Google+ Hangouts lets people video chat within social media without having to log into a clunky Skype client. Until a few days ago, Google placed a cap on the number of people who could be in a hangout, so it was more focused on social and less on broadcast. Now, however, companies can broadcast content live to viewers within a hangout and reach a lot more people. Find out how social media covered the launch of Google+ Hangouts on Air and learn how to use it to promote your business on social media in this “Future of Engagement” episode.
Alerti social media monitoring graph on social media chatter surrounding the release of Google+ Hangouts on Air:
SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.
This week, we asked: How often do you review your social media strategy?
- We don’t have a social media strategy: 31.62%
- Less than three months between reviews: 25.64%
- Every three to six months: 21.37%
- Every six to nine months: 10.26%
- Every nine to 12 months: 5.13%
- Every 12 to 18 months: 3.42%
- Every 18 to 24 months – 1.71%
- More than 2 years between reviews – 0.85%
Is a social media strategy necessary? Good question. According to the results, maybe not. Here are five of my observations on these poll results.
- It’s alarming that almost 32% of respondents to the poll “don’t have a social media strategy.” Now, knowing our community, this does include the small percentage of our readers who do not use social media for their business, but even still, that number seems super high — 3 of 10 do not have a strategy; that’s akin to having a map and a compass, but no destination.
Pinterest is getting a ton of buzz as the hottest new social network. For those who haven’t dived into the site yet, think of Pinterest as an online cork board where people post pictures, articles and videos that inspire them, things they want to try, things to read, places they want to go, etc. Pinterest is one of those sites you have to try for yourself to realize how easy it is to get sucked in by all of the visual ideas put in front of you.
Besides being an excellent place to find Mother’s Day gift and recipe ideas, Pinterest is becoming an increasingly powerful tool for businesses. According to a recent study by Shareaholic, Pinterest now drives more referral traffic than Twitter. Sure, it’s easy for big brands such as Whole Foods to be successful but what about small and local businesses? The good news for local businesses is that Pinteret’s search feature makes it incredibly worthwhile for local businesses to be on Pinterest. (read more…)
National Geographic is one of the most beloved brands of all time. So it’s no surprise that on Facebook and Twitter, this passion is reflected in its huge fan numbers.
But how does National Geographic manage it all? How does it find content that fans want to share? What is the voice of the brand? At our last Word of Mouth event, National Geographic’s Brendan Hart shared a bunch of the secrets about how it is done.
A few of his big ideas:
- Define your voice and the team behind it. When National Geographic first launched on Twitter, Hart ran the account — but over time, he weaned himself off because he didn’t think it would scale with him alone. So, he turned the reins over to a core team, and, with a laugh, he said growth has been exponential since making the change.
- Who are you, and what are you trying to do?
Murray Newlands offers an in-depth tutorial on social media monitoring in this week’s “Future of Engagement.”
Part 1 of this six-part discussion of principles and tactics of monitoring social media conversation:
Key points:
- Understand that social media monitoring can serve a wide variety of roles for your organization, including customer service, research and crisis management.
- Information gathered can be used to improve your organization.
- Monitoring can clue you in to social media behavioral norms, which can improve your ability to engage customers.
- Not sure how to get started? Take a look at what other companies in your sector are doing, and use their practices as a starting point.
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