Way back in December of last year (an eternity in Social Media Network time) Facebook announced that a new timeline design was coming. Mashable broke the story here, and apparently New Zealand got to play guinea pig before the rest of us. Yeah, New Zealand always gets the good stuff first. 

Facebook introduced the 'new and improved' version of timeline, coming soon to your profile. Mine just showed up today. I know several people who have had it for some time. But if you haven't yet been admitted through the velvet ropes to the new layout, I will detail some of the significant changes.

Now that you've seen my new timeline above, let's talk about the major changes. The 'tabs' are back and the tiles are out - see the toolbar right under your name with Timeline, About, Friends, Photos? Their behavior may remind you of the infamous 'tabs' from the previous layout. The two column layout holds everything that you post to Facebook on the right side with, you guessed it, bigger photos. 

The left column now holds your About, Friends, Photos, Places, Music, TV shows, Books, Games etc. each in their own little modules. If you have connected Instagram and Pinterest to your Facebook account they will show up here too. Hook up your Pinterest account to Facebook and everything you pin will appear in that box and in your timeline. You can customize who sees what, so if you're a hard core Instagramer/Pinner, you can limit your distribution of sepia toned cat pictures to those who are interested. 

The new "Edit sections" part is interesting because you can arrange the order in which the left column modules load. Would you prefer to show off your Instagram photos over your Pins? To access, just rollover the top right side of any of the modules to get a little edit button. Click and you'll get this box.

If you really hate the new layout (and of course, true to Facebook tradition, everyone will for a couple months and then adapt and forget) you can add a plugin to your browser and revert it to a single column layout. I'm sticking with the new one, it's lean and clean. Hard to gauge the zeitgeist on this one, but I've seen plenty of whining. Remember Facebook's philosophy- "Move fast and break things." 

Final thought--I am pretty sure these changes foreshadow big News Feed changes that are afoot. Get your name on that waiting list here. Let's see if we can beat New Zealand this time. 

As the saying goes, "A picture is worth ten thousand words."  And in social media, no truer words were spoken.  With a plethora of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, the power of visual marketing is abundant.  In fact, Facebook has more photos uploaded than Flickr, Instagram and even the Library of Congress.  So how can brands harness this power and gain more brand affinity and engagement through visual marketing?  The truth is, most marketers are missing the point. 

We have a lot of bad habits from our traditional media practices that we hold onto that are really ineffective in this new medium.  It seems like mass media, but the rise of social networks and digital media has created an opportunity to create real and meaningful dialogue with our audiences on a one-to-one level through technology.  That technology has become ever-present and critical component to everything we do.  But while the technology is key to distribution, the story is what matters to the audience.  And this is something we must not take lightly.  Combine that with the right visuals in photos, videos, infographics, and you're onto something.

So how to you get there?  First you have to uncover the underlying motivations of why people share in the first place.  To give value and entertainment to others, to provide a sense of who we are, to stay connected and build relationships with others, to create personal involvement and stay connected with others, and to persuade others to care about what we care about.* 

*Source: NYTimes Customer Insight Group study

It's the content, in the right context, that will ultimately drive conversation. The intersection of where you (as a brand) can share what you want to say and what they (as your audience) are interested in consuming.  Relevance is key to great content.  Timing is also extremely important.  You must consider how the consumer is bombarded with content and navigate the right communication path to ensure your content gets seen, heard, read and shared.

To address which visual platforms would work best for your brand, it would be best to ask yourself these questions - What are your brand's goals? What are your brand's resources? Where is your brand's audience?

Then you can decide which platforms make the most sense for your brand's content.

Here's the lowdown on the platforms:

Pinterest: Reflects aspirational desire and "want" - intent to purchase with aethesthically beautiful photos.  For Brands - huge opportunity to express brand ideals, authenticity and style. 

Instagram: It's about art, not ads.  Be the brand, not the product. Fuels into other networks so use as an opportunity to cross-promote.

