Marketing Tech News

Marketers have sought to utilise the creative potential of Vine to communicate their brands through video. While the benefit of the format is that an effective and eye-catching video can be put together quickly, even in a number of seconds, it should be said that Vine-based marketing can definitely benefit from a well thought out approach.

Mark Zuckerberg’s less-than-official attire of hoodie and jeans when pitching Facebook to Wall Street investors famously got the backs up of the banking fraternity, yet the Palo Alto firm was subsequently valued at $104bn (£66bn), at approximately $38 (£24) a share. But as Facebook's IPO turns one year old, MarketingTech examines the impact of the IPO on the social giant during the past 12 months.

It goes without saying that Zuck and his Palo Alto-based nerds are introducing hashtags in an attempt to yield higher dividends for their shareholders. They've seen the success of Twitter's adoption, and they want in on the action.

Facebook and Twitter have both become integral parts of many web users' digital lives, whether they are accessed on the best ultrabook or the humble office PC, or even on smartphones and tablets. Consequently, both social media sites are also vital in a business context, offering companies the opportunity to reach millions of potential customers. Each however has particular strengths and weaknesses, and therefore needs to be used differently to help generate profits.

When it comes to building an online presence, the savviest of social folk know that to stay ahead in today's evolving social media landscape, you must engage with key industry influencers. Have you ever tried to buy Facebook fans or Twitter followers? You've found little or no traction, right? Right. That's because it's pointless. You can't buy affection and engagement.

A few weeks ago, we noticed that a few other major businesses are...well...less than happy to respond to customer queries in a polite, helpful manner, particularly when there's a negative slant to them. One of the most recent examples of this was at Cineworld.

Over the past few years, internet memes have been growing in popularity among social media websites. Some have found huge success, while others quickly faded into internet obscurity. A recent study decided to look into what turns a meme into a success or a failure, with the hope of predicting the next popular meme.

Social media has lifted the skirt of customer communications, precipitating a power-shift in the conversation between brands and their fans. And in the resulting consumer environment, there's nowhere to hide, meaning transparency and honesty are vital ingredients to successfully implementing social media as a platform.