign” – AdAge.com

Premise: Lowe’s home improvement stores have found a way to leverage Vine to provide customers with six second “how to” tip videos.  The store and its agency have put together twelve clips for various tips on home improvements including how to work with a stripped screw and using shower rings and a hangar to organize scarves.

Thoughts: This is another great example of a company using Vine to market to its consumers.  While marketers tinker with the platform, these companies that get ahead of the curve and in front of (potential) consumers before their competitors, are simply providing a strong point of difference for themselves in the online / digital marketing space.  To see more of Lowe’s videos, you can scroll through their Twitter feed (if Vine itself isn’t available to you).

#4 – “Dos Equis Resolves A “Cinco De Lemma” With Integrated Dos De Mayo Campaign” – ConvinceandConvert.com  

Premise: With today’s Cinco de Mayo holiday falling on a Sunday, Dos Equis decided to extend the holiday this past week with a holistic marketing program based on starting the celebrations on Dos de Mayo and having it run through the weekend.  Dos Equis used their SM sites, created a unique landing page for the marketing push, and included it in TV spots.

Thoughts: Dos Equis did a nice job of pulling several contact points together and focused their message on one area and on a major holiday, most specifically for the brand.  You will likely see the infographic created by Dos Equis again later this month, as I really like how they have branded this campaign and put a lot of effort around it.  For those interested, the microsite has a bar locator on where you can find a bar/pub in your area that sells Dos Equis.

#5 – “Zynga.org and New Schools Venture Fund take on ed-tech with launch of their learning games accelerator” – TheNextWeb.com

Premise: Zynga’s non-profit organization has provided funding for the formation of a learning games accelerator to help create social games that will have a positive impact on learning and learning experiences for users.  There are several groups that are already lined up to help produce the first round of games.

Thoughts: When playing several Zynga games in the past, I have seen a number of little campaigns for good causes or relief efforts.  You will also see this on the Zynga.com home page.  It is good to see a company that has this type/size of voice have a non-profit ‘on the side’ that promotes this type of positive message.  I wish we saw more of this.

Several other tech companies reported this week such as Yelp.  Were any of those of particular interest for you?  Was there anything else in branding or digital marketing that caught your eye this week?

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 4-28-13

April 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Branding and Digital Marketing

Branding and Digital Marketing

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing.  You can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Starbucks Hopes to Grow Loyalty Program with Expansion to the Grocery Aisle” – AaramShopPro.com

Premise: Starbucks has some of the most loyal fans and brand ambassadors in the world.  The company is looking to increase their loyalty and engagement with the brand by allowing purchases in the grocery / retail store count towards their Starbucks Rewards program.  There will be a sticker on each product in the store that the shopper will need to peel off and add to their account themselves in order to receive credit for the purchase.

Thoughts: It looks like Starbucks has found another means of building/driving loyalty and engaging with those that are most connected with the brand.  Building stronger connections through retail and driving people to their rewards account online can/should help build an even stronger relationship between the brand and its customers.

#2 – “Facebook Challenges Yelp with Mobile Pages Redesign Featuring Actions, Local Biz Details and Ratings” – TechCrunch.com  

Premise: Facebook has redesigned its mobile Pages to more prominently show reviews of each page or business and what is local to the individual user.  The redesign was launched earlier this week on the iOS version and is coming to Android’s platform in May.  The article here provides several visuals comparing the old and new look to Facebook Pages.

Thoughts: In its continued shift toward mobile, Facebook’s latest updates certainly make Pages more actionable and more detailed at first glance.  I agree with the author of this article; the look of the redesign provides more easily accessible content and a better use of space.  The redesign does look a lot like a Yelp business page.  It will be interesting to see if Facebook can better compete in the local search space, given the strength of Yelp and others (Foursquare, Google Places, etc.).  

#3 – “Branding Like Apple: 20 Ways to Make Your Biz Stand Out” – BigGirlBranding.com

Premise: The article provides twenty different ways to help your brand or business stand out with others.  These recommendations or steps are presented in a straightforward manner with a few blurbs following each to provide a little more detail.

Thoughts: We’ve mentioned this a few times here; branding isn’t rocket science, but it is very easy to miss a step, focus in the wrong areas, and/or trip up along the way.  These steps/recommendations are good to keep by your side / in your back pocket as a reminder for your business on what to do and how to do it better than your competition.

To point to just one of the recommendations here, I particularly liked #18 – “Culture a tradition”.  I really like the thought behind this; make your customers comfortable right from the beginning.  They should know exactly what to expect from you or your company right away.

