With so many ads bombarding us online, it is refreshing to see an ad that makes us smile and resonates with us personally. Today, brands are challenged with figuring out how to make money from their online community. Most of the time we don’t want to be interrupted while we are trying to get our social groove on, so how do you wiggle your way into  your customers’ browsing experience in a way that doesn’t make them annoyed? You can start by creating tailor made content that your fans will naturally like. Just ask the online strategists from some social savvy brands that figured out how to do this – Gatorade, Whole Foods, Samsung, Oreo, and Coke.

1. Gatorade – Gatorade is a brand that has a lot of sport and celebrity relationships and lots of opportunity in the social space. So how did they take advantage of this to create content that their users will like and share?  They had PR, media, and brand managers listening and learning from their followers online. They didn’t just look at the number of fan increases every month, but instead really listened to what their fans were saying. They also analyzed their web traffic to see how their consumers were finding the website.

One of the things they learned was that people were mentioning on Twitter that Gatorade was a hangover cure. They then created campaigns that identify with this and  engaged with their consumers. They also started a #winfromwithin campaign that encouraged followers to share how they emit strength using that hashtag. They created images that inspire that included their logo.  Their fans associate Gatorade as a drink for the workout warriors and a brand that implies through imagery – Drink Gatorade and you can be like Dwyane Wade!  In this case, they didn’t ask fans to sign up for something for “a chance” to win free product. They created content that people wanted to share – without being asked to.

2.    Whole Foods 

At this year’s Online Marketing Summit, I heard an innovative case study from Michael Aaron Bepko, the community manager for Whole Foods. He explained how important it is to really listen to your fans and give them what they want. By doing this, they decided instead of just having 1 Facebook and 1 Twitter account that they needed to segment out different topics and create more brand accounts by topic.

For example, they noticed a lot of site traffic came from Pinterest based on people searching for recipes. So not only did that encourage more pins, but also a Whole Foods Twitter account just for recipes. They also segmented out their meat posts into a whole new Whole Foods meat account – to please their vegetarian fans who were complaining on the main brand’s feed. They also started a Twitter account just about cheese. I would even suggest doing a Google Plus hangout with their cheese enthusiasts and talk about their cheese selection and how to cook with them.

They also noticed that users in different parts of the country have different needs and topics that concern them. So, different Whole Foods stores’ around the country made their own Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter accounts. This created a sense of community for the followers and also sparked competition between the different stores to get the most amount of likes and engagement. For this strategy to work well, they closely monitor and regulate who is posting on behalf of the brand and what is being posted.

By extracting data from the social space and segmenting out their user activity to figure out what people are actually saying, Whole Foods discovers what their followers are passionate about, and learns more about what is important to them.  They then create engaging content that their users enjoy. This creates an emotional bond and relationship with their customers, one that might make them loyal to Whole Foods instead of another grocery chain. Again, here they are not creating sweepstakes or giving away free products, but ultimately getting to know their fans.

3. Samsung – “The Next Big Thing is Already Here”

Samsung did something out of the box and it resulted in a huge profit and growth for the brand. Instead of wasting millions of dollars on a boring and flashy TV commercial, they paid attention to what consumers were saying online before even releasing their product.

They closely monitored what people were saying in real-time about their competitor’s product, the Apple iPhone5 on Twitter. Then, they shared that feedback with their product development team. The result was The Samsung Galaxy S III, a product that fixed some of the issues that people complained the iPhone 5 didn’t have. In this case – taking the time to listen to people online and give them what they wanted had a massive impact on their success. Samsung then translated this into a TV commercial that showcased what they learned from listening to people on Twitter and Facebook.  Below is a commercial that not only did great on TV, but also went viral on the web – with over 17 million YouTube views.

Notice the actors in this commercial are mimicking what people were saying online about the iPhone5. This contextual advertising is the direction more brands need to take to reach their customers.  If you are creative enough to come up with a great TV commercial, people will share it and talk about you online.

