#BlackFriday (Promoted by Target)

It's the perfect marriage. Target + Twitter = the perfect holiday advertising campaign!

Back in June, Twitter launched "Promoted Trends" which is when you hash-tag anything on Facebook (#christmas, #college, #roadrage). Literally, you can hash-tag anything you want, but it's only popular when multiple people are tweeting the same hash-tag. For example during the VMA's, #VMA was the most popular trend, during the 2010 elections, #ivoted was the most popular and the list goes on and on. But now with "Promoted Trends" you can purchase a hash-tag so it is automatically the top trend of the day or week, however long you want to financially back this trend. They launched this advertising feature because of the high demand from advertisers to utilize Twitter like Facebook Ads. And Target has taken one of the biggest jumps in this direction.


Target purchased the promoted trend #BlackFriday about 2 weeks ago in order to promote their biggest sale of the year! So not only does #BlackFriday show up as the "Top Trend" of the day for everyone's Twitter homepage, but Target is also the first tweet you will see when you click on the hash-tag. Target's tweet is the same every time you click on #BlackFriday and links you to their Black Friday Weekly Ad Book. Then following Target's tweet are real-time tweets from anyone that hash-tags #BlackFriday. When you click on Target, it directs you to their Twitter page which has been tweeting Black Friday specials and replying to those tweeting questions at them about Black Friday. They are highly engaged on their site which reflects excellent customer service and is building that brand loyalty for the consumer.

I think this was an extremely smart move by Target and a perfectly timed Twitter advertising campaign. #BlackFriday is the hottest topic on Twitter anyways, so why not take that to your advantage, which Target did. They are engaged in the conversation and expanding their consumer's conversation! Great job Target, see you at 4 am!

Welcome to your Social Inbox! -Facebook.

Today, our world is so technology driven with email, social media, iPhone, iPads, and the list goes on and on; it's hard to keep up with everything. Now, imagine a world where your text messages, personal email and Facebook chat/messages are all combined into one. This was thought impossible just a year ago, but Facebook has done it. They have made your life more convenient by introducing: the Social Inbox.

Finally a place where all of your conversations are organized in one place! Now instead of deciding whether to email, text or Facebook chat your friend, you can let them decide how they want to receive your message. It's absolutely brilliant! How is this possible you may ask?

1. Seamless Messaging. 

Like I said, your social inbox is a combination of email, text and chat all in real time. All you do is simply type in their name, send them your message and they receive it in whatever way is convenient for them. If they are on their phone, they can receive it via SMS. If they are on their Facebook, they will receive it in Messages. Now, you are probably wondering how SMS can be sent to your social inbox, trust me, I was curious too! On Facebook, you simply turn on the "Text Messaging" feature and you will be able to send the messages to your phone and/or receive them on your phone. The social inbox will also keep track of your conversation even if its all through SMS.

Here is an example from Facebook: 

Sending messages from your phone 

To send a new message to a friend via a mobile text, just text the following to 32665 (FBOOK): 

msg john smith what’s up? 

This would send the message "what's up?" to your friend John Smith. 

Pretty cool huh!

2. @facebook.com

Facebook is creating free email accounts for all members, by using their username@facebook.com. This is an optional feature, but by optimizing it, you will be able to email anyone in facebook or in your Gmail address book. However, it will not look like a typical email. This new social inbox does not have subject lines, cc or bcc and you simply send the message by hitting enter. It also filters your messages by the main inbox and "Other" file placing your conversations with those on Facebook into the main inbox and your bills, bank statements and converstations with those not on Facebook into "Other" file. If you want to place someone from the "Other" folder into the main inbox, you simply drag the message over and from then on all conversations will show up in the main inbox.

This has just started rolling out to Facebook users and will do so over the next 4-6 months until everyon has these features. If you want to learn more, check out the Facebook New Messages- Help Center, an open forum that will answer any other questions you may have!

Google has done it again!

Just when you think they have it all, Google goes and makes their site even more convenient. Introducing, Google Instant Previews. They have reinvented how you view search results, now allowing you to preview the link before leaving the google screen. I believe it is an exact copy of how the New Twitter homepage is designed. I absolutely love my new Twitter homepage and find it extremely useful and easy to use.

It will create a better user experience and make your search process speedier. When you click on the link, the screen will split in two and show you a screenshot/magnified look at what the link holds. It also highlights your search terms in the screenshot. And if your search term is not on the first page of the link, this Instant Preview feature will take you directly to where what you searched is.

 

The critics are saying this is an evolution in search engines and others will follow suit. However I disagree with this statement because Twitter is using the exact same format, so it makes sense for Google to use it as well. Regardless, I can't wait to use it!

Social Media + Election Day = Success

Today's elections have made history in the social media world. The use of social media to see who was winning greatly surpassed the use during the 2008 elections. However, I am not surprised by this fact because all day I have received tweets from @foxnews to keep me updated on the elections! And now as I write this blog, I have the fox news "live elections results map" pulled up on my computer screen too.

Not only has Twitter been blown up by over 20,000 tweets, but the two most popular hashtags of the day have been: #Election, #ivoted. The #Election hashtag was promoted by the Washington Post, but in reality  #ivoted has received far more attention due to it's combination with Foursquare and Facebook. I believe the combination of these three social media giants is the number one reason why today's elections have received the highest social media attention in history.

Foursquare created a check-in specifically for this election. You could check-in throughout the day from wherever you voted. This screen shot was taken at 11:40am and as you can see 50,098 people had checked in from 23,503 locations. Wow! It also breaks down this statistic by gender and location.