#4 – “Google+ for Brands: 4 Reasons Your Brand Should Be On It” – Blog.Hootsuite.com  

Premise: While many are quick to dismiss the platform, Google+ has grown to 500 million users, of which almost 350 million are considered active users.  This write-up provides more rationale as to why you or your brand/business need to be using the network.  With a lot more detail in the article itself, there are four steps or reasons for your brand to be on G+: 1. Better Discovery, 2. Deeper Engagement, 3. Marketing Performance, and 4. Measurable Impact.

Thoughts: Past Sunday Musings have focused on G+ and a need to leverage the site, particularly around #1 and #2 from this article – which includes our personal recommendations to engage in G+’s Communities.  The connections across Google’s platforms presented in #3 and #4 here are just as important to your brand/business.  Working with and fully understanding the capabilities of Google’s AdWords, Ripples, and Analytics will help your brand better understand your audience and to make the necessary tweaks to your online presence and to optimize your message/efforts.

#5 – “Celebrity Endorsement – 5 Key Questions You Should Ask” – Alison Cressey on BrandingMagazine.com

Premise: One would typically believe that celebrities help sell your brand or product.  Before spending money on hiring a celebrity to promote your business, this write-up provides a few questions you should ask yourself to ensure you are getting the most out of your investment.

Thoughts: Interesting take on how or when you should consider celebrity endorsement here, with an appropriate caveat to why you might consider passing on this marketing technique.  I particularly “enjoyed” reading about Oprah’s promotional efforts of the Surface tablet … while using an iPad.  I would not be happy if I was Steve Ballmer and I would be pretty embarrassed if that was my campaign … and/or infuriated with Oprah.

The questions and thoughts here make a lot of sense.  You need to make sure the celebrity endorsing your products connects with and is relevant to your target market / audience.  You can quickly waste a lot of cash by not fully understanding these components.

What caught your eye this week in branding and digital marketing?

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 4-21-13

April 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Sunday Musings 2

Branding and Digital Marketing

We’re back after a week’s hiatus with our ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing from the past week.  As always, you can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “9 Ways to Become a Better Facebook Community Manager” – SocialMediaExaminer.com

Premise: If you are looking to open a Facebook Community page or want to strengthen an existing one, SME provides nine easy to employ steps towards optimization.  Your community is a deep extension of your brand, so you’ll want to ensure you follow these steps to engage with your audience.

Thoughts: There are several items in here that may seem like commonsense to some but continue to trip up many.  Particularly of interest and importance was #4 – Know the industry; if you are running someone else’s Facebook Community, you must be engaged in said business or industry.

I am also a firm believer in each of the following; #2 – Have access to visuals, #6 – Answer questions quickly, and #8 – Respond calmly to negative posts.  While not always easy to do, particularly #6 and #8, you must take a step back and remember that your community is an extension of your brand and any trip-ups can have a large, negative influence on you or your brand.

#2 – “Google is testing One Today, an Android app for giving $1 micro-donations to good causes” – TheNextWeb.com  

Premise: Google has launched a new app, One Today, on its Android platform that allows users donate as little as $1 to charities and organizations of their own choice or preference as they are made available on the app.  The app is an extension of Google for Nonprofits.  While access is currently by invitation only, you can download the app in Google Play now and await the email invitation.

Thoughts: I love efforts like this from Google (and others).  As TNW states, while $1 may not seem like much, the ability to share your donation with others helps build word-of-mouth for each respective cause.  While I await the official invitation to join, in looking at screenshots, it seems as if you can donate more than $1 to any particular cause that may be of interest to you. 

#3 – “5 Reasons Why Building Your Online Brand is Vital” – 36Creative.com

Premise: In today’s world, building your brand online isn’t a choice or option, it is a necessity.  This article provides five solid reasons as to why you must build and leverage an online presence.

Thoughts: This felt like a nice summation of why you need to be online in order to build your brand in the 21st century.  It is a concise story that should help convince you and/or others to leverage the internet for your brand/business.  The fifth reason in the article – ‘Learn more about your customers’ – is an item that isn’t taken advantage of enough.  If you aren’t using analytics to better understand your audience, you are setting yourself up for failure.

#4 – “5 Easy Steps To Becoming A Google+ Wizard” – RivalIQ.com  

Premise: While people and brands continue to ignore Google+, the author creates a compelling case as to why this is a mistake.  There are clear benefits to being on Google+ right now – an engaged audience and advantages in SEO.  After this, there are five steps provided on setting up your G+ profile correctly and how to leverage the site appropriately.