However, they won’t necessarily buy your product unless it is a great product that does what they need. For example – would you buy a Dodge Ram based off on an entertaining commercial they made about farmers? See the engaging Superbowl commercial – So God Made A Farmer. This commercial has over 14 million views on YouTube and many rip off videos – but not many that are associating the Dodge brand and truck with the content.

4. Oreo

Speaking of Superbowl advertising, a highly engaging and relevant ad was done in the spur of the moment that fans went wild for online.  Marketers were sitting in a room watching the Superbowl during the black out and came up with:  “You can still dunk in the dark”.

This was a simple yet effective way to engage with people as they waited around for the lights to come back on. They were able to do this because they got approvals quickly and thought on their feet. As the web changes, marketers need to change how they reach their audiences. In this case, Oreo seized the day and capitalized on an opportunity that their competitors did not, and got over 16,000 re-tweets from it.

5.     Coke

Coke has been around the block for awhile –so engaging with their audience is not their first rodeo. From creating the image of the modern day Santa, to dancing polar bears – they are masters of creating great content.  So what are they doing online? They have content that is created by full time employees, over 40 freelance writers and photographers, many people throughout the Coke system, marketing, and public relations teams coming up with engaging content.

This is a collaborative internet marketing strategy that all brands can learn from. Don’t just have one stressed out person come up with all your advertising collateral.  Instead, utilize the minds of different people to get ideas of what will work. As one of the fastest growing agencies in the country, we have access to diverse teams and the best tools that strategize  for you.  We also work with you to create engaging content.

An example of a great Tweet by Coke was done by a creative writer: “When you open a Coke, 12,352 bubbles are born. Happy Birthday bubbles.” Another great piece of content I found was a video they made for Valentine’s Day and posted on Twitter saying, “Our #Valentine to you. Love, @CocaCola”.  The video below called, “Love is in the Air – a Coca-Cola Valentine” creates an emotional bond with viewers. It shows happy couples getting a balloon magically at their feet arriving with a fresh can of Coke.

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So how should you spend your marketing dollars online? Start by really getting to know your audience and building relationships with them. Figure out your organic brand advocates and utilize them for ideas, product development, and content. Reward your online customers for their loyalty by letting them be the first to know about new products. Whether you are promoting your Instagram pictures on Twitter or sharing your TV commercials on YouTube, being contextual, collaborative,  and creative is the path to success. We know you might not have the mega marketing budgets that these 5 brands do, but we can help you grow with our integrated SEO and social media marketing campaigns.

As social media continues to be a big influence on consumers as to whether they decide to purchase with your brand versus a brand not on social media, some of us may be asking, what happened to SEO? Although I’m still a firm believer in professional search engine optimization services, we internet marketers need to be cognoscente on where an audience is searching for information about your brand. According to a study by HubSpot, if 85% of Internet users have a Facebook account and 80% of social media users prefer to connect with brands via Facebook , then your brand should definitely not only have a brand page on Facebook, but one that is fully optimized and engaging. When creating social pages for a product or service, be sure to follow these steps to create a fully optimized social network.

Before I begin breaking down each channel you’ll want to gather a keyword list from your online marketing company’s SEO department. Narrow down the list to your top 3-5 keyword phrases which will be included in all descriptions across your social networks.  Now let’s begin:

FACEBOOK

With the ever-changing world of Facebook, it’s important to stay up to date with all of the new updates within the platform (i.e. editing your brand page to Timeline view). The about section is your chance to give a short description of what your brand does, while also including a keyword and link back to your site for Google to index. It is also a best practice to include links in the description section to all other social networks that your brand is active on.

For even more SEO value within Facebook, consider placing a keyword at the beginning of your status update; especially updates that include a link back to your site. Click on the timestamp of each update and you will be brought to a separate page specific for that update.  The first 18 characters, sometimes a bit less, of your update will be the SEO Title for that post.

TWITTER

With only 140 characters or less, there’s not much SEO opportunity on this platform, but still some SEO benefit.