The Foursquare check-in was linked through Twitter, where one could tweet their check-in and receive an #ivoted badge. Then, this badge was also linked through Facebook. Immediately when you logged on today, on top of your mini-feed, you were asked: "Did you vote today?' If you answered you received a Vote badge on your facebook profile. That is what I love most about social media, how they all intertwine to create such an in-depth user experience.

Lastly, I found the Foursquare check-in comparable to when Twitter created the VMA Tracker that displayed who was receiving the highest tweets throughout the night. Both were smart moves because it allows the audience to be even more involved with their hobbies.

Congratulations Social Media, you truly won the election!

Introducing... the Starbucks Digital Network!

Starbucks is one of my favorite places to grab a coffee, meet up with friends or study for my next big test. It is my go-to place for comfort, relaxation and stability because I can honestly say that I have never had a bad experience there. And now, that great experience has gotten even better thanks to the introduction of the Starbucks Digital Network.



As you saw in the video, Starbucks has partnered with Yahoo to bring you the newest digital revelation that truly involves you in the Starbucks environment and experience. SDN is simply a personalized Starbucks home screen that not only provides news and updates around the world, but also in your neighborhood. The SDN essentially replaces your community bulletin board or newsletter by providing you all of the information in a faster and more convenient way. The SDN offers a variety of information from the following six categories: News, Entertainment, Welness, Business and Careers, My Neighborhood and the customer-personalized Starbucks channel. Starbucks has partnered with big businesses in each category ranging from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to music and apps from Apple iTunes, exclusive 30-day free trial of the LinkedIn premium account and local reviews from Zagat.


According to Starbucks Vice President of Digital Venue's, “Tens of millions of customers are coming in to our stores and logging in to our Wi-Fi on a monthly basis anyways. They’re coming in because we provide this great experience — good music overhead, quality food and coffee and the opportunity to connect with your friends or the baristas … What we hope is that this is a nice complement to that experience.”


Below is an example of what the home screen would look like:

Also, Starbucks recognizes the high use of internet on mobile phones and has made the SDN capable for phone users. And the best part is the SDN is absolutely 100% free. The only catch is you have to be at a Starbucks location to access the SDN. Yes there are 30-day trials for some of the businesses, but this is a very smart marketing tool on their end. I believe companies like LinkedIn will see an increase in their "premium account" users due to the free trial on the SDN. Plus, since Starbucks is putting their first priority on the localization of everyone's SDN, this will increase the users of Foursquare and other check-in applications. 


Personally, I am very excited for my next study session at Starbucks because of this new application. Not only is Starbucks on the cutting edge of the digital world, but they are greatly enhancing their customers relationship with their brand. Introducing the SDN at this time and being the first company to create a new level of personal connection to the brand, is definitely in the right direction for what the future of our digital world holds.

It's time to put on that cap & gown...

Last week, I was logging onto my Facebook for probably the 8th time of the day, when this advertisement popped up on the right-hand side of my profile. I recognized the artwork from posters all over Mass Media advertising photo week for the Talisman. Realizing that it was my senior year and last yearbook photo to ever be taken, I clicked on the advertisement to sign up for my picture. The ad took me directly to ouryear.com where I followed 3 quick and easy steps to sign up for my senior photo. 


I find it fascinating how geo-targeted this Facebook ad is and that it popped up nearly every time I clicked onto a different page. Not only was this advertising scheme extremely user friendly, but very smart for the Talisman staff. It is an issue every year to get students to take their yearbook photo, but making it as easy to sign up as logging into your Facebook, should definitely boost the amount of students who will be photographed this year. I honestly would never have signed up for at time or even gotten my photo taken if this ad wouldn't have been on Facebook. I told all of my roommates about it and helped them sign up via Facebook as well. One of my roommates said she never would have paid attention to the ad because she hadn't seen the poster around campus. Of course they all signed up and were impressed with how simple it was!


That being said, if you haven't taken your photo yet, log onto Facebook quick, Friday is the last day!

Everyone needs an iPhone. Seriously.

I have always been an Apple lover. iPods and MacBooks have been apart of my life since middle school. However, I have not yet jumped on the iPhone bandwagon. Yes, I know they have been out for 4 years now, but when it comes to cell phones I am always hesitant about the "hit new phone." But until this Fall I haven't had a burning desire to have one... and hopefully Christmas will bring me my very own iPhone.

While on fall break, I took a two-day roadtrip up to Chicago with a friend of mine to visit family and enjoy the city. Without her iPhone, we would have been lost on the drive up, in the city, and making our way back home. Not only that, but we wouldn't have been able to find the closest Walgreens, cheapest parking structure and Portillo's Hot Dogs. 

Maps was our best friend, leading us everywhere we needed to go. We walked all over the city thanks to our handy map. Before I would have taken the subway or hailed a cab, but this trip, being able to see how far our destination was, we decided to walk it out. Not only did Maps help us walk throughout the city, but it was also our GPS system in and out of Chicago. Not only was this tool extremely useful, but any question we had was immediately answered by Google. We were meeting my cousins for dinner one night and were able to look up the menu, location and reviews before even arriving. Another application "Around Me" showed you by category the closest restaurants, bars, shopping, restrooms, etc.

Basically, this trip absolutely sold me that I need an iPhone. It's everything and anything you can think of in the palm of your hand. Every piece of social media is available to you at the touch the screen. It amazes me that technology has advanced this far and we are able to literally have the world at our fingertips. Congratulations Apple for having the upper hand, I can't wait to see what they create next!