Thoughts: When starting Shore Branding a few months ago, it was clear that beyond the web site itself, I was going to set up a Twitter page and a Google+ page; Facebook and Pinterest were added later on after thinking more about each.  Google+ is a tremendous tool to take advantage of for your business.  I completely agree with the two core benefits laid out in this article on why you should leverage G+.  As I have mentioned before, the Communities feature on G+ (the #3 step in this article) is a huge advantage for the platform that should be taken more advantage of by brands/companies.  Overall, this was a strong, in-depth summary of why you need to consider Google+.

#5 – “How Brands Shouldn’t Handle a Tragedy on Social Media” – Frank Eliason on LinkedIn.com

Premise: As you are likely all well aware, this past week presented more tragedy in the world, specifically in Boston and Texas.  While brands will always focus on their business, there always seems to be an outlier that takes things too far on social media.  Where is the line drawn?  This write-up provides a few thoughts, as well as secondary links, to help us remember what the appropriate balance is or should be.

Thoughts: The example provided at the top of this write-up from Epicurious and their tweets from the Boston Marathon makes my blood boil.  Brands and businesses need to draw the line and society really needs to get a grip of themselves sometimes.  Watching this week unfold, particularly on Friday through the news stations on TV and on Twitter, it was amazing to get a glimpse as to how things have changed so dramatically in just the past few years.

Twitter, and links from others on Twitter, provided “better” news than watching MSNBC, CNN, and/or Fox.  (Avoiding all political backlash by checking all three stations Friday; they were equally bad.)  Those stations were literally reading online comments, Twitter feeds, etc.  When they weren’t, they were making a mockery of news reporting.  The means of getting our news has certainly changed with the likes of Twitter and other online sources.  How far will this go and drastic will these changes get remains to be seen.

What caught your eye this week in branding and digital marketing?

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this week’s events.

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 4-7-13

April 6, 2013 By 1 Comment

Sunday Musings 1

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing from the past seven six days.  As always, you can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

Please note that there will not be a Musings next Sunday, 4/14.  We’ll be returning to our regularly scheduled write-up the following weekend, 4/21.

#1 – “Facebook Home – Facebook take control over Android Phones” – HotInSocialMedia.com

Premise: On Thursday, Facebook announced its latest plans for mobile – Facebook Home.  This is not being billed as Facebook’s own mobile phone or operating system, but the means in which to create a more social device.  The first device that will have the Home feature will be from HTC on AT&T.

Thoughts: This seems like a good idea for Android and its open platform, bringing in the Facebook diehards onto their OS.  It seems a little counterintuitive to the direction Facebook has been heading with their partnerships with Microsoft and Bing.  Perhaps that is the intent however, to re-balance their positioning across the tech behemoths.  To be perfectly honest, I have no interest in a Facebook Home driven phone, but I can see the value in it for both companies.

#2 – “The Marketing Value of YouTube” – SEOMOZ.org 

Premise: Should you or your business have a YouTube page?  The article provides a lot of information on whether or not setting up a YouTube page is right for you and the rationale behind the decision.  Beyond building awareness for your brand, there are advantages to be found by using YouTube for your business, including its integration with other social networks.  The write-up then goes into the various types of content that can be put on your site, recommendations on whether or not you should have a page, how to measure success of the page itself, and FAQ’s.

Thoughts: There is a tremendous amount of information available in this write-up for consideration.  If your business is weighing whether or not you should start a YouTube page, I would consider this a very good starting point for that discussion.  The analytics piece towards the end will also help you better understand what is working and what might not be … while not relying on “view counts”.     

#3 – “April Fools’ Day: Brands Show Off Their Funny Side on Social Media” – BrandChannel.com

Premise: The week started off on April Fools’ Day and brands were quick to pounce on social media with a number of great gags for their brands and products.  BrandChannel.com has taken a stab at collecting some of the best from the web here in this write-up.

Thoughts: My favorite April Fools’ Day product came from Scope and its Bacon-flavored mouthwash.  I even fell for this for a second until I was reminded what day it was.  Their ad was well put together and the overall idea/concept isn’t too far from reality.  Also, how many different pranks does Google need to create?

#4 – “What digital marketing will look like in 5 years” – iMediaConnection.com 

Premise: In an exclusive interview, Intel’s Brian David Johnson answers questions on the future of digital marketing, technology, and role of TV’s, magazines, etc. through a Google+ Hangout.  You’ll see five separate videos here, each related to a particular topic and lasting between 1-2 minutes.

Thoughts: Good thoughts and answers here from Intel’s Futurist.  My favorite answer out of the five videos posted is under the “Will TV and magazines die?” headline.  Many are quick to say that X and Y are dead/done, and that isn’t necessarily the case, they are just evolving into something a little different.

