Weekly Wrap Up # 3
1. Twitter tracking unveiled
Twitter is constantly expanding and improving to accommodate their 100 million active monthly users. In the past, it’s been difficult for companies to accurately measure the amount of activity Twitter is securing for their websites. Tuesday, Sept. 13, Twitter announced their new web analytics tool. This new product will show users how effective their Twitter use really is in a very streamlined fashion. For a preview of the tool, check out the rest of the announcement.
2. The hidden benefits of negative online reviews
Former Dell chief marketing officer, Erin Mulligan Nelson, knows the satisfaction a company feels when they receive positive reviews and real-life testimonials from customers using their products. She also acknowledges the fact that all products can have negative feedback and companies who are looking to improve their products should embrace that. Nelson states that these negative comments have been proven to build credibility and improve sales as well as open the lines of communication between the manufactures and their customers. Read the full Ad Age article to see how some global brands are using these techniques.
3. Billboard, bacteria or both?
When Warner Bros. Pictures decided to make a living billboard in honor of their Contagion movie release, a thriller centered around the outbreak of a deadly disease, getting the attention of their audience was the easy part. The growth of this billboard included two giant Petri dishes and a great amount of innovation. Let us know what you think, tweet us about it at @hmandp.
4. Groupon could be bad news for some businesses
Groupon and Living Social have proven to benefit from word-of-mouth referrals, but research from a recent Boston University and Harvard University study show that those methods might not be as beneficial for the businesses. The study states that overall rating scores on Yelp for businesses running daily deals are on average 10% lower than companies who avoid sites like Groupon and Living Social. The data is in, but it’s important to remember all of the factors that could be affecting this trend such as brand awareness and even company location. Read the results in this Web Pro News article to get the full story.
5. Hospitals are starting to focus on building brands
Hospitals, clinics and medical centers probably aren’t the first things that come to mind for most people when thinking about the future of advertising, but throughout 2011, advertising by health care facilities has increased by more than 20%. According to the Kantar Media unit of WPP, advertisements have grown to reach a total of $717.2 million, that’s up from $595.5 million within the same period in 2010. Hospitals are looking to implement new messaging and bring innovation to an area of the industry that is typically overlooked. Check out some recent health care inspired advertising campaigns in this New York Times article.
SAS Shows Off its New Toy
I was fortunate enough to attend the SAS Social Media Analytics Software Launch event (#sassma) last night with a group of about 50 Triangle area social media experts and enthusiasts. The turn out was a great mix and after some mingling, good food and cold drinks the event was underway.
David Thomas, social media manager at SAS, noted lessons learned from the software launch. It was interesting to see the difference just one year makes in the amount of social media engagement surrounding an event.
In 2009 the SAS Global Forum hashtag (#sgf09) received 500 tweets from 25 unique users (including SAS employees). In 2010 the number skyrocketed to 3,353 tweets using the hashtag (#sgf10) with 836 unique users (not including SAS employees). More »
