Twitter has given small groups of users the chance to review information about their followers through its new analytics platform, reports mashable.com.

Originally an exclusive for advertising partners, certain accounts will have seen the option to see analytics on social media content – in this case tweets - replaced with a tool that delves deep into their lists of followers.

This includes a break down of their interests, locations and gender, while a separate chart displays follower growth. Other third-party services like Klout and Favstar do provide some of this information through various applications, but this is Twitter’s first attempt at releasing a tool of its own. 

Earlier this week, the site quietly opened up a number of analytics tools to the public, giving every account holder free access to a comprehensive dashboard displaying the number of retweets, favourites and click-throughs gained by every post.  

This now appears to have been pulled as part of a series of tests by the network.

A representative from Twitter told pcmag.com that developers had “experimented” with rolling out the first analytics tool to all users, but refused to provide any information regarding a wider roll out for its latest addition.

“We’ve been happy with the response thus far and will determine next steps after the conclusion of these tests.”

Twitter introduces analytics platform to select few originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 14, 2013.

CollegeHumour, which welcomes funny videos and content, attracts around 15 million unique visitors per month and has posted impressive, sustained growth in recent years.

Now, CEO Paul Greenberg has offered brands using content marketing a number of tips he’s picked up along the way to help ensure such campaigns are a success.

Number one on Greenberg’s list was to start with talented people. It was noted that most material floating around the web was “unadulterated dreck”, meaning that anything of better quality will stand out a mile.

Another point was that of content volume. Greenberg said that businesses will need to offer a little more than just one blog a week, so should get creating as much material as they can. A steady stream of content will be more effective, especially as an audience grows.

It was also advised to push content out across a number of different mediums. Certain posts have the potential to go viral by being shared on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Enabling this to happen offers marketers a much better chance of seeing their content reach much larger audiences.

Lastly, Greenberg advocated patience. He said that not all pieces will be resounding successes, but all should be effective in the long run.

“They’re not all going to be gems,” he told inagist.com, ”but you get enough hits so that people start to realise: ‘Wow, these guys have something interesting going on.’”

CollegeHumour CEO offers content marketing advice originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 14, 2013.

Twitter has chimed the final bell for its TweetDeck app by retiring API v1 as part of the transition to the new API v1.1, reports slashgear.com.

The retirement of API v1 will see users kicked off TweetDeck as well as SilverBird and DestroyTwitter without so much as a warning, although numerous blackout tests, blog posts and announcements from the microblogging site had hinted at their fate.

PC and Mac users of TweetDeck will still be able to use the app through its Web and Chrome versions, but the pulling of API v1 signals the end for the account-gathering client on Android and iOS devices.

As reported by cnet.com, the news means users will now have to find an alternative app to view multiple Twitter accounts and their social media content simultaneously.

Many popular apps heeded Twitter’s warnings and decided to move to the new API, but some of the more popular clients – TweetDeck included – have decided to close down their operation due to restrictions on smaller apps.

For one, API v1.1 places restrictions on how often third-party apps can access information on the site. Developers will also have to seek permission from Twitter if they want to grow their number of users to over 100,000. 

This of course will make it harder for new Twitter clients to gain popularity. The updated API will however help the site in reducing the number of spam accounts and bots that use its service.  

Twitter pulls plug on TweetDeck for Android, iPhone originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 13, 2013.

Facebook has announced it is to start linking hashtags to enable its users to monitor trends, bbc.co.uk reports.

The hashtag, which originated on Twitter to follow breaking news and trends, has since been adopted by Facebook users, even though – until now – they have not been hyperlinked.

Facebook’s most recent announcement, however, looks set to change all that, by adding support to hashtags which will allow users to navigate through pages by clicking on them.

This announcement means Facebook has finally followed in the footsteps of not only Twitter but Google+, Instagram (which is actually owned by Facebook), LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tumblr.

The social network also announced that its development could assist with sales for brands using it for their social media marketing. If, for example, a breaking news story or trend is related to a product or service, brands could see their name appear more often as people post and click-through related hashtags.

A post made on newsroom.fb.com announcing the change said: “Hashtags are just the first step to help people more easily discover what others are saying about a specific topic and participate in public conversations.

“We’ll continue to roll out more features in the coming weeks and months, including trending hashtags and deeper insights, that help people discover more of the world’s conversations.”

Facebook announces support for hashtags originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 13, 2013.

A new study has revealed that while consumers aren’t quite ‘talking TV’ on social media every time they tune into a show, there is huge potential for growth.  

The Council for Research Excellence’s Social Media Committee surveyed more than 1,700 adults aged between 18-54 to find that only 12 per cent used social media related to television at least once daily.

The number did however jump to 37 per cent when it came to interacting with TV on social media once a week. Furthermore, according to cbslocal.com, half of the respondents said they watched TV concurrently with using social media.

The challenge for social media marketing agencies therefore is to try and connect the two devices with their posting on the likes of Twitter and Facebook.

Sci-fi, sports and news programmes were found to have the strongest interaction overall, while reality TV shows are also receiving a great deal of buzz around social networks.

Mediapost.com says the study also identified a group called ‘Super Connectors’, made up of those most likely to use social media when viewing their favourite shows. The study says these consumers tend to be younger and usually female.

Beth Rockwood, the senior VP of market resources of Discovery Communications, who chairs the CRE’s Social Media Committee, said the study had helped her company gain crucial insights about the increased role of television in social media.

“It also has given us a better understanding of how measurement of consumer behaviours can be improved, as well as the characteristics of the ’Super Connectors’, the most active and influential users of social media,” she added. 

Study reveals potential for growth in link up of social media and TV originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 12, 2013.