#5 – “Why You Might Want to Be More Negative in Your Marketing” – blog.hubspot.com

Premise: The author provides 8 different areas in which one might choose to leverage a negative thought, expression, etc. in their marketing efforts.  The article goes through these various options and how/why consumers are engaged by this type of marketing.  Note that towards the end of the article, they are clear that a shift or push into negative marketing can backfire.

Thoughts: I wouldn’t have even classified several of these negative marketing efforts, but they all could create buzz or have you fall flat.  You’ve certainly seen negative titles and headlines, it is what drives you to click around on the Internet so often.  I’m not a fan of #6 on this list – ‘Stir up some controversy’.  This irks me the wrong way, particularly when it seems so unbelievable and that someone or some company is just putting it out there to drive reaction from others.  My favorite on the list: #8 – ‘Make fun of yourself’.  Self-deprecating humor is humor at its best.

Have you tried to go negative in any of your marketing?  If so, did it work?  Should I preface this article with “Do not click on this link, you will never be the same” when sharing on social networks?

What else may have caught your eye in branding and digital marketing news this week?

Again, just a reminder, there will not be a ‘Sunday Musings’ next week, 4/14.  We will return the following week with more thoughts and stories in branding and digital marketing on 4/21.

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 3-31-13

March 31, 2013 By 6 Comments

Sunday Musings 3

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing from the past seven days.  As always, you can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Twitter Forecast Up After Strong Mobile Showing” – eMarketer.com 

Premise: eMarketer adjusts their estimates on the amount of ad revenue Twitter will generate in 2013 and 2014.  They now believe Twitter will raise almost $600 million in 2013 and just short of $1 billion in 2014.  They suggest that more than half of their ad revenue will come from mobile advertising, which is incredible given that amount was $0 in 2011.  The vast majority of Twitter’s ad revenue comes from the US.  However, this percentage is decreasing over time; 90% in 2012, ~83% in 2013 and projects lower in the future.

Thoughts: If you haven’t noticed by now, I believe Twitter is the most powerful mechanism on the web.  Micro-blogging is incredibly powerful.  While Facebook seems to be struggling to get their mobile strategy deployed, you consistently see stories like this from eMarketer on Twitter and its projected growth areas in the future.

#2 – “Brand Positioning: The Art & Science” – Brad VanAuken via BrandingStrategyInsider.com 

Premise: What is the importance of brand positioning and how do you do it?  This write-up is a great starting point for you if you are looking to (re-)position your brand or company.  The author takes you through a number of steps/recommendations on how to appropriately position your brand, starting with conducting research, delivering and defining several key components, and finally, explaining what a good brand position would be / stand for.

Thoughts: After reading this article, I started to click around on the site and found a lot of great, branding-related material.  In fact, I’ve already gone ahead and added the site to the Recommended Reading column on the home page.  This is a great summary on/for brand positioning.  If you can’t answer these questions or aren’t sure how you would respond to defining the key components they have laid out here, take a timeout and make sure you do that first before taking any more steps forward with your brand or company.  

#3 – “Klout Users Can Now Add Bing To Their Account And Include Instagram In Their Score” – TechCrunch.com

Premise: Earlier this week, Klout announced that it will further integrate users’ Instagram and Bing accounts in their influence scoring.  This is the first time that Klout is being integrated with a search engine.  While Instagram users were able to add their account to their Klout score already, their activities and usage will now be part of the equation.

Thoughts: If you aren’t aware of what Klout is or does, it is simply a web site that measures one’s overall influence via the reaction, feedback, and/or interaction one has across a number of social media platforms.  Users can sync their accounts through Klout and they will calculate their influence score on a scale of 0-100, with the higher the score being stronger/better.

It is a little surprising to see Instagram just now taking this step with Klout, as I would have assumed that process would have been transitioned quickly after Facebook purchased the photo sharing site.

#4 – “Twitter’s Vine Bears Fruitful Branding Opportunities” – BrandingMagazine.com 

Premise: As Vine continues its growth, it is providing marketers with new options in how to better brand themselves or their companies, build stronger engagement with consumers, and drive loyalty.  There is also a link here for the site “Brands on Vine” which is capturing some of the best work being done by companies right now through Vine.

Thoughts: I continue to be fascinated by the way companies and everyday people are leveraging Vine, while continuing to implore Twitter to release a version in Google Play!  The article takes a branding angle on how companies are beginning to leverage the site.  Definitely take a look at BrandsOnVine.com when you get a chance – a lot of good video on there from a wide array of companies.