Tumblr: Blogging platform; social network; content distribution platform - use when you are trying to young adults.  Most popular with 13-25 year olds.  "Facebook is where teens and young adults connect with family and friends - Tumblr is where they connect with like-minded people about topics they care about" - Tim Peter

Key Takeaways:

You can get the full presentation on slideshare and watch a video recapping the presentation below. 

You don’t have to win The Super Bowl to have an excuse to go to Disney World in February, you just have to keep tabs on the Ragan Communications’ Events calendar. I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of beautiful, sunny days with a few hundred of the best and brightest minds in communications last week at the 6^th Annual Social Media for PR and Corporate Communications Conference at the Walt Disney World Resort.

The conference featured presentations from communications professionals at Disney Parks, The Phoenix Suns, Whole Foods, Google, ESPN, Southwest Airlines, Marvel, Microsoft and Zappos to name a few.

I was fortunate enough to participate in a panel discussion about how brands can use Pinterest for Storytelling. The panel featured Whole Foods’ Michael Aaron Bepko, Global Online Community Manager; Samantha Hosenkamp, Social Media Director of Ragan Communications, and Kevin Dando, Director of Marketing Communications for PBS.

As a supplement to the ideas I shared during the lively discussion (thanks to everyone that turned out to pack the room during our session), here are 6 tips brands can use to leverage Pinterest for brand storytelling:

1. Incentivize Your Community to Participate - consider sponsoring contests and promotions to reward your community for generating content on the platform. For example, start a "Pin It to Win It" campaign where Pinners - users who pin specific images related to your brand. Everyone that pins within the guidelines of your promotion are entered to win a prize or some recognition for their efforts. Perhaps the winner serves as your Pinterest brand ambassador or gets some more formal role for a period of time (e.g. summer intern for your brand).

2. Tell Your Story Over Time - use a Pinterest board like you would time-lapse photography or a flip book to tell your story. Do you own a pumpkin patch you want people to come to this fall? Start by pinning images of you unpacking the seeds, planting the seeds, watering the seeds, watching the seeds sprout, etc. - tell the story of pictures all the way through families coming out to your pumpkin patch to get their prized selections. You can do this over the course of a long period of time, or you can do it in a day - for example, show images of your upcoming road race starting with setting up the course, runners starting to pile in each hour, people running the race, and the first and last people to cross the finish line. There are endless opportunities for using images over a designated period of time like this.

3. Guess The Picture - ask your audience a trivia question, with an image-based question. For example, guess the destination we're sending one lucky winner too. Take a picture of the event and cut it up into 20 different images. Post different pieces of your image puzzle over the course of the contest and enter all correct guessers into a drawing to win - then pin a picture of the winner receiving their prize.

4. New Product Launches - there's no rule that says you can't use your Pinboards to promote the products or services you sell. When you get in a fresh batch of your latest product, why not pin an image of those products going onto the shelves? Come in and get yours before they're all gone. Feel free to update the board as your limited supply leaves the shelves - you just might drive in-store traffic. You can do the same with sale items, clearance items or event items that you sell online. Show images of your trucks being loaded with product heading out to all your retail stores if you're a wholesaler. Customers buy from you, why not remind them what they buy?

5. It's Okay to Be Fun and Goofy - you don't have to be serious with everything on Pinterest. Consider putting a funny or witty spin on the drab and boring stuff some might perceive about your business. GE does a great job of this with their "Big Ass Machines" board. They show pictures of, well, big ass machines they manufacture. They could have called the board something more descriptive (and boring), but we wouldn't be talking about it. What do you joke about inside the company that people outside your company wouldn't know about? That type of stuff can be gold on Pinterest.

6. Pay It Forward - it's not all about you. Consider sharing content from other brands' boards to generate interest for your own brands. Are you inspired by the products and services other brands post on their boards? Create a board of your inspirations or things you love and share it with your community. Those brands - and the people enjoying your curated content - will reward you by sharing your content. Pay it forward.

BONUS: here's a bonus tip for you… are you looking for clever images to include with your blog posts? Embed an image from your Pinterest board as the visual to complement your next blog post. You'll drive traffic to your Pinterest boards from your blog - but you'll also attract new readers to your blog from Pinterest.