An “etiquette expert” has offered businesses advice on the best ways to present themselves on social media.

William Hanson, who has appeared in TV and magazines to offer advice on the best etiquette, has now turned his attention to social media marketing, talking to guardian.co.uk about the best ways for businesses to converse on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Where Twitter was concerned, Hanson advocated the adage: “think before you tweet”, even in the case of people who mention in their bios that the views expressed do not represent the company for which they work.

He also urged businesses to retweet and respond appropriately to messages received in order to show a business is listening and not just talking.

Furthermore, for those with multiple accounts, Hanson said to exercise care in making sure the right messages are sent from the right account. This, he said, would avoid the outcome which befell Microsoft, when an employee used the official account to insult a conservative talking head instead of their personal one.

For LinkedIn, Hanson said “authenticity and integrity” are key, with the network being used almost exclusively for business. This, he said, also extends to profile pictures, which should be formal and sober. As such, Hanson said that no picture at all would be better than one taken at a nightclub.

“It’s all basic, common sense stuff,” Hanson told zoombotv.com, ”but the trouble with common sense today is that it’s not that common.”

Etiquette expert offers social media advice originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 12, 2013.

Charities using social media marketing to raise funds may get the best result by targeting the Welsh, new research suggests.

A new study by Give as you Live has aimed to map the most successful ways of fundraising around the country in a bid to identify geographical trends, sourcewire.com reports.

It found that, where social media was concerned, it was the Welsh who were most connected, with 58 per cent of its people connecting with charities via Facebook and 37 per cent doing so on Twitter. Comparatively, these figures were 47 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in Scotland.

When looking across all social networks, the Welsh follow charities on almost all of their social networks – more than any other UK nation.

Elsewhere, Scots were deemed to be the most affected by emotive advertising, whilst those in Northern Ireland were more generous – but less likely to be swayed by such advertisements.

The English, meanwhile, had some of the biggest spenders, but couldn’t be crowned most generous because many do not give directly to charities, which those in Northern Ireland did.

Commenting on the results, CEO and founder of Give as you Live, Polly Gowers, told responsesource.com: “Charity supporters across the UK are really generous and have been embracing new ways to give, in these cash-strapped times.”

Welsh give most to charities through social media originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 12, 2013.

Content marketing can be used to build brand recognition and expand a potential client base, business2community.com reports.

Marketing blogger Ryan Currie advocated the use of content to build awareness and make a brand synonymous with the industry in which they operate.

He claimed that regular content can tie a product or service to a brand with large swathes of the population. Then, as more content is published, the larger an audience can be created and the more closely the business will be tied to their industry.

Where expanding a client base was concerned, Currie said that content marketing material was simply much more interesting and shareable than many other options currently available. Banner ads, for example, were deemed to be unlikely to garner many clicks, whereas a funny and informative video would do. Furthermore, users will then share this material and propagate it across all their networks.

“No one wants to do business with a brand that’s outdated, stale or stagnant,” Currie told marketingblogs.com.

“In today’s world of content marketing, your business has to be an open book… and that’s a good thing! The more information you put out about the inner workings of your company the more people will trust you and associate your company with innovation and honesty. Keeping your finger on the pulse of your industry in order to write relevant content means you have to be plugged in.”

Content marketing ideal for brand recognition originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 11, 2013.

Visual content should be used alongside text-based material to freshen up a content marketing strategy, one expert has claimed.

Writing for smallbiztrends.com, blogger Boney Pandya claimed that the internet is increasingly existing in a “visual world”, which needed to be reflected in marketing efforts.

Thus, Pandya claimed, the likes of infographics, instructographics or videos could prove to be the most effective tools businesses can add to their content marketing arsenal.

This was deemed to be especially true for brands sharing their content online, as sites such as Facebook and Twitter promote glancing over pieces as opposed to delving into them entirely. Seeing a slew of paragraphs is likely to put readers off, he added, whereas visually-rich materials which users can take information from at a glance are likely to be more successful.

When it came to creating such content, however, Pandya warned businesses that it needed to be original or they could face large-scale penalties.

Pandya told funder.org: “One rule that should be stated before we go any further is that it is extremely important that you supply original visual content.

“The same rules that apply to textual content marketing apply to visual content marketing: don’t copy someone else’s idea or design. Be creative or your content won’t make it on the public’s radar (or Google’s for that matter).”

Visual content effective in social environment originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 11, 2013.

Vine has only been available for five months, but the mobile application may have already surpassed photo-sharing app Instagram in terms of popularity.

According to abcnews.go.com, Topsy, a San Francisco analytics company, uploaded a Vine clip onto its Twitter account with the aim of gaining as many shares as possible. The company then posted a still image from the clip onto Instagram to see which would form of media would emerge with more reposts.

Analytics.topsy.com reports that on June 7, just four days after Vine was made available to Android users, the video had amassed 2.86 million shares on Twitter.

This was far more than the number of shares achieved by the Instagram photo, which stood at 2.17 million. 

The company is yet to comment on how Vine has been able to effectively dethrone Instagram in such a short space of time, but this may have been down to the former app offering something a little more advanced.   

Twitter’s Vine product allows users to create six second video clips and post them onto the app, whereas the Facebook-owned Instagram allows people to take a photos, put their snaps through a filter and upload it to their account.

Both services allow media to be shared or embedded on social networks, and it’s of little surprise to find that many brands are using the apps as part of their social media marketing activity.

However, as Vine starts to gain momentum, it remains to be seen whether Instagram can still remain relevant.

Vine outperforms Instagram in test originally appeared on Red Rocket Media News on June 11, 2013.