What you write in your bio information is very important not only just for SEO, but also for other tools that gather Twitter users based on a search query (like FollowerWonk). Don’t forget to insert a keyword in your bio and also include a link to your site. Design a custom skin for your Twitter page that includes more information about your company and calls to action.

GOOGLE+

A social network result from the search engine giant itself, we have Google+ and its land of opportunity for SEO.

Before creating a profile for your brand on Google+, decide whether you want to create a local page (for a specific address like a hotel or restaurant) or a brand page (for products/services). A Google+ local page now integrates with Zagat reviews. Once your page is created, edit your descriptions to be keyword-rich. Google+ allows you to link those keywords within your introduction, creating the dofollow links that Google loves. Having a profile that is linked to a website will also help your credibility; it’s a simple snippet of code provided by Google that is to be inserted on your sites homepage. Learn more about profile and page verification badges on Google+ here. Once this is done, your Google+ page will show up on the right hand side of the Google search page for relevant queries, thus making your Google+ page more discoverable.  Lastly, don’t forget to include links to all of your company’s other social networks in the links section.

YOUTUBE

Another social network result of Google is the video sharing platform YouTube.

Although there is no option for anchor text links in the about section of your channel, be sure to include your keywords as “tags” in the channel settings. Link to all other social networks and also take advantage of designing a customizable YouTube skin for more information about your product or service and calls to action. As you begin to make a presence on this platform, keep in mind that your video title doubles as a SEO title and the video description doubles as your Meta description. This is a great place to add keywords as your “tags” for each video uploaded if it doesn’t sound right in the description.

LINKEDIN

According to my research, there isn’t much SEO value so far from LinkedIn brand pages. Therefore my recommendation would be to include keywords in the about section, specifically in the specialties box which will help your company appear in search within LinkedIn. A link to your website is also not to be forgotten.

PINTEREST

Who would’ve guessed that a virtual pin-board would create so much buzz so quickly? Getting verified on Pinterest is much like getting verified on Google+. All you need to do is download the verification file from your settings and host it on your sites homepage. Don’t forget to include keywords in the description of your Pinterest page, and if possible, title your boards with a keyword. Boards also have SEO opportunity within their descriptions, so be sure to have a keyword there as well.

Now that you have properly optimized six social media channels for SEO value, watch as the referral traffic from social increases over time. With the ability to reach over 50% of Americans, according to We Are Social, social media networks should not only be created, but optimized to ensure you are building relationships while also ranking in the search engines. Have other social SEO service recommendations? I’d love to hear in the comment section below!

This blog post is a compilation of two separate articles I wrote for Ragan.com.  You can view the original articles here and here, with the original also re-syndicated on PRDaily.com.

Social media is the new public relations of the marketing industry. Enthusiastic newcomers think it’s the “exciting” marketing discipline. It is a great field, but it’s more than tweeting and Instagraming around the clock.

Saying that you want to work in social media so you can play on Facebook all day is like saying you want to work in PR because you like people. Good for you, but that’s just not what we do.

These are the necessary traits for success in social media. It’s not as easy as it looks. You must be:

1. Nimble

Social media is the fastest-changing and continuously evolving industry ever. You have to religiously monitor the environment and adapt quickly to change.

2. Educated

You have to be committed to reading constantly about social media and measurement, and searching aggressively for the latest trends and best practices.

3. Dedicated

There is little to no off time in social media. It happens 24×7, so you have to be ready to respond at any time. If someone posts something negative on your Twitter stream and you don’t respond for 24 hours, good luck finding another job in social media.

4. Clever

Social media enthusiasts are quick and clever. You need to be, too, or you will come off looking like your grandma or, worse, like a corporate mouthpiece.

5. Strategic

Social media doesn’t exist in a universe by itself. It’s part of a larger, strategic marketing mix. You must see and understand the overall goals, strategies, and objectives before you can implement social media tactics.

6. Meticulously Organized

You have to write, post, monitor, respond and measure for countless social media channels. You have to be organized, but not such a perfectionist that you can’t move quickly, and it’s so important to have great monitoring systems in place.