#5 – “LinkedIn Is Getting Smarter With Enhanced Search Features & Improved Query Results” – SearchEngineLand.com

Premise: LinkedIn started off the week with an announcement that it was making a number of enhancements to its site, including their search features.  The “unified search” will list out people, companies, etc. all in one page after a user’s search.  The algorithm has been upgraded, but so has the look and feel of the page.

Thoughts: It is pretty safe to say that LinkedIn is the gold star in tech IPO’s since going public in May of 2011.  They continue to rollout improvements for users, but they are also improving their own positioning for building future revenue through the data and information they are collecting.

What caught your eye in branding and digital marketing news this week?

For those celebrating today, Happy Easter!

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 3/24/13

March 24, 2013 By 2 Comments

Sunday Musings 2

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing from the past seven days.  For those interested, you can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Google Keep Launches … For Real This Time” – Mashable.com 

Premise: Google launched its own version of Evernote this week – Google Keep.  The service allows you to take notes, create checklists, save pictures, and record voice reminders while you are on the go.  Google Keep is available for desktops and across Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher.  The article also includes the official release video from Google.

Thoughts: I am not an avid user of a digital/mobile note keeper, but I downloaded Google Keep to see what it looked like.  I have to say that I’m a little disappointed with the service.  I don’t understand why it isn’t or wasn’t launched as a part of Google Drive / Docs.  It sounds like it will eventually be a part of Drive, but this really should have been an extension or added feature of that service vs. standing on its own in my opinion.

#2 – “Facebook launches hashtag feud with Twitter” – tednguyenusa.com

Premise: Earlier this week, Twitter celebrated its seventh birthday.  It is being reported that Facebook will begin using hashtags in order to boost their own search rankings and appeal to advertisers.  The use of hashtags will also help categorize conversations.  The author also presents a number of facts on the strengths of and rationale for using hashtags.  There are also a few paragraphs that critique Facebook and its branding efforts.

Thoughts: They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery and this is another perfect example, as Facebook recognizes the power of the hashtag.  The use of hashtags will help Facebook build advertising revenue but will also help marketers better understand and/or target users.  It is interesting to see Facebook essentially copy Twitter here.

Finally, happy 7th birthday to the greatest web site out there right now!  Twitter has changed the world and continues to be my preferred source for real-time news and information.  

#3 – “6 Ways to Build Customer Loyalty” – Entrepreneur.com

Premise: While it is important to look for new business, the author stresses the need to pay attention to your existing customers.  Any business needs to ensure that they are satisfying their current customers and the article provides six key steps in order to help drive stronger loyalty.

Thoughts: It is hard to argue with any of the six recommendations the author makes here.  While this feels second nature, it is amazing how many companies and businesses don’t follow these steps.

A perfect example of how not to do this happened recently.  We set up a large dinner party at a local restaurant.  Despite mediocre service (at best), I sent a follow-up “thank you” email to the restaurant.  Their response: (Silence).  Absolutely nothing.  It is safe to say that we will never frequent that establishment again.  All it would have taken is approximately three minutes of their time to reply to my email and say “thank you” or similar.

#4 – “Kit Kat Challenges Oreo to Tic-Tac-Toe for Twitter Fan’s Affection” – Mashable.com 

Premise: A fan of both Kit Kat and Oreo took to Twitter to profess her affection for chocolate and the two brands.  Kit Kat responded with a playful response, challenging Oreo to a game of tic-tac-toe for her loyalty.  However, Oreo’s Twitter team came back with a great response (see embedded images in the article).

Thoughts: Whoever is running Oreo’s Twitter feed deserves a raise.  They have been producing some witty responses and posts, but also using Twitter as a great source of engagement with fans.  I thought Kit Kat’s initial response was also well thought out.  My first thought was to check to make sure they weren’t owned by the same parent company (which would have made this more brilliant).  Kudos to both teams for well thought out responses.

#5 – “Grassroots Marketing And Community Outreach: 5 Questions With Bob Hilton Of The Jersey Shore Convention And Visitors Bureau” – websearchsocial.com

Premise: Since Superstorm Sandy, the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau has been hard at work to promote businesses in and around the Jersey Shore.  This is a brief interview with Bob Hilton who has helped spearhead the group/initiative.  Hilton provides the hard truths on the impact of the storm and looks to provide more of the facts, versus what has been reported by the media.