What ideas do you have for telling your brand stories via Pinterest? How can your favorite brands leverage Pinterest to make their content more interesting and engaging? What are you doing on Pinterest that our readers would be interested in? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Want more about Pinterest? Check out these Definition 6 resources:

• Download our guide to getting started with Pinterest
• Watch a video interview of Jon Accarrino talking about Pinterest at a past Ragan event
• Stay tuned to the Ragan Communications site for video from this conference – we hope the panel discussion will be shared with the community in the weeks to come

Check out our photos from the event: 

Everything I needed to know about last night's Super Bowl XLVII I learned from social media. 

Considering the fact that the Falcons fell to the 49ers, I chose not the watch the Super Bowl last night. I figured if there were any good ads I missed, I could catch them online. Well, as it turns out, I didn't even need to be watching it in order to understand what was happenning--in real time. All of my Facebook friends and the people I follow on Twitter were giving me the play-by-play, and not just of the plays. The Ravens held down a lead throughout the entire game, Beyonce was awesome, everyone was grossed out by the GoDaddy commercial, the Superdome experienced a power outage in the middle of the third quarter, and everyone took to social media to air their jokes and commentary about everything that was happening.

The power outage being a particularly unique incident during the Super Bowl, many celebrities and brands were tweeting about the situation, making jokes and turning hashtags like #superbowlblackout and #superbowlpoweroutage into trending topics on Twitter. Not only did the blackout give us something to talk about online, it also gave us an oppotunity to take ownership. Not unlike the Mars Rover adapting a popular sarcastic Twitter handle of its own, the Superdome lights now also has a Twitter with nearly 2,000 followers already. 

Brands especially saw the blackout as a situation around which they could create content that active social media users were sure to see and understand, during a time when social media websites (mostly Twitter) peak in traffic.

One of the most powerful aspects of effective marketing is being in the same place as your audience--at the same time. In this case, brands like Oreo and Tide saw millions of Super Bowl fans turn to social media to discuss the blackout, and they simply decided to join the conversation. According to the statistics, at 14,000 retweets, Oreo is particularly popular in the social conversation. Looking back on how rapidly football fans, and then brands jumped on the topic of the blackout, the advertising cycle is getting much quicker, and now more than ever it is important for brands to be there for their fans in real time. 

Editor's Note: It’s that time of year again…time for Definition 6 CTO Paul Hernacki’s annual “Make Fun of Marketing People” Cartoon.  As usual, prepare to laugh… because the only other option for this kind of truth is to cry.

Yes, in my role as CTO for a Unified Marketing Agency I spend most of my waking hours squarely at the crossroads of marketing and technology. And our own marketing department at Definition 6 has been bugging me for weeks to write a blog post about the top things people should be thinking about in 2013 related to innovative use of marketing technologies. But the crazy pace of work that is so common in the agency world right before the holidays as we rush to finish up so many big projects and campaigns for our clients left me with little time to actually sit down and write something meaningful. So instead, I created this video. It's cloud-based. And cloud-ready. And cloud-enabled. With mobile accessibility and social shareability. Enjoy. And good luck to everyone in 2013... even the Mayans.

Planning the 2013 Marketing Budget
by: phernacki

There was a lot of great content presented at Mashable’s Media Summit last week in New York – far too much for me to summarize for you in 500 words. That said, Mashable did a great job summarizing the day via Storify. If you weren’t able to attend, you can get a good feel for the day’s content over there.

I would like to take a moment to highlight a couple of significant themes that emerged throughout the day, particularlyaround the rapid developments in Web design we’re seeing materialize before us on a daily basis. For a great current example, head over to Mashable today to witness the execution of the ideas I’m about to summarize. Mashable has revamped its Web experience to take full advantage of how content is discovered and shared on the Web today – across every type of device we use.

Here are my key takeaways from the day – consider this a cheat sheet for revamping your Web content experiences in 2013.

