360DigitalInfluence

Show of hands time. Have you been asked in the past month  “So what are we doing with Google+?”

And did you know how to answer?

Fear not, there is a Strategy For That. And one that is already in market that you can easily adapt. This is the Five Platform Social Media Strategy.

Today many brands are executing across multiple social platforms because they understand their consumers are also engaging across multiple platforms. They also know that the nature of how these consumers engage with each other in social spaces continues to evolve. They know they need to fish where the fish are, and this might mean casting a line into multiple ponds.

So What Has This To Do With Google+?

Well, the June 28th launch of Google+ meant there is another platform we will soon need to include in this framework. So consider this a guide to being ready to integrate G+ into your Five Platform Strategy framework when the time is right.

continue reading

Google + vs. Facebook: the debate has begun online and offline, both sides come armed with some pretty strong ammo. Google+ joined the social arena earlier this month with beta testers and changed the game, as some may say, of social networking permanently.

Google +’s features may seem similar to Facebook’s at first glance. With chat functionality, status updates, multimedia sharing and group collaboration capabilities, the two social networks appear pretty similar on paper. Upon further examination of tools and functions, we see distinct differences. continue reading

Music: the most social concept in the world. We make music together, we play music for others, we enjoy music in groups and we make music before we can even speak. Music crosses cultural boundaries and can become viral in an instant. This is why music fits in, so naturally, to our world of social media.

Let’s check out the current social music consumption landscape:

iTunes rules at music organization. Pandora takes the cake for music discovery. Grooveshark has the gold medal for playlist creation through streaming. Turntable revolutionized the game of social music enjoyment and Indaba has connected social to the music creation process. Nearly two weeks ago, Spotify came to the U.S. and changed the face of social music consumption for good.

continue reading

The reign of the smartphone, with its bells and whistles, is undeniable. As we’ve shared before [Medical Monday: The Importance of Mobile in 2011], by 2015 an estimated 500 million people will be using mobile apps on smartphones. It is clear that companies across industries have embraced the mobile app as a way to reach key audiences, and the healthcare industry is no exception.

So as you can imagine, when the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced  draft guidance on the use of mobile apps last week, it was met with much fanfare. The guidance focuses largely on defining what is and isn’t considered a “mobile medical app,” and therefore what would and would not be subject to FDA regulation.

The guidance applies to m-health (mobile health) apps that meet the following criteria:

continue reading

Chart by Leon Haland

After launching Wave and Buzz to poor reviews and little pick-up in user base, Google had a low bar to clear with Google+. Now that Google+ has acquired 10 million users in 16 days and is receiving accolades for user interface as well as high responsiveness from the Google+ engineering team on the platform itself, the social media community is asking itself “what does the future hold for Google+?” Moreover, as social network users, we each need to ask ourselves on what platforms we’ll share our information and content - and with whom.

If you are looking for a comprehensive overview of all aspects of Google+, I encourage you to check out the complete guide to the platform compiled by Ben Parr at Mashable. In this post, I’ll give you the very brief overview of key elements of Google+ and how you can get the most out of using them.

continue reading

User-generated content can be an inexpensive, effective way to boost the video component of a campaign and increase brand engagement. But the downside is that you have very little control over the content and quality of the video that’s coming back to you … video you assured your client would be a great addition to their program and representative of their brand. (Is anyone else breaking into a cold sweat?)

As much as you’d like to be at every shoot with a professional crew to ensure material with real viewer benefit is being created, lighting looks good, and all cell phones with a Macarena ring tone are silenced … it’s not feasible on a limited budget. When you’re counting on fans to create their own videos or mailing Flip cameras to bloggers … just pressing record doesn’t cut it. These simple production tips will provide direction when you can’t be there to call the shots … and help you when you’re putting on your producer hat and filming the content yourself.
continue reading

"Death of Dorcon," Marc Chagall, Weinstein Gallery

It’s not groundbreaking to say that Facebook has become the platform of choice for sharing (and over-sharing) major life moments. It’s the first place I learn about engagements, marriages, pregnancies, grad school acceptances, promotions, births, injuries, and loss. Since so much of this news is joyous, I’m happy to hear it, regardless of platform, and eager to have an easy place to “like” the news and share fond words.

However, when the news is sad, difficult to hear, or highly personal, what does the broadcasting, sharing, and engagement-inviting nature of Facebook mean for family and friends?

continue reading

Here are a few funny, entertaining and inspiring things I collected along the way this past week.  The only common thread is that I’ve seen all these things discussed in numerous places, both online and offline.  What did I miss?

GOOOOAAALLLLLL

If you missed the US Women beat Brazil to advance to the World Cup semi-finals, you missed one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen.  In the final seconds of overtime, Megan Rapinoe landed a ball on the head of Abby Wambach, who finished with authority.  This sent the match into penalty kicks, where the US prevailed (since then, the US has advanced to the finals).  The Internet exploded with excitement, and despite FIFA’s best efforts, it can be found here (the break starts about 5 seconds into where I linked the video).

By the way, this is what you get on YouTube when you search for the official video clip of the goal [insert sad trombone here]:

Kenny Powers - MFCEO Of K-Swiss

Not since Old Spice have I seen a brand receive so much Internet love as K-Swiss did this week.  Eastbound and Down is an HBO show about a has-been professional baseball player called Kenny Powers.  Kenny is pretty much the most despicable character on TV, but in a really funny way.  Anyhow, K-Swiss broke a brilliant campaign this week in which Kenny Powers is named CEO of K-Swiss.  There are a series of great video clips on Funny or Die (NOTE: the language is not for the modest) and a cleaner TV version.  Like it or not, this is a brand doing something big, bold and inescapable.

GIFs GIFs Everywhere

Animated GIFs were all the rage this week, apparently because you can post them to Google+.  GIF Shop seems to be the go-to source for creating them yourself, as I’ve done.  Fascinating, I know.  My apologies for not including a cat, which seems to be pretty standard.

How New Yorkers See The Rest Of The US

Thanks to Ogilvy’s Gavin Becker for this gem.  As a former New Yorker I know there’s a lot of truth to it.  The LA-SF note is my favorite.  Click on it to expand.

To echo the thoughts of my colleague Claire: the concept of content sharing happens in more places than simply the online world. Intuitively, we are all constantly creating and sharing things that define who we are. That form of creation can take many forms: a drawing on a refrigerator, an Instagram snapshot, even a simple status update on Facebook or Twitter.

Never before have we had more mediums to express ourselves—yet never before has it been harder to be heard, seen or to generate feedback around the very morsels of content we try to share with the very people we want to see it.

continue reading

Gearing up for Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend, I was checking out the music lineup when I stumbled across the official festival playlist. With free, streaming tracks from some of the best new bands appearing at the event, I had to pass this find along—I didn’t even have to pause before sharing with the people in my social circle.

continue reading