April 2013
2 posts
2 tags
Facebook's greed killed the conversation
I had heard about it, but didn’t give it too much attention until it happened with me – Facebook page notification box has been replaced by reach data of the page’s latest posts. And there’s no option to get back notifications. It looks like this:
This is bad for businesses and their customers. Let me tell you why.[[MORE]]
One more click to get to your customers
Previously...
3 tags
Facebook bug lets page admins to message users...
It’s actually pretty simple – if you are an admin of a Facebook page, all you have to do is – start chat with anyone via that small chat box at the bottom of your browser, then open a new tab, navigate to a page you manage, choose the option “Use Facebook as [your page]”, go back to the tab where you have your chat open and send another message – your friend has received a...
March 2013
2 posts
2 tags
What can we learn from Richard Wagner's...
Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to watch Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin” in Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. To make long story short – it’s about love, false accusations, deceit and betrayal.
The scene which got me thinking was when Count Friedrich accuses (falsely, because his wife has deceived him) Duke’s sister, Elsa, of murdering her...
1 tag
Post privacy gating for Facebook pages
This is a feature that mimics Facebook ad targeting for your page’s everyday posts. It can come in as pretty handy, when you have message which might be interesting for a limited audience or shouldn’t be seen by anyone outside of it) — for example, just people in an exact geographical location (like city or country), or speakers of one or more languages.[[MORE]]
Turning it on
In...
February 2013
2 posts
2 tags
Idea for online music services
And for other things as well.
Usually, when I’m at work, I listen to online radios and streaming services like Pandora & 8tracks. The music stream is endless and what I’ve noticed about myself when a lot of times during the day my listening is being interrupted.
The interesting thing is how I act when I do have to take my headphones out of my ears. When there’s a song I...
3 tags
My Instagram's tipping point
Not so long ago (in the middle of December) Instagram changed their “Terms of Service” which created a massive uproar between users and media. A lot of users and even brands threatened to leave the service. Some really did leave (National Geographic, for example). This wasn’t the first time Instagram was unable to please everyone.
So, I would like to point out this and some...
January 2013
3 posts
You don't have to be on social media to reap its...
At first it might sound strange. Even ridiculous. But it’s not. Not always the best social media strategy is to be on social media. Of course, it helps to have your own communications channel, to grow your regular audience and to have a place where your customers can speak directly to you. But this post is about other kinds of use of social media. [[MORE]]
Remember Old Spice videos? Yeah,...
Don't be afraid to cannibalize your own products...
This post is written with digital products/services in mind, but these thoughts can be applied to other (offline) businesses as well.
Your competitors won’t be afraid to do this for you
It’s nice to have a steady stream of income and to feel safe about the future. The thing is you shouldn’t. This has happened many times before — both recently and more in the past. One of...
6 tags
This is why friend lists/groups/circles don't work
Just lately* more and more of my friends have started to use Facebook more and there is one pretty interesting trend that has got me thinking about bigger things on how social networks operate — my friends are creating one FB group after another and the same happens with FB chats which are created for special occasions.[[MORE]]
For example, FB chat room for one party’s visitors — to talk...
December 2012
3 posts
2 tags
Twitter has added new (and very nice) background...
Yeah, for some time we have struggled to understand, how much space we have on twitter’s background for use of passing on various kind of information. Since the background images have been fixed to the left side of browser’s window, it hasn’t been an easy task. There was no “one size fits all” option.
Now, twitter has updated this and we have new options:
I...
1 tag
Has Facebook devalued its own features?
As a marketer I’m always following shifts in social media and other digital channels. I’ve always been a big fan of content marketing, but for know it seems that content marketing is and should be moving away from social networks (in this article it’s more about Facebook). Let me give you a few points to think about.
Follower number is irrelevant
This has always been a...
2 tags
Twitter vs. Instagram – why it doesn’t make any...
There has been some speculating on why this is happening and what consequences this might bring for twitter, Instagram & Facebook. Last week I also commented on this matter for Latvian PR news outlet – 7guru.lv.
It started as a somewhat logical action from the twitter – they removed their integration in the popular photo sharing app Instagram. Most likely this was out of fear from Facebook –...
November 2012
1 post
Fill your profile information
This should go without saying, but I still see a lot of bad examples out there. From time to time I check my follower list and sometimes it really surprises me how many words some company use just to tell nothing.
“We sell clothes”, “we organize events” or “we fix your homes” will suffice. Don’t go over the top while trying to be funny or to promise...
October 2012
4 posts
“1. Write
2. Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
3....”
– Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing | Brain Pickings
1 tag
“When asked how companies could improve customer service, 17% of 16-24 and 25-34...”
– Why Do Customers Use Social Networks for Customer Service? Because They Can… - Brian Solis
4 tags
Social networks are the ones keeping online &...
Recently more and more advertisers in Latvia have started to put their Facebook addresses and page names on their outdoor ads. While I’m happy that social networks are becoming more important in the whole marketing hierarchy, these ads got me thinking. [[MORE]]
My problem? This is cumbersome. So, there are couple of ways how to promote Facebook page on a billboard:
your FB page address...
