What exactly is social media listening? It simply means monitoring any mentions of your brand as well as your competitors across all social media channels. Although social listening does require some time and patience, the benefits of social listening definitely outweigh the time and effort involved. Additionally, social listening would involve “listening” to not just the good, but also the bad.

It would be a great idea to implement social media dashboards to transfer all social updates that mention one’s company’s name or keywords. This would allow the social media team to analyze the various social media channels and find out ways in which to increase traffic to the various channels.

After having been exposed to the social media dashboards during the course of the online marketing campaign that my team did for our client, I have come to understand that there is much more to managing a social media channel than simply being active on it. By being active, I am referring to the usual attracting of followers and following them. I have come to realize that if constant monitoring of what people are saying about your business or brand on social media, and then taking subsequent actions and making improvements based on what they are saying, then there is no point to social media.

Articles:

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/top-8-social-listening-tools-do-way-more-listen
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/tag/social-media-listening/

Why aren’t more brands using Snapchat as a marketing tool? Snapchat is said to have around 100 million active users, with majority of its demographic being that of 16-25 year olds. These younger demographic of Snapchat users are certainly the future of consumption. Snapchat has captured the attention of this demographic in particular as a result of its unique and fascinating function. Individuals can send 10 second videos of randomness or one that tells a story and this video disappears almost instantly after the time limit. Several brands have started adopting this unique tool as part of their marketing strategy in recent times.

In my opinion, it would be best for brands and businesses alike to adopt Snapchat as a marketing strategy in order to keep up with the ever-changing tech-savvy and social media friendly world that we live in. Since Snapchat only allows videos to be seen once and for a certain period of time, this would allow businesses to capture users’ attention and create a positive impression. Videos could be in the from of teasers of new products, storytelling as well as by means of a competition whereby users could send in snaps in order to win free gifts.

Articles:
https://contently.com/strategist/2015/10/14/infographic-how-the-best-brands-use-snapchat/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/04/your-guide-to-using-snapchat-for-marketing/

A business’ website alongside its social media  channels are central and intertwined with one another in driving traffic to the online activities of this business. In order find out the specific areas to improve on with regards to social media marketing activities, it would be great to conduct a test to measure the effectiveness of the marketing efforts. This is where a tool such as Google Analytic comes into play.

Google Analytics provides the business owner with valuable data that helps to track where the business’ website visitors come from and provides metrics to better understand the visitors’ behavior on the website.

I was not very familiar with how Google Analytics worked until I had to make use of it as part of the E-Marketing project that we had to do for our client of choice. Needless to say, I was initally confused as there was so many different tabs and functions to utilize on Google Analytics. However, after reading online short-cut manuals, I managed to grasp its functionality quickly and was amazed at its effectiveness in allowing one to gain proper insight into the how our client can improve or manage their marketing strategy for better website activity.

Most people use LinkedIn as an online resume or to gain and maintain new and old connections for purpose of business of career advancements. However, there is more to LinkedIn for sure then just a means to showcase your educational qualifications, job experiences and skills.

As thought during one of the lectures towards the end of the term in E-Marketing, with a well-maintained LinkedIn profile, one can do wonders. Since LinkedIn is largely focused on B-to-B connections, business professionals should utilize LinkedIn as a major tool for social media marketing, without overlooking it as part of their digital marketing strategy.

Firstly, a business professional should strive to beef up his or her LinkedIn profile, in addition to the relevant information about work experience and education qualifications. A great professional head shot is always the way to go for the profile photo and a eye grabbing title serves as an icing on the cake. Additionally, it would help to post frequent status updates, integrate blog posts and tweets to your LinkedIn profile, request recommendations from your connections, as well as posting a LinkedIn event to help generate interest an event etc.

LinkedIn is a great way to build your brand and push the acceleration button in your career. It would also help to join groups that allow you to interact with professionals that share similar interests.

Articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anfernee-chansamooth/why-linkedin-is-the-most-_b_5706017.html

Non-profit organizations and their amazing causes need to utilize social media to create more awareness. These organizations have been known to shy away from the use of digital marketing and tend to hold on to traditional marketing practices. However, as technology has amalgamated with our everyday lives, it has become difficult for the non-profit organizations to ignore digital marketing.

More light is being shed on how effective social media marketing can actually benefit non-profit organizations in various ways. There are also agencies that are helping non-profits with regards to better marketing their causes. Media Cause is one such award-winning non-profit digital agency. It helps non-profits with raising awareness, building a community, converting their existing community into donors, or even all three. This digital agency prides itself in specializing in helping non-profits build a strategy that will help them achieve their goals.

Media Cause: http://mediacause.org/

In my opinion, this is great since many non-profits would want to create an outreach to allow people to be more interactive and engaged with their organization. Also, this would give non-profits the opportunity to the millennial demographic who are heavy users of social media. These millennials are cause carriers and as such are seen to have the ability to recognize a noteworthy cause and have an impact. They are also known to have the energy, passion and drive to make an impact. Therefore, utilizing social media for marketing provides non-profits with more benefits, in addition to giving them a good platform given that an increased proportion of millennials are becoming more passionate about giving back to society.

It has been predicted that Instagram will be taking over the digital marketing scene for businesses in the near future. This comes of no surprise to me given the presence of a Instagram for Business blog that is already out there.