7. Playful

Some of the most successful social media folks are funny, lighthearted and don’t takes themselves too seriously. Hello, “NOT COOL, COOKIE!”

8. Analytical

Yep, that’s right. We don’t just sit around and tweet all day. We have to measure our results just like anyone else. Having science and math skills is a big plus.

9. Well-rounded

Though it’s important to be an expert in this category, it’s not good to be too focused on one skill. To truly be a valuable contributor, you need to understand the big picture of marketing.

10. Social

Yeah, that’s right, I said it. You need to be social to work in social media. Get out from behind the computer and have a few face-to-face conversations. Enjoy the life that you’re posting about.

11. Balanced

Yes, social media is a 24×7 job. However, to keep fresh (and sane), you need to set a clear work/life balance and remember to unplug regularly to recharge your own batteries.

12. Cautious

If you’re handling many social media accounts at once, including your personal accounts, don’t get them mixed up or you could be tweeting about unemployment.

13. Measured

Social conversations evolve quickly. Take an extra minute to think about your response. Say it out loud first; that helps make it real.

14. Humble

No one is the “end all, be all” social media expert. We can learn from each other and collectively take social media to the next level. Just look at this post. It’s a collection of your thoughts. We make each other better.

15. Progressive

Instead of always catching up to your competitors, be a trendsetter.

16. Patient

We all want to see our social media posts explode, but it doesn’t always happen. Take the time to listen to your audience, learn from them, and engage in ways that provide value to your followers.

17. Well informed

Know more about your industry than your followers. You don’t want to be a social media manager who can’t talk the talk.

18. Witty

Know your audience and what hits their funny bones. Let your guard down (appropriately), and show that you are a living, breathing person behind the brand.

19. Prepared

Be ready to combat negative press or circumstances at all times. Have a crisis plan in place on how to respond on social media if things go south.

20. Intelligent

Use social channels to educate your fans and customers on the basic principles and capabilities of social media. As the channels evolve and push out new updates, be the authority they turn to when learning how to navigate the latest social platform.

Carrie Peterson is our social media director here at IMI.  Follow her on Twitter @CarrieSavvy to let her know which traits you feel are most important to work in social media.

Batter up! It’s the bottom of the ninth and the San Francisco Giants are about to win the World Series. Game over! Black and orange floods the field as the game draws to a close, Tigers fans paralyzed by the epic sweep and the loss on their home turf.

Photo courtesy of Hollywoodreporter.com

As the World Series caps are distributed amongst Giants players, sports networks capture the moment, and Twitter and Facebook explode in celebration.  During the course of the World Series #SFGiants #Tigers and #WorldSeries hashtags flooded Twitter, with over 701,289 total Tweets.  Orange October took over the Twitter landscape, as fans engaged in the online social media marketing world to showcase their Giants pride.  The World Series has officially won on Twitter.
 

Elsewhere in San Francisco: Athletes take to the Online World

Forty years ago before Twitter took the center stage in Major League Baseball marketing,  players interacted with fans in a far different fashion.  The trading card industry flourished, with young boys hammering at their chance at cards of the Big Red Machine players of Cincinnati, home run hitting Hank Aaron, or Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson.   Elsewhere in San Francisco a new Virtual Fan Network has emerged, providing a new avenue for fans and athletes to connect in the online space, creating the first social media channel for athletes.

Fans now have the opportunity to get closer to their favorite athletes than ever before, with moments captured and made into downloadable virtual baseball cards. The digital sports platform connects fans, athletes, advertisers, and publishers, creating the first ever opportunity for players to control their own digital brand and engage with their fan following.

The Crowning Moment

A big strike out, a crucial touchdown pass, a blocked punt! These are moments in the ESPN highlight reel; moments fans embrace. Now the fan-to-athlete experience has just gotten that much better. Fans are granted exclusive access to professional athletes, getting real-time stats, players’ social feeds, videos, athlete online stores, and more.  Athletes themselves are granted an opportunity to connect directly with their fans.