1.      Mobile first, not desktop – the post-PC era is here. It no longer makes sense to design Web experiences around the desktop as the primary device. Device proliferation requires a new solution, one that optimizes the experience for every reader. The most buzzed-about approach to designing for this new era – which you’ve no doubt heard of by now – is responsive Web design, where the Web experience adjusts to the device and browser used by the visitor. Responsive Web design only scratches the surface, addressing the problems of device proliferation. What about context though? Some would argue responsive approaches address context, but expect a new term – reactive Web design – to creep into the lexicon in 2013. Reactive web design as a label expands upon responsive approaches and strives to adapt the digital experience to predicted needs of the user. For example, using IP lookup, geolocation, or some other known visitor data, the Web experience (and content) can be tailored to render a more contextual Web experience. These will be exciting times for content marketers.

2.      Social first, not search – there’s been a lot of talk about social being the new search. I don’t like this, because social is not search – but I get the point. Old school SEO tactics – pre-Panda tactics – aren’t what they once were. Content that is shared aggressively will drive more consumption than content that is simply linked to a lot. Shares impact SEO – in many cases, impacting search rankings more than links. When planning your content strategy, search should follow social in order of importance. Writing a great, sharable headline that gets readers to read is more important than getting high authority links to that same piece of content. If it’s shared at a high frequency, search engines will reward you and the traffic will come.

3.      Visuals matter – high-quality imagery amplifies content consumption by a factor of two or more. Mashable reports that it generates 8 times more traffic on a post with a video than plain text. Brands should use images and video liberally on their content sites, and those images and videos should be easily shareable. In many cases, the images and video themselves serve as micro-content that users will share independent of the content on the site. This is particularly evident across the newer image-centric social channels such as Instagram and Pinterest. If you have high-quality images and video in your content, people will share your content across these channels. Remember, 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster. For example, posts that leverage video generate three times more inbound links than plain text (SEOMoz).

4.      Ads are content too – If you have ads on your sites, you need to remember that ads are content too. There was a lot of talk about native and responsive advertising at the Mashable Media Summit event. Stated plainly, responsive advertising is the application of responsive Web design to the ad units. Your ads should look great across any experience. You don’t have to be a responsive Web design expert to capitalize on responsive advertising. Expect ad-serving platforms to support your responsive advertising needs in 2013. Slightly different from responsive advertising is native advertising, where advertising is built into the content experience itself. Facebook’s sponsored stories or Twitter’s sponsored tweets are an example of this evolving ad unit.

I’m excited to see so much fresh innovation going on in Web design. It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen this much change in so little time. Then again, most of the innovation in  recent years has come on the back end of our sites. As we move into 2013, expect to see more site experiences built around content, context and conversations, the essence of our Unified Marketing strategy here at Definition 6.  

Today the ad:tech NY tradeshow kicked off in NYC while the city is still recovering from Superstorm Sandy, we're now getting hit with blizzard like conditions. Will this ever end?

Despite the weather, many digital marketers, agencies and brands gathered at the Javits center to network, learn and hear about successful case studies that brands delivered during the year.  Our own Paul McClay spoke on a panel about Advanced Video Integration focused on delivering successful campaigns using TV, YouTube, and DOOH.

Moderated by the lovely Amber J. Lawson, the panel featured case studies from RPA, Giant Media, Definition 6 and a digital out of home company.

San Tong kicked it off with case studies on placing video content on YouTube and how to execute a successful campaign.  The most memorable one she discussed was how Honda used YouTube to drum up excitement for their iconic Superbowl ad featuring Matthew Broderick as "Ferris Bueller" by seeding teaser videos and extended scenes online and leveraging bloggers to view, share the content.  Make it interesing and shareable.  Key components to successful video campaigns. 

