measurable data

Social Media

e-Marketing, facebook, instagram, measurable data, social media, twitter, youtube Leave a comment


The above video has astounding figures, but what is amazing about the numbers presented is they’re 2 years out of date. As the semester draws to an end I’d like to make one last attempt at converting those companies out there who don’t have a functioning online presence to pull it together and make one!

One. Without a relevant Facebook page you are passing up the opportunity to connect with 1 billion Facebook users worldwide. Specifically, there are 18.6 million users right here in Canada. Can your company really afford to pass up the opportunity to reach 18.6 million people with a single status update?

Two. 600 million people access Facebook via smart phones – that’s an increase of 535 million people since this video was created in 2010! If your company website isn’t mobile friendly, that’s a whole lot of customers you’re missing out on. Not only that, when customers visit your store or restaurant, the content they create and post online is invaluable and more influential over consumer opinions than company generated content.

Three. However.. without an active Twitter account, how will they tag you in their content? How will you listen to their needs and join the conversation? Twitter hosts over 500 million users and sees over 400 million Tweets per day. Twitter is by far the easiest social media account to create and set up and its real time capabilities keep companies in the know all day every day.

Four. A restaurant without Instagram is a recipe for disaster. How are customers supposed to share your delicious food offerings if you don’t provide them a platform to do so? Instagram boasts over 80 million registered users who share over 5 million photos per day!

Five. YouTube has over 800 million new visitors each month and users watch over 4 billion hours of videos. Video is a perfect way to increase customer brand awareness while keeping viewers engaged and interacting with the brand. Is it really too hard for your company to create a video and upload it to YouTube? 

Below is an up to date social media video. The change in numbers since the 2010 video posted above is incredible. Companies avoiding the social media ‘craze’ are missing out on countless opportunities to listen and talk to their customers, to conduct priceless market research, to promote and generate buzz surrounding new product launches, to network with local companies and the list goes on. The opportunities are endless and it’s not too late to start now! Pick a single platform, monitor, listen and join the conversation. Master one platform and the transition into multiple platforms will get easier and easier. Good luck!

Movember

content, e-Marketing, measurable data, social media, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Movember – an annual month long event that lets grown men around the world shave their moustaches in obscure designs while raising money for charity.

The Movember initiative is a great example of an online community. The company website ‘Movember and Sons’ offers several pages relating to its community such as:

1) Global Leaderboard – shows the number of participants registered from each country and the total amount of money they have raised for the Movember Foundation. This generates friendly global competition as well as giving Canada a pedestal to stand on for raising $14 million to date – more than any other nation.

2) Mo Stories – offers participants an opportunity to share their story whether it relates to Cancer and mental health issues, love stories stemming from Movember creations or just general observations relating to the movement as a whole.

3) Mo Photos – allows participants to post photos of their moustaches progress from their clean shaven state on November 1st to its fully blossomed state on November 30th. This platform encourages participants to get creative with their shaving and inspire others to do the same.

4) Hall of Fame – each year since Movember began in 2007, one man has been entered into the Hall of Fame for his beautifully terrible moustache creation. This serves as a goal for men worldwide to strive for.

As of 2011, $300 million dollars have been raised for the Movember Foundation supporting Prostate Cancer and mens mental health initiatives.

Since its creation, many companies have capitalized on the excitement and buzz generated by Movember. An example close to home is Granville Island Brewery. For the month of November, Granville Island drink coasters get into the Movember spirit by offering different cardboard moustaches attached to each coaster. This encourages all bar goers to participate in the event regardless of their moustache growing abilities. In return, Granville Island Brewery donates 10 cents from every Granville Island beer they sell.

The Movember initiative is such a simple concept yet it has the ability to join together men from opposites sides of the globe through a moustache growing competition. Not only that, but it has generated millions of dollars for charity and continues to grow exponentially as a movement each year.

Sites with a cause

e-Marketing, keywords, measurable data, social media, twitter Leave a comment

www.NoHomophobes.com

On July 5th 2012, a website was launched by the University of Alberta titled: No Homophobes. As the site states:

“It is designed as a social mirror to show the prevalence of casual homophobia in our society. Words and phrases like “faggot,” “dyke,” “no homo,” and “so gay” are used casually in everyday language, despite promoting the continued alienation, isolation and — in some tragic cases — suicide of sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ) youth.”

The website searches Twitter for 4 words: Faggot, No Homo, So Gay and Dyke. With these Tweets, the site simply compiles a count of the number of times each word is used that day. Below, it posts every single Tweet from people around the world that contains one or more of these 4 words.

What interests me about this site is its ability to show these Tweets in real time. When individuals see the amount of Tweets using homophobic language the instant they happen, the impact is far greater than a simple number that happened yesterday. This impact is heightened when the Tweets are occurring so frequently that they are unable to be read before they have left the screen. In addition to daily statistics, a count is kept of how many Tweets containing each of these 4 words have been posted in the last week and since the site began 3 months ago.

Also of interest is the simplicity of the site. The design and interface is easy to read and understand within seconds of clicking the link. The clever use of colour and the lack of words allows the user to observe the facts and interpret them as they please. Searching Twitter for 4 words and plotting their use over time is such a simple concept yet so powerful. Like most people, I was absolutely shocked at the volume of homophobic remarks on such a global social platform. A site like this compiles all of these Tweets and displays them in a meaningful way that sparks a multitude of emotion. I think the success of this site lies in the volume of Tweets. When individuals see a single homophobic remark on their Twitter feed, it is unlikely to spark much emotion. However, when placed side by side and tallied throughout a day reaching numbers of over 60,000, the affect of these Tweets multiplies and demands action. This site provokes thought and demands change.