Thus far, over 1,200 athletes have become involved with Virtual Fan Network, including Barry Zito, Hunter Pence, all members of the San Francisco Giants, and Virtual Fan Network’s NFL Ambassador, Brett Favre.  The business world is taking notice, with players capitalizing on the opportunity, fans reaching out to connect, advertisers flocking to the platform,  and the company itself embracing the opportunity to  “deliver a really engaging and cool experience that allows people to engage with a sports hero” (Forbes).

Forty years ago the crowning moments were photographed and epitomized in print, trading cards serving as a platform by which the young sports fan could collect and idolize their sports hero. With the evolution of social media and the introduction of the online world this past time has traversed to digital.  An athlete has the opportunity to connect, to capture that moment, and engage with the fan after they do so. Keep an eye on the prize, get that camera ready, and head over to Twitter and the Virtual Fan Network. Ready, set, go!

Imagine this scene: tick, tick, tick…and the clock strikes 12. The men at Sterling Cooper advertising in New York City huddle around a boardroom table; scotch in hand, cigarette smoke fresh in the air. Crafting the latest ad campaign, their matching black freshly ironed suits flood the room. But what appears to be a scene from the popular AMC show, Mad Men, is also the world of advertising on Madison Avenue, long before the online world, and long before Twitter released its first tweet.

Photo courtesy of Russellmoore.com

Twitter users have turned the tables on Madison Avenue. With user-generated content taking over the web, and social media particularly gaining more popularity every day, big brands are paying close attention to what their customers are saying online.

Overnight Ad Success-How Samsung Succeeded By Listening

For instance,  Samsung’s latest television ad, which mocks Apple Inc.’s new iPhone, got over 32 million views in just 2 weeks. Samsung credits the success of the ad to their team tuning in to comments made by consumers on Twitter. The lines from the script were pulled directly from “hundreds of thousands” of tweets making fun of features of the iPhone5. Samsung is “pulling conversations that are happening in [their] category and reflecting them in ads,” as noted by the company’s Vice President of strategic marketing, Brian Wallace. Social media has not only provided massive visibility to the 30 second ad, but created strategic direction for Samsung in the first place. They are not only tuning in to conversations on their own brand, but their competitors, and capitalizing on the opportunities leveraged from listening in.

Procter & Gamble – Ad Proves They Listen To Their Followers

Procter & Gamble has leveraged social conversation to devise new TV ads for its Duracell Powermat, a device that allows smartphone charging on the go. Duracell decided to use the little red and green battery signals in its ad after reviewing social media analytics. Data indicated that “70,000 people had commented that their battery was red while over 55,000 talked about their battery being green” (Networked Insights Inc.). Social analytics and tweets like “that moment when your phone battery is red and dying and you still use it like it’s on green” have helped the marketing giant integrate social data in to their ad creation process. Scenarios creating frustration for users create conversation on social networks, and brands and their advertising agencies are listening in. Ads that take into account what people are saying online showcases an ability to react positively to consumer requests and complaints. Companies like Procter & Gamble push user-generated content front and center, becoming more relevant, sharable, and socially savvy in the process.

Madison Avenue ad execs have long relied on gut instinct. With social media always changing, brands will have to learn to evolve with the trends, pay attention to conversations, and shift strategy to stay relevant. While filming the Samsung ad, dialogue was being changed on the spot! Stakeholders have found their footing on Twitter and although some Madison Avenue insiders are still skeptical of how influential Twitter comments truly are, more brands are using social media data in their ad planning. Another example is Revlon, who eliminated words like “hypoallergenic” from their ads, which has not been a major conversation online. The word will play a lesser role in 2013 (Wall Street Journal).

Advertising has long been built on the customer always being right, and in the age of digital these customers are turning to Twitter to voice their opinions and connect with brands. As the doors close to the board room, Madison Avenue will need to take a look at user-generated content online to stay ahead and stay in line with the long recognized slogan, the customer is always right. Let’s hope their gut instinct leads to Twitter.