1 tag
AMC Theatres vs. Oreo - everybody won
What started off like a simple (can’t find the right word) question
[[MORE]]
Gained attention of someone involved & earned a witty answer
Which had to be complimented
And then came the best part (of this conversation)
That’s it.
That’s how even big and established brands can be funny & relevant without going too far. At this situation AMC Theatres could’ve...
September 2012
16 posts
“Consumer-tracking service NPD says TV sets are now the most popular way to watch...”
– Just Another Screen | Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Blog - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image
“You may not be able to measure how many buyers are coming directly from...”
– 4 Tips to Evangelize Your Brand on Facebook | Social Media Examiner
Ignoring negative feedback on social media
At this point this should be a no-brainer. Yet so many companies and businesses choose not to address complaints on social media. One might ask — why is it so wrong?
While social media as a communication channel offers vast opportunities, it also offers big threats. As mentioned in previous sentence — it’s a communications channel. Would you risk not picking up the phone or not answering...
“Twitter responded by emphasizing that the “fake follower” problem...”
– Twitter Cofounder Suggests A Replacement For The Follower Count
2 tags
My 3 favorite iOS6 features
Do Not Disturb - when this feature is on, the phone will not disturb you. No calls, no e-mails, no messages, no notifications. Also, it’s possible to set up exceptions - for example, for family members or boss. There is also an option to set that second call from the same person within 3 minute interval will go through and the phone will notify you.
[[MORE]]
No more entering the password...
1 tag
My three reasons for trying the facebook offers
You’ll reward your fans with a special offer. A good deed goes a long way
You’ll reach friends of your fans. As Facebook puts it: “It’s one of the most viral type of posts you can create on your page.”
You’ll be able to measure how many of your fans are actually your potential customers. You’ll be able to correlate your online activity with offline...
“It’s amazing what you can achieve if you don’t care who gets the...”
– Harry Truman
“Apple, get a life”
– Comment next to an article about how Apple once again is suing Samsung
“Why would people pay for the privilege of working harder at their chosen sport...”
– Charles Coonradt - Grandfather of Gamification
1 tag
Facebook: How to fix wall post with wrong copy...
This is from personal experience - yesterday I saw a wall post with picture which had a special offer on it, but the copy of this wall post had different price for that offer. Since I already knew about this offer for a while, I thought that it was made even better/updated, but they hadn’t bothered to update the visual – so I went to check it out.
It turned out that the copy was wrong. I...
“The most pressing concern from marketers who manage social media for global...”
– Solving The Ultimate Social Media Challenge - Expion
“If you want to be a well-paid copywriter, please your client. If you want to be...”
– Steve Hayden /via Rihards Gromuls/
5 tags
Does your business need an app?
Apps are cool, I like apps. They let you (me) do more stuff with your (my) smartphone. Nonetheless, not all apps are cool and help you do more stuff. I’m writing this for you – Marketing manager, director, Chief Marketing Officer or Small Business Owner – to help you understand if you are ready or in need for an app.[[MORE]]
Apps are expensive
This shouldn’t come as surprise. Development...
“Here’s an example of how this influence data could be used in a very real...”
– Azeem Azhar, Founder of PeerIndex (via @markwschaefer’s book “Return on Influence”)
1 tag
First step in social media
I recommend starting with twitter. There are some reasons that come to mind first:
• It doesn’t require a lot of resources – other social media sites require more visuals and take more time to understand how they work
• It’s easy to start conversation and to speak up to people who you want to be connected with
• It’ll give the feeling how the social media works and a lot of principles you’ll...
3 tags
Why 100 friends are worth more than 1000...
This is a no brainer. Every social media “expert” at any given time is ready to spill out this magical sentence: “on social media 100 friends are worth more than 1000 acquaintances” as soon as someone starts (or is about to start) bragging about the number of followers.
Why is it that talking to 100 people is better than talking to 1000 people? That makes no sense, this is marketing – we want...
August 2012
3 posts
2 tags
Twitter, where are the analytics?
Twitter isn’t the only one to blame on this. There isn’t a social network which (in my opinion) would deserve a nomination for “complete and understandable statistics”. For twitter, there are three numbers I would like to see.
Sources of new followers
A lot of things would be more clear to a lot of marketers i they knew where their followers came from. For example-...
3 tags
Where Twitter beats Foursquare in local pt.2
Local campaigns to get the word out about business or event
Campaign or everyday activity including a well-designed hashtag can create much bigger buzz than foursquare special. Of course, rewarding loyal customers or delivering specials is foursquare’s strong suit, but they’ll have to keep innovating to prove that they are as good as twitter in getting the word out about new place, event or...
3 tags
Where Twitter beats Foursquare in local pt.1
Foursquare is THE service, when we think about the combination of local and mobile. No discussions on that. Nonetheless, there are areas where foursquare falls short and twitter is there to beat them. This is the first part – from user’s perspective.[[MORE]]
Live conversations on the spot
Foursquare might connect people via locations, but they are connecting only those who are already...
July 2012
1 post
5 tags
Social networks have some innovating to do in...