With the Holiday season being around the corner, brands and businesses of all sizes are turning to Instagram to advertise and promote their products. This is a good strategy since more people are turning to online shopping on mobile these days given their hectic lifestyles and them being increasingly tech-savvy.

References:
http://blog.business.instagram.com/
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/here-are-9-eye-opening-digital-marketing-stats-past-week-16764
http://oursocialtimes.com/how-to-use-instagram-for-marketing-and-measure-the-results/

The 140-character limit has been an emblem of Twitter since its birth. However, it is of recent news that it is working on a new product that will allow users to post tweets longer that 140-characters.

This latest news has garnered mixed response from twitter users. Those who felt that the character limit has stifled their creative expression in the past are generally excited about the news. However, there are a majority that are voicing out against this change through their tweets. These people may feel as though Twitter will resemble Facebook after this change, making it unoriginal.

Examples of such tweets:
http://observer.com/2015/09/twitter/

The news of this change definitely caught my attention, especially more so after having enrolled in e-marketing, where several lessons focused on the effective use of Twitter. I personally do not think the extension of the character limit is that much of a deal. It seems to me as though there are more benefits than disadvantages to this change. Twitter users will no longer have to be concise in their tweets.

I feel that change is necessary in order for Twitter to attract more users and for its own promotion amidst its other competition in the social media world.

Twitter began mainly as a SMS-based service, where the character limit is 160-characters. Twitter’s 140-character limit was inspired by this SMS limit. However, now that technology has evolved, Twitter may no longer need to stick by this SMS limit as well.

Articles:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/11900012/Twitter-to-get-rid-of-140-character-limit.html
http://marketingland.com/report-twitter-plans-to-allow-tweets-longer-than-140-characters-144705

Social Media has transformed the way in which the world communicates and has made the globe more interconnected than ever. As such, it is unimaginable as to how the world would operate without the existence of social media that has amalgamated into our daily lives.

Although the excessive use of social media does have various disadvantages such as those mentioned in the article, its benefits certainly does outweigh its limitations. Personally, I feel that social media is not a necessary evil if utilized appropriately and with limits.

In the article, “How Social Media Has Changed Us: The Good and The Bad”, the author mentions how social media has not only become an integral part of our lifestyle, but also a convenient tool for various businesses. He not only paints a positive picture of social media, but pinpoints its negative shades as well.

I agree with his point as to how social media has provided businesses with more opportunities to reach a global audience. This would not have been possible in the past and small businesses would have taken many years to attain the global reach that businesses are at present. Additionally, companies are also using social media sites such as LinkedIn for recruitment. Social Media has also played a key role in numerous companies’ marketing campaigns as well as customer service.

Article: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/social-media-changed-us-good-bad-01000104#SRJBlD9pfc3suKyL.97

Brands and companies are drawing in on social media to pull in potential customers from all walks of life globally. The trick amidst all of the competition is to find out how to stand out. Before one trends a hashtag, it would be useful to employ a skill learnt early on in class, which would be to search the current trends on twitter. This can be done through advanced search and geo search. The whole point of this would be to ensure no repetitions in addition to learning what works and what doesn’t with regards to hashtags.

An article I read recently provided me with in-depth insight on maximizing the power of hashtags and utilizing it in the best possible way.

Article: http://mcallistermarketing.com/social-media-2/three-ways-to-improve-your-twitter-advertising-with-a-simple-hashtag

This is essential news since we live in a world that is becoming increasingly dominated by social media. Businesses can use hashtags to track consumers’ likes and dislikes. The average person can use twitter and hashtags to feel inclusive and be a part of various social movements.

The extent of the impact of hashtags is highlighted in the article and it emphasizes the need for #noteworthy hashtags. The article makes a point as to how one’s tweet (without the use of hashtag) will only be seen by their 200 followers, but this number has the potential to multiply by thousands with the use of a common hashtag such as #peace or #hate.

This shows how the world can become even more interconnected with the use of such a common hashtag and highlights how such hashtags connects people regardless of race, language or religion. A great example would be the Marley family’s launch of the #share1love movement in commemoration of Bob Marley’s 70th birthday.

#share1love:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/share1love
http://www.bobmarley.com/charity-2/marley-family-launches-share1love movement/

A recent tweet sent many netizens in Singapore and its neighbouring countries to panic mode. A twitter page belonging to that of @CallofDuty made headlines by tweeting this:

It was a hoax and an attempt at guerilla marketing for the new Call of Duty Game: Black Ops 3. To promote their new game, @CallofDuty sent out a series of tweets about a fictional attack on Singapore as a part of their online campaign.

This is one of the tweets that was sent out:
https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/648905858529759232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Countless Singaporeans were unamused. Singapore’s national newspaper, the Straits Times reported that many netizens were offended and found the marketing ploy to be in bad taste. Singaporeans living abroad were alarmed and anxious as they made the dreaded phone call back home to check if everything was fine in their homeland. They were discontented upon hearing that the news of the terrorist attack was a sham.

I do think that this marketing tactic done by Call of Duty is rather unique and appealing, and should be taken with a grain of salt.  It could have been slightly altered since a nation’s safety, military and government was brought into the picture. As such, largely disapproving reactions were to be expected from the general public. However, the whole point of guerilla marketing is to cause a stir, and the publicity stunt by Call of Duty certainly did successfully achieve this. It managed to catch the attention of both video game and non-video game enthusiasts.

Article: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-under-attack/2160102.html