Tag Archives: Facebook

A beast that needs attention

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Being the third most visited site in the world is not an easy task.  YouTube ranks just behind the giants of Google and Facebook as the most visited websites on the internet.  This comes as no surprise. The power for people to capture themselves through video is easy enough for a 3-year-old to manage, but how do brands and organizations leverage YouTube to their advantage?

Old Spice on YouTube

Old Spice’s YouTube brand channel.

According to YouTube, 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, which equates to 3 billion hours watched each month.  These types of numbers are mind-boggling and the ripple effect reaches far outside of YouTube itself.  More than 500 years of YouTube videos are watched on Facebook and 700 videos per minute find themselves on Twitter.

No doubt a powerful tool, but most brands upload their TV spots, or try to think of something so funny and outrageous hoping that it will be the next “viral video.”  Unfortunately, this is very difficult to achieve on YouTube.  While this can happen, you have better chances of taking the money you spent doing this and doubling down at the nearest casino.

Companies such as Old Spice, Red Bull, and Go-Pro have found that YouTube can help drive exposure, but they are the few that have found success.  Almost all companies find themselves spending a lot of money with little to no results, thus deeming it as a marketing failure.  To avoid complete and udder failure here are five starter tips for marketers and brands to follow:

1st – YouTube is its own platform; content should be unique and should be well thought out.

2nd –Make sure that you promote your video(s) through YouTube using Google platforms. Spend money to help get some eyeballs and help leverage your plan.

3rd– Make sure that you plan your strategy ahead of time. Are you looking for views or do you want people to take action?

4th– Consider using YouTube celebrities (people already on YouTube that have thousands to millions of views and subscribers) for brand integrations and product placements.

5th– Ensure that your YouTube plan fits well with branding and other marketing strategies; YouTube can help you leverage your current and future goals within social media.

Success on YouTube can be very challenging, but using these basic tips can help you get on the right track. YouTube is a platform that allows you to target the audience you want, which keeps advertisers coming back.  If you’re nice to YouTube it will be nice to you.

The Power of Images in Social Media

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Pictures have always been a way to capture moments in time that you and your friends can look back on. Now, with social media, the majority of those photo memories are instantly uploaded onto photo-sharing social channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Even your favorite brands are using photos to push products because they are easily consumed, transfer information quickly, usually require less reading and can project a great deal of information. Pictures allow users to visualize the story a brand is telling and garner more engagement than anything else on social media.

Pinterest and Instagram can be extremely valuable for brands that have visual products because images catch and hold the attention of shoppers by offering much more stimulating information than text. It’s like allowing your customers an opportunity to window-shop online. On Instagram alone, more than 150 million photos have been shared and at one point, users were uploading 60 photos per second on Pinterest. That’s not all; most of those photos end up being shared on other social networks such as Facebook.

Facebook holds the trophy for most uploaded images with 50 billion, cumulatively. A study by Harvard Business School estimates that 70 percent of all activities on Facebook – from “liking” and commenting to looking at friends’ content or uploading your own – revolves around photos. Facebook will rank posts higher and will serve more impressions if the post contains an image. The ability to extend the exposure of your message and increase your chances of that message reaching the target simply increases your chances of action on your message. And with the addition of Facebook’s Timeline, brands are able to make a bolder visual statement via the prominent cover photo feature and the ability to “highlight” a post, which doubles the size of the photo on your Timeline.

In all, it’s safe to say that images are one of the most powerful tools in social media. Facebook may agree, as they did just purchase Instagram for $1 billion.

Join us for #RRchat this Friday

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As our society becomes more engaged in social media, we turn to digital avenues to raise awareness for everything from stating our point of views on hot topics to promoting our businesses. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have replaced traditional means of getting our message across, reaching more people than ever before.

Join us for this Friday’s #RRchat on Twitter from 1-2 p.m. to talk about how Social Media is helping to drive awareness on topics such as your health status and the upcoming election season. Check out the questions below for a sneak peak of the discussion points.

1. Facebook now lets users ID themselves as organ donors. Will you share your organ donor status for all to see?
2. Every November, men around the world grow a mustache to raise funds and awareness for men’s health issues. Do you think this impacts others’ awareness on issues like prostate cancer?
3. With elections just around the corner, politicians are already sprucing up their social media presence. How can having a social presence help raise awareness about their stance on issues?

Talk to you on Friday!

Join us for #RRchat this Friday

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Facebook is taking over the world…literally. During last week’s #RRchat, we talked about how Facebook recently expanded into the photo sphere by purchasing Instagram. Now, the social media giant is “branching out” to reach a more professional audience with BranchOut, a professional networking app. Similar to LinkedIn, the new app allows you to find out which companies your friends work for and find connections in your career field, connecting you digitally to hundreds of thousands of professionals. (Maybe the six degrees of separation theory isn’t so far off after all.)

Join us for #RRchat on Friday from 3-4 p.m. Pacific Time (or until we run out of things to say) to discuss BranchOut, Facebook’s plans for going public and more. Plus, get the inside scoop on open positions in the coolest, most creative full-service advertising agency around. Who, you ask? Why, R&R Partners of course!

Check out the #RRchat questions ahead of time to come prepared for a low-key discussion on Friday. Talk to you soon!

1. Facebook targets May 17th for IPO date. Will you buy shares in Facebook? Why or why not?
2. Facebook’s app BranchOut encourages professional networking, similar to LinkedIn. Will you use your personal Facebook page to connect with professionals for job opportunities and professional networking?
3. We post open positions to two of the largest social media platforms for job searching – Twitter & LinkedIn. What social sites have you heard people using to find a job?

Don’t forget to follow @RRPartners, and use the hashtag #RRchat to join the conversation. See you on Friday at 3 p.m. Pacific Time!

Join us for our weekly #RRchat

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Hey you! Yes, you, the one reading this blog entry in between checking your Twitter stream and Facebook and all of the other things that you probably are not paid to do, but weave into your workday to keep it interesting.

We’re not knocking you. Social media and surfing the web ARE part of the workday in some ways, because they’re great tools to use to keep up with industry news, trends, and engage in discussion with both clients and other ad folks. At least that’s how you justify it to your boss while you look at pictures of cats using bad grammar.

Since you’re online all day anyway, make it productive — join us Friday from 3-4 p.m. Pacific time for our weekly Twitter discussion about all things advertising. Follow @rrpartners on Twitter and each week, you can give us your thoughts and insight on three short marketing-themed questions. Be sure to use #RRchat in your replies so we can retweet and holler back.

To give you a head start, here are the questions we’ll be tossing out to the Twittersphere this week. Read over them, formulate your responses and get ready to have some fun banter with other marketing agency tweeps!

Question 1: Do you think if a brand has a social presence, you are more likely to purchase from that brand over one that doesn’t? What’s the value in a brand name?

Question 2: Facebook may be rolling out a dating component. Would you date on FB?

Question 3: A recent study says Klout may not be an accurate view of your social influence. What do you think?

Don’t forget the #RRChat hashtag, and hope to see you every Friday from 3-4 p.m. Pacific!

Digital Content Developer/Social Media Specialist Sal DeFilippo contributed to this article.