Who knew sending tweets and status updates could cause tens of thousands of people to flee from their homes? Well, we all know cyber bullying is a major modern issue amongst American teenagers and has brought too many college students to points of suicide. Facebook, Twitter; they all have the power to drive someone to madness when all that is wanted is to simply partake in the craze of social media. An especially aggressive and threatening form of cyber bullying forced a mass of terrorized Indians out of their homes two weeks ago and it was definitely not due to an embarrassing Tumblr picture of someone at a high school party.

35,000 students and workers from remote northeast Indian regions like Bangalore, Pune and Chennai returned home this week after leaving their beloved cities because of aggressive threats from Muslim extremists. Civilians received offensive remarks over the Internet from supposed Pakistani Muslims, who threatened to wreak havoc and terror on the once quiet, Indian towns and its people.

The residents in the Assam region were terrorized in a variety of technological forms. From anonymous texts to spiteful Facebook messages, social media was not seen as a, hip, fast, efficient communicating tool, but rather seen as a plague on the Indian communities.

Usually, status updates and sending video clips to your friends is an innocent doing. We thank the Internet for allowing us to talk to our long lost friends or enabling us to scan webpages for those cute, kitten videos we love sharing.

But instances of aggressive cyber bullying have come to the surface too often in the past decade. Arab Spring started it all in 2010. When oppressed civilians living in the Arab World realized the true power of social media, they partook in the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests known as the Arab Spring.

Countries like Libya and Egypt have been crowding news feeds and representing the modern approach to rebellion. It all started with oppressed civilians craving for a revolution. Craving for change. Active blogs and Facebook statuses seemed to be the best thing for immediate communication and perfect place to channel frustrations.

The next thing the world knew, Egyptians were overthrowing governments, Libyans were Tweeting from infuriated, crowded streets and Indian civilians were fearfully fleeing their homes.

India is not dealing with a domestic uprising, but rather, the government is doing everything in its power to protect its people. So much so that over 245 web pages have been blocked and mass texts are banned on cellular servers throughout the nation as a preventative measure. Facebook and YouTube have claimed that they have never taken their non-violence policies as seriously as they are now.

More and more rules may mean more and more unhappy users. Whether it’s in court rooms or online forums, claiming what should and should not be censored on the Internet has emerged as a hot topic. But the more and more webpages become blocked, the less and less power social media will have as well. This will not inhibit revolution but instead, most likely instigate it.

Revolutions may produce negative images of angry mobs and pitchforks. But without social media tools, Tweets would have never caught diplomats’ attention. Ideas may have not been so easily communicated. Democracy would have never been achieved in nations like Libya or Egypt.

People have become so comfortable with the accessibility and freedom that comes along with social media. But this accessibility and freedom of hateful speech has been taken advantage of by people with negative intentions too often. It’s a question of sacrifice; to have the benefits and burdens of social media, or to not have it at all.

Never have the Olympics so heavily relied on the high-speed communication, social media and all the perks that come with the Internet that we have become so comfortable with. From Yahoo! to CNN, these sites’ news feeds have circulated Olympic data. Medal counts, records broken; you name it. But what appear to be covering most of the front pages lately are controversies, closely affiliated with social media and specifically, Twitter. The question lies whether giving social media such authoritative power during these Olympic games should be looked at optimistically or otherwise.

Athletes sending tweets? Posting podium pictures for their followers to instantly see and enjoy the Olympic experience with them? Sounds great! But these games have proven that social media can get out of control and that the communications tool should be not taken lightly.

What Can Go Wrong?

The first instant occurred even before the Olympic torch was lit. We all remember the Greek triple jumper, Voula Papachristou who sent a tweet gaining a lot of publicity on July 22^nd, when the Olympics were scheduled to begin on the 27^th. Talk about a debut. The tweet stated, “so many Africans in Greece at least West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food”. The Olympic Committee did not receive it lightly. It was the first time an athlete was eliminated due to post on Twitter, or any proclamation on a social media site for that matter.