Thoughts: There may be a little bit of bias in this choice, but we’re going to have to live with this from time to time.  Fair?  Good.  The Q&A here provides much of the detail in how this area has been rebuilding since the storm, some of the hardships that local companies have faced, and some of the propaganda the media has used.  After taking a look at Hilton’s answers, don’t forget to take a look at the Jersey Shore page itself.  On the site you’ll find a PayPal link to donate to a number of different initiatives to help rebuild the Jersey Shore.  (Please consider this a subtle hint.)

Did anything in particular catch your interest here?  What other news did you find particularly appealing from the past week?

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 3/17/13

March 17, 2013 By 1 Comment

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Shore Branding!  Don’t forget to take a look at our first “Pin of the Month” after reading through our Sunday Musings – the Pin is very fitting for this weekend.

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing from the past seven days.  You can find past entries under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Google Reader Is Shutting Down; Here Are the Best Alternatives” – Lifehacker.com 

Premise: Earlier this week, Google announced that its Reader tool would be shut down on July 1st of this year.  Fortunately, there are a number of alternatives out there and you have a good amount of time to work with a few different options in order to become comfortable with a replacement.  Lifehacker provides several options in this story for both web and desktop-based readers.

Thoughts: Google continues to cut bait with a number of its products and offerings.  However, I’m surprised to see Google Reader as one of them.  As a user of Google Reader, I wanted to quickly make a selection for an alternative to adapt to whatever style said RSS feed has.  I’ve gone with Feedly, as I read my RSS feed on multiple devices over the course of the day.  It does look very different from Google Reader, but it didn’t take long to adjust.

Note that there are over 100,000 signatures on a “complaint” to Google regarding their decision to shut down Google Reader.  We’ll see if this holds any clout over the coming days and weeks ahead.

#2 – “Pinterest Launches Web Analytics For Brands” – Likeable.com

Premise: Pinterest has released its own web analytics platform for users of the site to better understand how others are using their site.  The analytics provided will be free for users.  Likeable’s write-up also provides you with the necessary steps that need to be taken in order to take advantages of the new analytics feature on Pinterest.

Thoughts: If you haven’t already, please go verify your web site on Pinterest.  It should only take you about five minutes.  Having just started leveraging Pinterest for Shore Branding, I’m intrigued to see how the page analytics will look and I’m glad that I will be able to track this from the very beginning to see how (or if) Pinterest is helping Shore Branding grow its audience.     

#3 – “Vine’s Biggest Obstacle in Becoming a Great App” – Mashable.com

Premise: This Mashable op-ed starts with the early success of Twitter’s Vine app and how it has become the leader in video sharing apps on the market.  However, there is a major obstacle for Vine according to the writer, and that is its “stickiness” – the frequency in which users upload content and/or check their feeds to see others work.  There are two improvements offered up – improving the Editor’s Picks promotions (ensuring they are updated more regularly, with more recent clips being used) and allowing users to tag others in their videos to build engagement.

Thoughts: As you may have seen me write about in past weeks, Vine is only available through Apple’s App Store right now and is not on Android.  I have briefly played around with the app on other people’s iPhones and iPods and like what I see, but haven’t had the ability to dig into the app.  Even with those limitations, it is hard to argue with the writer’s recommendations for improvement.  I see a lot of potential with Vine in the sporting world, music industry, and for brands that want to build engagement through a ‘new’ medium.

#4 – “Don’t Overlook Foursquare: Your Secret Marketing Weapon” – SteamFeed.com

Premise: The writer puts together a robust checklist of recommendations on how to better/best use Foursquare and build engagement with others on the site; from setting up your profile, to checking in, leaving tips, leveraging pictures, etc.  Whether you use Foursquare for your business or as your own brand, there are a number of tips to adhere to from the author.

Thoughts: Foursquare has had its ups and downs since launching but remains the only location-based app I use.  There are a number of good tips here from the writer to acknowledge and consider when using Foursquare for yourself or your business.  Many of these are built around a single word that shows up a lot here on Shore Branding: engagement!

#5 – “Google Analytics Tips: 10 Data Analysis Strategies That Pay Off Big” – Kaushik.net

Premise: Avinash Kaushik, the author of the article, provides insight and perspective on ten of the most commonly used reports available in Google Analytics.  He then takes you through how to think of each piece of the analytics from his point of view and leaves a bonus tip at the end of each for additional reading material, other clicks within Analytics to make, etc.

Thoughts: Similar to just about everything else you can find and read on Google Analytics, the depth and breadth of information available to sort through can be intense, but also incredibly helpful.  This article is a very nice starting point for new users of web analytics.  After reading through this and beginning to understand the wealth of information that is at your fingertips, you may consider looking into one of the detailed books written about best practices for using Google Analytics – like this one by Brian Clifton.