Paul McClay from Definition 6 presented two great examples of video usage in social media for HBO's True Blood Immortalize Yourself Facebook app and Facebook's Timeline Movie Maker.  With "Immortalize Yourself" he mentions that by creating compelling content and using the "fans as its distribution model," this content delivered massively successful engagement metrics. Timeline Movie Maker was designed to encourage people to voluntarily make the switch to Timeline on Facebook by giving folks added value in doing so - a one-minute movie that highlights major moments of your life that you've shared on Facebook.  By making this video personalized, it gave people a positive incentive to make the jump to a new layout, something that most people complained about in past years.

Video is powerful and the best storytelling mechanism.  By creating a strategy, creating interesting content, and leveraging influencers to communicate your video message, campaigns can be tremendously successful.

When a crisis hits like the recent Hurricane Sandy, social media becomes even more important and provides a way to mass communicate to friends and family, find out breaking information, and gives the ability to share details in real time, especially when the lights go out.  As we witnessed on the East Coast this week, much of the communication during the storm happened via Twitter and Facebook, and on mobile devices.  It’s hard to imagine what we did before.

But with so many without power, it does force us to use real human interactions to communicate -- neighbors meeting each other, helping one another out, sharing generators, and more - and to get through this trying time. 

Today’s technology allows us to be connected everywhere we go—but does it simultaneously disconnect us from our real surroundings? Our devices have an impact on social interactions and business communications. The rapidly increasing integration of technology into society has altered the way we interact on a daily basis, and it’s important to be aware of its implications. Even “the telephone call is a dying institution…Americans ages 18-29 send and receive an average of nearly 88 text messages per day, compared to 17 phone calls.” ^[1]

While seated in my big comfy chair at a coffee shop recently, I noticed a husband and wife walk in, holding hands. When they sat at the table, however, both individuals took out their iPhones and spent the entire visit on their phones. Once, at a nice Italian restaurant I watched a family of three during their meal. The father on his Blackberry, the mother on her iPad, and the son listening to music—for the whole meal, not one word was spoken except to the waiter.

Are you using technology to communicate with someone while ignoring a real human connection face-to-face? Of course making this substitution can be perceived as rude. However, it is important to look at communication technology as a means to an end. If we are using technology in order to arrange a face-to-face meeting, how could that be bad? If being able to communicate with someone even when they are not anywhere nearby brings you closer together, technology can be viewed as something that nurtures relationships, not creates distance within them.  

Face-to-face meetings in business are ideal for productivity and clear communication, but how often is something less personal used as a replacement for a face-to-face meeting? With today’s technology, we may be losing the art of real conversation as we slip further into our devices as mean of communication. Effective conversation is critical to effective business. When used correctly, technology can nurture our communication abilities and teach us important lessons about making the right impressions.

Balance is to this, as it is to everything--the key. Finding the right balance is critical to a healthy and successful usage of technology. It is important to ask yourself—what am I ignoring while using technology? And—what do I have the potential to gain while using technology? The answers to these questions will help create boundaries in your real space, strike a natural balance, and help you to never forget the art of real conversation.

[1] Kluger, Jeffrey. “We never talk any more: The problem with text messaging.” TIME Magazine. (2012): Web. 6 Sep 2012. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/31/tech/mobile/problem-text-messaging-oms/index.html>

The conference that brings together digital marketers to talk about the future of email, social media, and mobile in the world of marketing is in Indianapolis, IN this week at Connections 2012, an ExactTarget conference. Our own Jeremy Bromwell (@jbromwell), Cara Barr (@CBatDef6), and Andrea Rey (@dre1221)  have been live tweeting from the event and have included several photos of the excitement. If you are attending #ET12, find the Definition 6 team, take your photo with them and you may appear in this slideshow too! Follow the action on Twitter.

Read about last year's Connections Conference.

Every Thursday, ExactTarget encourages insightful marketing discussions on Twitter, called the #NexusCafe chats, and recently I co-hosted with them to talk about brand unity and connecting people to the brands they love - a perfect fit for the inclusion of Definition 6.  Below are some key takeaways from the discussion. 

·  With so many channels of media today, knowing your target audience is critical to a successful campaign. Figure out where they are engaging and use insight to prioritize the rest.