She wasn’t the only one to experience the backlash of an inappropriate tweet. Swiss defender, Michel Morganella sent a tweet perceived as racist against his South Korean opponents after losing to them in a soccer match. He was also eliminated, as was the post he sent on Twitter. His bad sportsmanship and access to social media cost him his Olympic career and produced global humiliation. Who knew 140 characters could so much damage.

Even the American icon, Hope Solo received bad publicity through the micro blogging service. After supposedly appearing on the Today show drunk with her teammates, the talented goalkeeper started a Twitter war with broadcaster and former soccer great Brandi Chastain. The risky remarks thrown from athlete to athlete were of no serious offense, but if the tweets were not accessible, the conflict could have been avoided and all soccer legends could just get along.

Athletic Victims of Social Media

The athletes of these Olympics are not always the culprits. The social media tool can place them in shallow end of the pool also. A teenager in Dorset, England, most likely a social media expert, tweeted at British diver Tom Daley taunting the aquatic athlete about his dead father. Daley’s father passed away last year due to brain cancer and the 17-year old made an impact on the diver’s mindset before a dive.

The Right Way to Tweet

Sure, there are positive and uplifting tweets. After Michael Phelps won his 22^nd medal, you could expect his feed to be all smiles and high fives. Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter, tweeted about his recent haircut in the Olympic village instead of commenting on being called the fastest man alive.

These athletes are using Twitter the correct way. They know followers believe in them and simply want to be inspired. Olympic athletes know they have a large following. They know their posts are being read. Some embrace this and use it to promote their strong morals. Others use it as a megaphone to proclaim their strong beliefs.

Did the World of Social Media Learn Anything from These Mishaps?

Twitter, Facebook and all other kinds of social media allow civilians to communicate with famous athletes and vice versa. This is an absolute privilege but these Olympic games have proven that this pleasure can been handled inappropriately. If more mishaps and conflicts happen due to sensitive Tweets and statuses, where does that leave these micro blogging services in future athletic events? It may just take more rebellious athletes kicked out of the games before any real rules are made to enforce what takes up those 140 characters.

On Monday, August 6^th, NASA’s latest nuclear-powered rover, named Curiosity, is scheduled to land on the surface of Mars at 1:31 ETA. Two days before the anticipated landing, 30 chosen men and women will be Tweeting, Facebook posting, blogging and performing all types of social media to inform the world of this revolutionary galactic endeavor.

NASA carefully chose 30 people out 266 hopefuls based in part on their social media expertise, blogging strategies and web-based audience. The governmental aeronautical agency did not choose reality stars with the most Twitter followers or Facebook comments, but instead searched the web for popular Internet leaders related to or interested in aerospace and similar topics.

The internet-savvy participants will learn a handful of confidential NASA related-data, filled with technical terms in outer space language. The participants will be expected to translate and fit these heavy terms into concise and logical statements fewer than 140 characters. From seeing a model of the Orion – a new partially solar powered spacecraft scheduled to carry astronauts deeper into space than ever before – to taking a tour of a model of the Dream Chaser – a reusable craft that will travel to NASA’s space station, the 30 individuals will distribute these reports to its followers and readers as cool, concise and efficient as possible.

But the most imperative information that be communicated pertains to Curiosity’s landing phase, or as NASA spokesman, Mark Finnerman puts it “the seven minutes of terror”. The experienced bloggers are expected to accurately depict the adventure and update their followers as the craft rips through the Martian atmosphere of up to 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit and free-fall to the desired landing platform.

Curiosity will be over 154 million miles away, in the hopes of discovering past or present Martian habitability and the feeling of a good $2.5 billion well spent. This also means that all information relayed back to planet Earth will take up to 13 minutes because of the enourmous distance. In those nail-biting moments, the social media experts will be working hard at what they are good at; keeping followers calm, informed and excited about the potentially revolutionary discoveries.

This Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover has been flying through the galaxies of space for the past eight months, after a two-year intensive planning period by the rocket scientists. The “Tweetup”, where people on Twitter come together in person, will last a much shorter period of time, beginning on Friday in Hampton, Virginia and continuing until the spacecraft is expected to land on early Monday morning.

One would think this would attract a limited audience but Mark Finnerman states that this program attracts “people of all ages and walks of life”. NASA has done its research for sending robots to Mars and for social media marketing as well. From Harley Davidson fanatics to stay-at-home moms, the participants are guaranteed to distribute the critical information to a vast array of eager followers interested in the subject at hand.

The fact that NASA is welcoming civilians to roam the intimidating halls of its headquarters and is sharing these pivotal moments in space history with bloggers simply empowers social media and social media techniques even more. It establishes a level of trust and respect amongst the participants in this technologically advanced and speedy era of communication. It also promises a serious future for the millions of micro-bloggers and Facebooking fiends on the worldwide web. Who knows, maybe someday they will be asked to send updates all the way from the atmospheres of Mars or Jupiter.

The Twitter news feed is probably where you get the latest news as a result of busy conversations that are “trending” on the social site. Viral stories develop as people tweet a topic that suddenly becomes a trending hashtag or term to click and learn more about. This is how people learn about stuff that they otherwise would have missed thanks to Twitter Trends. However, the new Tailored Trends introduced by Twitter almost a month ago is showing users results only within their own social bubble.

What does this mean?

Tailored Trends is a recalibration of the old Twitter Trends algorithm that is designed to customize trends based on your location and who you follow on Twitter. This change is now the new norm on every member’s homepage and has changed user’s results with most people not even realizing it. Now users are only seeing Trends that relate directly to them rather than the tweeting activities of the world at large.

Before Tailored Trends, Twitter Trends opened up users to the wider world of Twitter activity. Yes, you probably tweeted about things that interested you and followed people with similar interests to you. Twitter Trends would show you results catered to those interests as well as things outside your own particular passion.

The new Tailored Trends narrows the search to much more local activity since it filters by your location and hides things from you that you don’t care about because it is only based on who you follow. This prevents internet marketers from extending their reach to users who are confined to local search results.

It is also slightly misleading to the user. It lets people think that their interests are much more important and relevant than they really are. Twitter is now simply showing you Trends that are exclusively what you were searching for without opening up the realm for a greater, more encompassing experience. The moral of the story: it might be in your best interest to turn off Tailored Trends to once again see what the Twitterverse has to offer.

What do you think about Twitter’s Tailored Trends?

A new study by Buddy Media takes a look at how marketers use Twitter, and the findings may be surprising. Buddy Media is a social media marketing firm who looked at 320 Twitter accounts from the world’s largest brands between December and February. The results show that most marketers are dropping the ball on their social media marketing efforts. Marketers are tweeting too much on the wrong days, not using hashtags enough and not using them properly, and never asking for users to retweet them.

The study found that Twitter engagement rates for brands are 17% higher on Saturday and Sunday compared to the weekdays. This would make sense since people are not working on the weekends, but only 19% of brands’ retweets are published on the weekend. Buddy Media says that about 29% of tweets should occur on the weekend if brands spaced their tweets out evenly throughout the week.

Twitter, Facebook, or Both?

Different industries require different levels of engagement on different days. For example, fashion brands see 30% higher engagement on the weekend. Publishers are seeing 29% higher engagement on Saturdays when consumers are most likely catching up on the news from the week, but only 7% of publishers’ tweets occur on a Saturday.

Buddy Media’s results show that brands are tweeting too much in the middle of the week and not nearly enough on the weekend. The study also showed that tweets published during “busy hours” performed best defined as between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tweets published during these times got 30% higher engagement rates than those that occurred after-hours. Buddy Media found that Twitter’s performance is the exact opposite of Facebook, where after hours Facebook posts get 17% higher engagement.

These findings show that Internet marketers have a great opportunity to utilize both Facebook and Twitter to communicate with consumers. Which social media mix is best for your brand?