A good amount of news in web analytics this week.  What caught your eye in these stories or in other news over the past seven days?

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 3/10/13

March 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Here is the first ‘Sunday Musings’ since going live with the blog this past week.  You can find past entries under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.  The top five stories to catch my attention in branding and digital marketing this week are as follows:

#1 – “McDonald’s takes No. 1 spot in 4Q Restaurant Social Media Index” – NRN.com

Premise: McDonald’s overtakes Starbucks as the number one brand in the ‘Restaurant Social Media Index’ (RSMI) in Q4’12.  McDonald’s has seen tremendous growth on Twitter and Facebook in recent months according to the index, particularly in building consumer engagement and sentiment – as tracked by Digital Coco.

Thoughts: McDonald’s surpassed the titan that is Starbucks on social media, building its presence on the most prominent SM sites.  See, you can still win there if you are doing it correctly!  At the time of writing, McDonald’s falls short of the overall number of Followers and Likes on Twitter and Facebook, respectively, but has made the conscious effort to engage its customer base.

While short vs. Starbucks, McDonald’s 27.5 million Likes on Facebook dwarf its direct competitors in fast food; Burger King has 6 million, Taco Bell almost 10 million, and Wendy’s is under 3 million.  While there is certainly a stronger global presence for McDonald’s vs. these competitors, those gaps are outstanding advantages for the golden arches.

It is also important to note that this isn’t a “sound the alarms” for Starbucks and their SM efforts, and the author of the article does a good job of making this point.  In the current world we live in of overreaction to any piece of news, it was nice to see them not take that tone “against” Starbucks and say that they were a diminishing brand on SM.

#2 – “How Starbucks Uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+” – Econsultancy.com

Premise: Econsultancy.com has been reviewing various company’s social media efforts and strategy across platforms and took a look at Starbucks this past week.  The author provides a quick overview of Starbucks’ efforts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram and highlights how well received the company is by its “followers” on each.

Thoughts: Reading through the article/review, I started to wonder how or why Starbucks has such a loyal following on SM platforms given the uninspiring review.  However, it clearly works with its fans and has come to be known as a golden star in social media – as mentioned above in the first article as well.

One note: I’ll be covering this in the near future specifically, but I have to mention it here given the content Starbucks puts out across platforms; I cannot stand posts/updates that are pushed out at the same time across SM sites.  Facebook posts that show up in Twitter feeds and vice versa make me cringe.  Take the ten minutes to write a unique message for your followers on each.  

#3 – “SXSWi Day 1: Grumpy Cat, 3D Printing and Other Highlights” – Mashable.com

Premise: The South by Southwest festival kicked off earlier this week and Mashable provides an overview on the highlights from day one.  Successes from SXSW include hubs from Las Vegas, American Airlines’ tent to help promote its merger, and 3D printing.  Cats also stole the show…

Thoughts: Even if Grumpy Cat makes me laugh every time, can we skip any further thoughts on cats?  Good.  I really need to get back to Austin and visit SXSW sooner rather than later.  As SXSW continues to grow, more and more brands are dedicating more resources to sponsorship and events for the festival.

Have you been to SXSW?  If so, what did you think and what were your personal highlights?

#4 – “Pizza Hut To Hold 140-Second Interviews For Social Media Manager Position at SXSW” – Forbes.com 

Premise: Pizza Hut is looking to hire a new Social Media Manager and is going about it in quite the unique way at SXSW.  You can take a look at the job description here as well: BecauseImGreat.com.  The pizza maker is interviewing candidates in record time and will continue to do so via Google+ Hangouts in a few days.  For those interested and on location at SXSW, interviewing is actually happening today at the Austin Hilton between 1pm – 5pm.

Thoughts: In one word: Phenomenal!  Yes, this is another article that points us to SXSW, but this is quite the unique means of trying to find the right person for such an important position in the company.  I have seen several articles and news stories where companies are leveraging G+ Hangouts and Skype to conduct interviews, but have never seen the coordination with Twitter’s mantra (140 characters / seconds).

Good luck to anyone that is reading this and heading over to the Hilton on Sunday.

#5 – “16 Ways Businesses Are Using Twitter Vine” – SocialMediaExaminer.com

Premise: Vine continues to pick up traction with brands and companies finding new ways to leverage the medium.  SME has a few tips and recommendations on what to do, based on what has been seen and shown from both large and small companies over the first few months of Vine’s existence.  Here’s the #1 rule: “Engage your followers in conversation”.