·  Listening to social channels is the first place you should look for a brand-fan connection. Analyzing metrics for visits, engagement, and conversion will help to quantify this connection.

·  Internally, every department (even developers) should see themselves as content creators and truly want to learn new skills that will stretch their knowledge. Content is still king, and it is the lynchpin to creating the connection and uniting people with your brand.

We have put these insights to the test with our work on a Facebook Application for HBO's True Blood, an application with interactive content that engaged fans and their friends. Additionally, content like online video, such as our work with Coca-Cola on the Happiness Machine, serves to engage fans online and spread the brand message. 

Involving your community early on in the process will pay off. If you share brainstorming and allow for fan/follower buy-in, they will engage more with your brand. 

You can view the whole discussion on the ExactTarget blog.

http://www.shutterstock.com

It has happened to all of us at some point. What do you do when you get a LinkedIn request from a stranger? Should you accept? Is it rude not to? Are you dooming yourself to professional networking purgatory by not accepting? 

1)      LinkedIn has limits

2)      Connection mining

3)      Protecting and respecting your network

1) LinkedIn only allows all users a maximum of 3,000 connections. This is basically to prevent abuse. If you need to remove a connection, then check out the info on this page. Don't worry about offending anyone—the connection will not be notified when you remove them. Will you ever hit the 3,000 limit? I’ve never known someone who has but you never know…

2) Connection miners are people who connect with everyone on LinkedIn in an attempt to make their profile more impressive and push people for job opportunities. If a stranger walked up to you, handed you a business card, and said, “Let’s hangout” and then walked away, would you call them? Probably not. A random LinkedIn connection request is equivalent to that. Not only is it bad etiquette, but it also makes a poor first impression. I authored a blog post for Definition 6 about the people who spray business cards around at conferences like lawn sprinklers. The random LinkedIn request from a stranger is the digital equivalent of the "card sprinkler."

3) Also, it is important to remember that by accepting a request with someone you don't know, you are granting them closer access to not only yourself but your LinkedIn connections as well. Your LinkedIn shared connections immediately become a 2nd level connection to the stranger you just accepted into your life. If you're starting to get paranoid right now, I don't blame you. There are some privacy options on LinkedIn. While you can limit what info your connections see, I suggest not accepting a connection request from someone you don't actually know. More info on how to hide info from connections here: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/52

On the flip-side, don’t be offended if someone you send a connection request to on LinkedIn doesn't respond. Everyone uses each social media network differently, especially LinkedIn.

The Stevie Awards recognizes American Business Awards in multiple categories, and last night Definition 6 was up for a Stevie in the App Awards (Entertainment) category for the work we did with HBO on the True Blood Facebook App. The category in which we were nominated recognizes excellence in the design and execution of apps (handheld or PC) and is divided into categories based on the theme of the app. The competition was tough, but our CTO Paul Hernacki was prepared to accept our award at the ceremony in San Francisco. We're happy to say that we took home the gold! 

Our Gold Stevie Award:

Paul Hernacki accepting the award on behalf of Definition 6 and True Blood:

It was an exciting event in an exciting city. In fact, the awards schedule had to be shifted around a bit due to an occupy movement right around the corner:

So, Paul Hernacki decided he needed to alter his warbdrobe a bit to suit the occasion: 

College football has officially begun.  Bottles are in the recycling bin, leftover hot wings have been polished off, and the anticipation has already shifted from the season opener to Bowl games. So who won?  I’m not talking about on the field.  ESPN can give you that information.  I’d like to explore the digital space.

Online sports conversation is built from a variety of sources.  Teams, players, media, conferences, brand sponsors, venues, and event marketers all play important roles in the discussion.  For the purposes of this exploration, I’ll narrow our focus so we can understand the influence of prominent conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC, and C-USA just for fun).

To set this up, I optimized key word groups to include each of the conferences official names, nicknames, and football references, and I looked at trending posts from Tuesday, August 28^th to Tuesday, September 4^th.  To keep the data consistent I used a single tool to pull information: Radian6.