Social networks right now are huge. They’re everywhere, everyone is on them and there are some of them which are just starting out, going viral or becoming mainstream. And it seems that they’re here to stay, because we love to connect to other people, share and find interesting content. There is one part of previous sentence that (in my opinion) is overhyped – connecting with other...
June 2012
3 posts
1 tag
How Facebook's unique visitor numbers could turn...
This post is about: comScore have just released data implying that Facebook’s unique visitor numbers are dropping. See the TNW article here: http://tnw.to/l0JS
If the trend of fewer unique visitors will continue, it can turn into pretty ugly scene in a very short period of time. Here are a few directions in which it could go down:[[MORE]]
a) Marketers stop (minimise) investing their...
1 tag
Simple and Unified Phone Rating System: A Solution...
Problem:
In the good old days, when we had Celeron, Pentium II and other “newest and fastest” processors, 96mb RAMs and all that other stuff. That’s how it was like when I got my first computer. I was proud owner of PC and soon after that I was completely aware of my computer’s specifications, so I could buy games which were to run smoothly on my PC. At first, there...
2 tags
How foursquare lost track and went for that...
Second week of June came with a surprise from foursquare. Their completely redesigned app landed and had already some good reviews from people I respect- even before I had noticed that an update of foursquare is available.
Since the first comments were positive, I overlooked the fact that it took me some time to find and do things, like, finding out who is near me, checking in and finding out...
May 2012
9 posts
2 tags
The dangerous desire to believe in the next big...
From time to time there comes a rising star, which quickly gets picked up by social media enthusiasts, news sites, advertisers and soon after there already are some creative „pilot” campaigns. While these campaigns create buzz around them and are great examples of creativity and benefits to being a pioneer, others quietly come to conclusion that this actually might be the next big thing (which...
4 tags
Facebook Camera app is a small step in the right...
In the past weeks Facebook has released two new mobile apps- Facebook Camera & Pages. This blog post will be about the Camera app and a bit later I will take up Pages as well.
I already did a blog post a while back about the importance of focusing on one feature when building a mobile app. And a while after that I learn that Facebook has released dedicated mobile app for sharing photos. It...
2 tags
This works: Bike
This is the first post in a series in where I’ll tell about things/concepts that I use to get things done both at work and other areas of my life. I have a bad feeling that this’ll lead to a line of posts about iPhone apps, but I hope that you’ll stick with me in this journey, trying to beat that hunch.
I’ve had this pretty thing for a little bit more than a week and this is the real deal. No...
5 tags
You wouldn’t put stickers on your customer’s cars...
It’s great that you have created a twitter-enabled app for showing off your newest product line or allowing your customers to enter sweepstakes to win some great stuff. I’m cool with that.
But never, never tweet on user’s behalf (using access to their twitter account they’ve given you by logging in to the app) without them knowing that & without them giving you distinct permission for that...
1 tag
3 reasons why it’s a bad idea to follow 2000...
Everyone has seen one. Most often, these are companies who are just starting out on twitter and just don’t know better, but in some cases these are individuals who are desperate for attention. Here are my three reasons for not doing that:
It’s a miserable call for attention and looks exactly like one. Follow a few accounts you know could be interested in you or even people you know, who would...
4 tags
Idea: Localmind, Color and Foursquare would have a...
Idea behind Color actually was pretty cool. I just think that posting photos was a bit too much too soon. Text updates would have been more subtle choice. Photos are the next step after that.
Foursquare, on the other hand, is pretty good at local & showing where are your friends. The thing they don’t do too well- local conversations about relevant & real-time topics. Sure, there...
6 tags
Possible future of social networks: Niche social...
A little backstory: I was lucky to participate as a listener in lecture/discussion “Talks of those, who create- backstage of twitter & draugiem.lv” (title is translated; it might be a little off).
People giving presentations were Kristaps Skutelis, Jānis Palkavnieks and Artūrs Mednis. The one which raised most of my interest was the one given by Jānis Palkavnieks- he’s spokesperson of...
5 tags
Building a mobile app. Do it step by step....
This thought has been brewing in my mind for a while. Reason is that lately there are more and more businesses that have decided that they should deliver on mobile as well. That’s cool. I completely support that and urge others to think about this. The better you will cater to your customers, the more returning business you’ll have.
Problem: Mobile apps are clumsy, ugly and instead of...
5 tags
Future of file storage in cloud– don't cancel your...
As I tweeted when the news about Google Drive broke out, I believe that “It won’t be about GBs, it’ll be about the service.” For those who have taken a stand on one end of this dipute or another, I would like to bring up some topics which are relevant when we try to predict which of the services (Dropbox, Google Drive, Skydrive, iCloud, boxnet, etc.) will come out of this...
April 2012
14 posts
IMDB.COM - opportunity to be a great tool & niche...
This actually disturbs me on regular basis. I am a registered member of GetGlue, but I haven’t logged in to the service for a pretty long time (for the sake of this post I did, but you get what I’m talking about). On the other hand, I regularly use imdb.com- I browse “top” lists for movies I haven’t seen. I’m not a big fan of “liking” things and...