Thoughts: While Vine continues to be an Apple only app (?!?!) it continues to grow.  The power of Twitter speaks volumes here, as competitors to Vine such as Tout do not seem to be growing at the same rate.  SME provides a nice array of tips and recommendations here, as well as examples of what others have been doing with Vine thus far.  It should not be any surprise that the number one rule is “Engage”.  If it is a surprise, we need to talk.

As you can see, a lot of branding news caught my eye this week, particularly at SXSW.  What do you think of Vine and the future of online videos?  As mentioned earlier, I would love to hear more from those that have attended (or are attending) SXSW.

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 3/3/13

March 3, 2013 By 1 Comment

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Here are this week’s links and stories that caught my attention in branding and digital marketing this week.

#1 – “Why Some Brand Extensions Are Brilliant and Others Are Just Awkward” – Time.com

Premise: Brand extensions are happening all of the time – some of them work tremendously, while others are tremendous flops.  This article provides a few, recent examples of both.  The good: Chipotle and NyQuil; the bad: Zippo and Virgin.

Thoughts: Failed brand extensions and product launches that go too far beyond a brand’s core principles drive me a little batty.  If a brand feels the need to reinvent their wheel and go in a completely different direction, just start a new brand and give it a unique name.  Know your strengths and your limitations of where you can go, and “Focus” on what you are doing right to ensure you have a sustainable business.

(The “ “ around focus is intentional, as we’ll be starting a book review this coming week on some of my favorites around the world of branding and digital marketing.  Cliffhanger alert.)

#2 – “Groupon’s Andrew Mason: ‘I was fired’” – AdAge.com

Premise: After Groupon’s latest quarterly report, the board finally pulled the plug on its founder and CEO, Andrew Mason.  The article pastes in Mason’s full email to his employees.

Thoughts: I have sparingly used Groupon over the past few years but never truly understood how this could be a sustainable business model, particularly with the likes of Google and Amazon continuously looking to get into this space.  Groupon has proven to be one big mess of a company since going public, burning through cash at an alarming rate.  (Mason once turned down a $6 billion offer from Google several years ago.  Ouch.)

With all of that said, I thought Mason’s email to employees, as well as his general humor on social media about being let go, were done in good fashion.

#3 – “Zynga Joins Gamble on Online Gambling” – MobileMarketingWatch.com

Premise: It isn’t a matter of “if” but “when” online gambling comes in full force to the United States.  Nevada and (my very own) New Jersey are pushing down on the accelerator here and others are sure to follow.  Zynga and its CEO Mark Pincus are looking to join the fray, taking online gambling and making it “social”.

Thoughts: Zynga’s move towards “real” online gambling is a no brainer for the company.  The potential revenue from this is tremendous.  The company already enjoys millions of players for its Zynga Poker game and has recently launched ‘Go Slots’ and ‘Lucky Play’ (a sportsbook) on its own web site.  Similar to Groupon, Zynga has had a tough time convincing investors the company has a sustainable business.  However, the quicker online gambling is adopted in the US, the quicker Zynga can turn around its business.

(Disclosure: I bought Zynga stock when it first went public and have since bought on the huge drop-off.  Still holding now and waiting for … well, the above to come to fruition.)

#4 – “Making LinkedIn Work For Your Business” – manireblog.net.  

Premise: LinkedIn continues to mold itself into a preeminent spot on the web for businesses.  The author takes us through a few of the more powerful steps in which LinkedIn can be leveraged, most specifically on lead generation.  With the redesign of the site’s ‘company pages’ feature, businesses have the opportunity to customize their design and message on their page.

Thoughts: As we have mentioned here a number of times over the first month of the Sunday Musings, LinkedIn has continued to shape the functionality of its site for both businesses and individuals.  While a few of the thoughts and recommendations may seem a little basic to some, this article does a nice job of explaining what you should be covering off on if you are creating or updating your businesses LinkedIn page.

#5 – “Google Glass Changes Everything Including Inbound Marketing” – Square2Marketing.com

Premise: Google Glass has been launched and rather than just “Ooh” and “Aah” over its design and capabilities, this article takes a unique perspective on how Google Glass can have a significant impact on inbound marketing.

Thoughts: This is an interesting spin on what Google Glass can do for businesses and marketers.  The continuous search for more content, knowledge and power takes another step towards being at our fingertips 24/7 with Google Glass.  Connecting and sharing content through voice command is going to be taking a significant step forward in 2013 and into 2014 with Glass.

Take a look at the official video and feel free to “Ooh” and “Aah”:

There was a lot of news in technology this week, particularly in three companies (Groupon, Zynga, and LinkedIn) that went public more recently.  While LinkedIn has seen tremendous growth over that time, the others have struggled.  What do you think the future is for any of these three?                   

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