I started with the most dedicated content creators: mainstream media (think ESPN and Fox Sports, etc.).  Over the course of the one week period, posts varied significantly.  The Big Ten owned several peaks, especially late Saturday evening (a key time given the game schedule).  Not surprisingly, the MAC spiked during the Ohio Bobcat victory over Penn State Nittany Lions, and the ACC conversation peaked for their Monday night showdown between the Virginia Tech Hokies and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

However, when we shift our view to social channels, specifically Facebook and Twitter, the SEC dominated the conversation.  At first glance, SEC fans seem to be unique in that the pride they feel is not exclusive to their team; it also seems to include their region and conference.

When we look closer, however, some could argue that the discussion from the SEC fans is more about affiliation rather than pride.  The sentiment around the conversation was primarily neutral, meaning less “I love SEC Football” and more “SEC Football Starts Saturday.”  Though some would classify both statements as positive, Radian6 classifies the comments in separate categories due to the context and keywords. 

Regardless, this is important for brands to note because virtually all sport properties offer sponsorship opportunities.  In order to capitalize on those sponsorship dollars, they need to understand who, how, and when to participate in these social conversations (A plug of personal opinion:  I am a huge advocate of monetizing digital and social properties within the sports industry.  We are past the age where we throw in a banner ad as free “added value” within the overall sponsorship package).

Finally, how do these digital conversations affect revenue beyond the sponsorship opportunities?  Thought I can’t rely on this data exclusively, I can take a look at the posts that have a focus on buying and selling (Note:  there are several ways to dive into this information, and the chart below represents only one of those ways).  Again, most of the conversation came from the SEC and virtually all of it peaked early Saturday.  As I broaden my focus beyond conferences, I expect to see conversations in this arena to primarily center on teams and venues rather than the conferences themselves.  After all, mentions of “tickets” and “t-shirts” are usually paired with “Oregon Ducks” rather than “Pac-12.”

So, what can we learn from this information?  First and foremost, we should realize we need to delve deeper into the data to draw valid conclusions.  Studying only the conferences gives us a very narrow perspective of the overall college football conversation (hint: perhaps this will lead to future blog posts). 

Second, content is king, but timing is everything.  There are critical points during the week where conferences can activate conversations to promote their own brand, their sponsors’ brands, and their teams’ brands.  Developing appropriate messages for pre-game versus game-time discussions is vital, and we should look to understand and map out the differences.

And third, proactively plan for momentum.  Ohio’s win over Penn State clearly produced a spike in news and chatter, but unfortunately, it was short-lived.  Momentum is a rare and valuable beast that is difficult to predict and often overwhelming when attempting to react to it.  All sports entities, from sponsors to teams should proactively formulate a plan to monitor and leverage momentum in real time to build brand engagement and drive revenue.

Award season is in high gear and we’re so proud when our work is recognized by the advertising and marketing industry.  Our work on HBO’s season four True Blood Facebook application “Immortalize Yourself” has just been recognized as a Finalist in the Digiday SAMMY awards, the American Business “Stevie” Awards, and the prestigious IAB MIXX awards.  This campaign was honored previously with a 2011 ADDY Award and a 2012 Shorty Award, and earlier this month we were awarded with the Communicator Award of Distinction for this campaign.

This project is a great example of how unified marketing works - creating the right experience for a brand and understanding the context in which it should be delivered to gain measurable, meaningful results.  For True Blood, Facebook was the right platform as they already had a rapid fan base of close to 8 million fans.  This application allowed fans of True Blood to literally insert themselves into a mini episode with the cast, where they became part of the plotline.  And not only were fans able to be included, but their friends were also in the video, with customizable features for fans to choose which Facebook friends they wanted for each role, ultimately creating a powerful piece of content meant to be shared. 

 “This is the type of experience our viewers have come to expect from us.  To be able to give them fresh content, and make them a part of the experience is truly exceptional, and with the power of social media we can do that,” said Sabrina Caluori, Vice President, social media & performance marketing, HBO.

