Social media Archives - Public Relations, Advertising & Social Media

Improving Edgerank in Facebook

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Brian Lee

I recently spoke on Facebook marketing at the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s annual expo. A key point I made was that don’t spend too much time worrying about the appearance of your Facebook page, as the vast majority of interaction with fans happens in the News Feed.

For those unfamiliar with Edgerank, it’s Facebook’s tool/formula to calculate which posts matter to you the most. In other words, have you ever noticed some friends ALWAYS appear near the top of your News Feed? It’s because you’ve interacted with them more than others, and Facebook keeps track.

Edgerank applies not only to personal pages, but to fan pages as well. I’ve created this chart to explain how to improve your Edgerank on the three main categories: Fan Engagement, Time with Status and Frequency of Posts.

Fan Engagement	Time with Status	Frequency of Posts
No marketing messages or any other type of “broadcasting”	Post videos	Post no more than once every four hours
Ask questions	Post photos	Post during peak Facebook hours; or
Elicit emotions	Post links	Post during your audience’s peak hours
Topical posts	(All suggestions from first column)

The key takeaway is that good content should be your No. 1 goal to make your page more visible to your fans.

How AEC Marketers Can Use Pinterest

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Brian Lee

Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media sites. In January 2012, Pinterest became the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark. The following month it broke into the top 30 websites in the country.

An increasing number of companies are turning to Pinterest to engage with their fans and ultimately drive traffic to their sites. Pinterest allows companies to create a visual representation of their brand by “pinning” content from around the web while integrating pins of their own products as well.

So how can AEC marketers use Pinterest? Here are some of the tips we came up with:

Pin photos of your firm’s buildings, designs, projects, etc.
Make sure to balance your firm’s photos with photos from other websites and blogs. Your pinboards are not supposed to be used solely for self-promotion.
If your company has a blog, make sure to pin any relevant images from the blog onto your pinboards. When users click on these images, they’ll be redirected straight to your blog.
Create other pinboards to keep track of inspirational photos, products you use and like, products you’d like to check out, materials, etc.
Add a full description of your company to the top of your page and include links to your other social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Most importantly, make your pinboards fun and visually appealing!

Rowland Broughton-Architecture in Aspen, Colo., has a great Pinterest account to check out: http://pinterest.com/rowlandb/. Notice the ample categories, the stunning, high-quality photos and the lack of (obvious) self-promotion.

For a good example of what NOT to do, take a look at Hammers Construction’s account: http://pinterest.com/tuknov/hammers-construction/. Notice how the company has only pinned photos of buildings it has made without integrating any outside media sources into its site, plus it didn’t categorize the photos.

For AEC marketers, Pinterest also has the opportunity to change the way you exchange ideas with your clients. The site is rumored to be adding private pinboards that are not available for the public to see in the very near future. This will allow you and your client to create private pinboards to exchange ideas and inspiration for current projects.

With a little bit of creativity and planning, Pinterest can be a great tool for promoting your company. Get out there and start pinning!

— This post was also published on the SMPS Wisconsin website.

The Most Viral Video in History

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Stephanie Blichfeld

If you are not one of the millions of people that have watched the video, “Kony 2012,” chances are you’ve at least heard about it. The 30-minute video about Ugandan rebel leader, Joseph Kony, has created huge buzz in the social media sphere, dominating Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube.

Visible Measures, a leading Internet measurement firm, reported today that the Kony 2012 campaign has garnered well over 100 million views in just 6 days, making it the most viral video in history. Coming in #2 on the list of most viral videos is “Susan Boyle: Britain’s Got Talent” at 100 million views in 9 days and at #3 “Lady Gaga: Bad Romance” in 18 days. Check out the full list of viral videos here.

Recently there has been a lot of backlash surrounding the Kony 2012 campaign. Criticisms center on the funding of the charity that made the video, Invisible Children, as well as the fact that the video oversimplifies many of the issues presented. Setting this debate aside, Kony 2012 is an amazing example of the power of digital activism in the increasingly connected society that we live in.

While we don’t yet know the real impact that the campaign will have on its goal of capturing Joseph Kony by the end of 2012, I think the global popularity of the video will only further fuel calls for digital activism in the future. As the Arab Spring also demonstrated, social media is a powerful tool for promoting change, and governments around the world can no longer afford to ignore the voices of their people.