Knowing your audience is half the battle.  Having a client who understands the importance of content also helps.  And finding the right mix of content, in context, will create conversation between brands and fans.  This application is still live on Definition 6’s Facebook page if you want to try it for yourself!

Leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympics, Coca-Cola© and Definition 6 worked together to launch the “8-Pack of Athletes” digital experience on MyCokeRewards.com.  Featuring eight Olympic hopefuls sponsored by Coca-Cola, the experience drove fan site engagement through fun athlete videos, interactive quizzes and an opportunity to win Olympic prize packs containing items such as autographed cards, exclusive branded Coca-Cola summer gear and highly coveted pins.  Definition 6 designed the front-end graphics, ad banners and handled development for the quizzes for mobile and desktop.  Launched in early June, the experience ran through the conclusion of the summer games. Over 1.4 million members participated, representing a 4% increase in member participation and 7% increase in PINs when compared to the same timeframe last year.

Do you cringe when you hear words like "SoLoMo," "Gamification," and "Viral"?  So do I.  So along with the Ragan Communications team, we asked some folks what social media jargon drove them to drink and came up with this video. 

What are your least favorite?? Let me know in the comments below.

Since it's launch this past Tuesday, I've seen some amazing brands take advantage of Timeline Movie Maker for Pages to share their story in a cinematic, engaging way.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Facebook Washington DC	Cabaret Divertimento (I have no clue about this show but it's just FUN to watch)
Marines (Happy Fleet Week!)	The U.S. Army
Livestrong	Channing Tatum Unwrapped
Where's Waldo?	Neeta Shankar Photography
Guns N' Roses (Even while on tour in Europe they posted this - really awesome!)	Mercedes-Benz Turkey
The Ultimate Fighter Live	Aruba

Just this small collection of movies really drives home the fact that regardless of what product or service your brand offers and how you position it on Facebook, and other social media channels, every brand has a story to tell.

What's your brand story? Have you used Timeline Movie Maker for Pages to tell it? What other movies are you seeing out there? Post your comments below!

San Jose is buzzing with Ragan Cisco conference attendees tweeting furiously as we take in all the juicy nuggets of info from great speakers at this conference for Social Media and Communications.  

From Gamification to Social Media Optimization (yes, it does exist!) to SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile) we've hashed out all the nuances in the world in which we live today.  

A summary of top takeways:

- Globally, more people own cellphones than toothbrushes

- 85% of B2B buyers are engaged in some type of social activity during work

Check out the hashtag #RaganCisco on Twitter to follow along as we wrap it up today and check out our slideshow below for all the pictures from the event

In their third major layout change, Facebook officially transitioned user's profile pages to a new layout called Timeline a few months ago. But they delayed the transition for brand pages to March 30th, 2012. The delay for brands was to give them extra time to update their pages and apps. Even though Facebook has been reminding brands for months, it appears by all the confusion this past week that the forced migration to Timeline still caught many businesses by surprise.
 
I recently wrote an article on the top 5 things all Facebook brand page administrators need to know when it comes to Timeline. From new layouts, image sizes, apps and content to strategically using cover photos, the article outlines step by step the ways in which Facebook Brand Pages can increase traffic to your website, and can engage your audiences in new ways based on new abilities to interact as a result of the layout changes.

Read the full article at Ragan.com. 

UPDATED Tuesday 3/27/12: We won!  Congrats to the team involved at Definition 6 and HBO for a stellar collaboration and award-winning work!

We are so proud of the work we do for clients, and we are even happier when the work is nominated for elite industry awards like the Shorty Awards!  Tonight the winner's are announced (fingers crossed!!) and we are hoping that our Facebook application for HBO's hit show True Blood called "Immortalize Yourself" gains even more fans. 

This campaign allowed "Truebies" to really become part of the True Blood story, by literally becoming part of the crew at Merlotte's by inserting themselves and their Facebook friends into a brief video leading up to last year's season four premiere.  The campaign was live throughout the entire season, and even had one of its largest traffic days immediately following the season finale in September.

So the only question remains --- have you "Immortalized Yourself" yet??