Mashable
Anne Buehner, Associate Social Media Strategist, Red Door Interactive

Toasting the new year is not what it used to be. Which comes first – a kiss from your loved one or uploading a photo of the ball drop to Instagram?

This type of midnight social media madness provides a great snapshot into the lives of the consumers who may buy your product or service in 2012. It’s time to take direct aim at your audience, or at least try to satisfy their appetite for moment-to-moment content.

With 2011 in the rearview mirror, you’re likely forecasting a fresh social media/instablogging strategy for the new year. You’ve probably heard that a brand relationship needs to mirror a personal one, but which self-publishing platforms can really accomplish this esprit de corps? One of the easiest ways for brands to leverage warm and fuzzy feelings is to play in the same social spaces as your friends and family would.

However, it can be difficult to decide which platform is the right fit for your brand – in addition to the standards Facebook and Twitter, of course. Which sites help brands keep up in the real-time content race? Which sites really drive engagement? Here are a few I see as emerging leaders.

1. Tumblr

Brands use Tumblr to create a community and to build a following fast with its quick and easy setup, seamless tagging and sharing capabilities. Existing brands also use the short-form blog to breathe life into content through a host of mixed-media that includes photos, links and video. However, you don’t want to shoot from the hip with Tumblr — it requires a content strategy, branded “look and feel” and management approval to re-blog other images. You’ll want to use Google Analytics to track traffic since Tumblr does not offer a reporting platform. Tumblr also does not have the best reputation when it comes to collaborating with brands on advertising opportunities.

Anthropologie recently launched a Tumblr blog called Etymologie. The posts are inspired by reader-submitted words and the content is more lifestyle-driven, rather than promotional. Ace Hotel uses a Tumblr called Everything Will Be Okay, with a philanthropic focus and subtle “get a room” reference to its hotels.

The Tumblr platform isn’t just suited for big timers; it can work for a small companies looking to find fans in a target audience of 34-years-old and younger.
 

2. Pinterest

Brands use Pinterest to build brand personality and inspire trends and influencers through instant social sharing. Pins are typically centered around major life events such as weddings and holidays. Users create theme-based collections through the site’s virtual pinboards. Dialogue is generated through the simple act of Pinning, Repinning, Liking and commenting on images taken on a smartphone or from the web. Pinterest presents a helpful tool for brand direction by analyzing what is frequently Pinned and why.

With over 400,000 visitors per month – and rapidly growing – Pinterest is a huge referral source for brands. Real Simple recently reported that Pinterest drove more traffic to its website than Facebook in the month of October. Smaller brands should take note of Cabot Cheese, which uses Pinterest to curate photos of food that can be made with its cheese — other boards include fun photos of cows, farms and Vermont.

While the site’s list of etiquette states “avoid self-promotion,” aka soft sell, it does not include stipulations around contests. Lands’ End took advantage of this in December with the engagement contest Lands’ End Canvas Pin It to Win It. The promotion encouraged users to browse its modern clothing line and make Boards for a chance to win apparel.

3. Instagram

Brands use Instagram to showcase products, services, events or just a behind-the-scenes look through a feed of photos, instead of a slew of text. The photo sharing application for iPhone uses dazzling image filters, and features cross-posting to other social networks including Twitter, Facebook profiles, Flickr, Foursquare, Tumblr and Posterous. The goal is to attract new fans with Instagram’s search and keyword function, and to draw engagement through likes, comments, @replies and #hashtags. Instagram provides relatively seamless integration with dozens of third-party applications, including Statigram, which offers analytics.

Brands with an existing following can thrive on Instagram. In 2011, more than 150 million images were uploaded to the platform in less than a year by more than 8 million users. Popular t-shirt company Threadless is a great insta-success story, recently passing 70,000 followers, some of whom submit their own designs.

One big drawback: Instagram is still not available for Android, and the application doesn’t integrate with Facebook brand pages. What it does do is make your pictures look good – really good. For me, Instagram feels like a safe space, where I can sift through gorgeous real-time photo updates from friends, family and my favorite shoe company, all in one place.

4. Tout

Brands use Tout to create real-time, 15-second video status updates captured from Apple and Android smartphones, and then distributed through social networks. Instant video sharing is on the rise as more and more consumers use smartphones. Tout offers integration across multiple platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and does include analytics. It’s essentially video Twitter.

Brands that want to utilize creative ways to showcase new products or services, make announcements, give a behind-the-scenes look, or “tout out” to show appreciation for fans or staff may want to experiment with this platform. You might remember when Shaquille O’Neal famously announced his retirement from basketball via Tout. Similar to Instagram, brands without a decent following shouldn’t start with Tout first, but add it on to their existing social strategy.

Tout is still in its toddler stage, asking for suggestions from its community to help drive the product road map for the platform. Perhaps you can help navigate how Tout would best suit your brand.

I also think Tout requires client management, and doesn’t really work in the B2B space. You can’t share Tout directly from your smartphone to YouTube, only to Twitter, Facebook and email. You can cut YouTube videos down and then upload your favorite 15-seconds to Tout.

No matter what platform you choose, if you’re providing springboards for spontaneity around your brand, you generate a more transparent, empowering and compelling message for the audience — one that can help build and strengthen communities at a rapid pace with the snap of a camera, Pin or click.

Understanding and developing a strategy around these tools gives your brand control over the real-time moments that today’s connected generation craves. After the midnight toast, it’s time to Pin, Tumble and Tout.

Image courtesy of Flickr, libraryman

View original post on mashable.com>>>

eMarketing & Commerce (eM+C)
Crosby Noricks, Director of Social Media, Red Door Interactive

I admit it. I’ve been hooked on reality show “Project Runway” since its inception nearly seven years ago. I’ve had to work hard not to ask industry friends for a sneak-peek of the show results that recently took place during SS12 Fashion Week. The show is a bit of a guilty pleasure to be sure, but as someone who writes a blog for fashion PR professionals, I can also claim that it’s my job.

By day I’m the director of social media for Red Door Interactive, where I support a wide range of companies from Charlotte Russe to Quiksilver. My time is spent working with brands to develop strategies to help them listen to and engage with customers and prospects by listening to their comments, asking questions and getting feedback. Recently, a lightbulb went off in my head: my two worlds aren’t very different from each other. The rules set for the designers on “Project Runway” aren’t far from the best practices followed by marketers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other similar platforms.

Your customer is the fashion police
Renowned fashion expert Tim Gunn is quick to point out in a poignant but humorous manner the clear no-nos “Project Runway” contestants are committing in their efforts to become the next fashion superstar. Likewise, Facebook users have a way of outing a company when it crosses the line. They tell their friends to avoid a look such as the “Tennessee tuxedo” (denim on denim).

TweetDeck and HootSuite have similar features that allow those on Twitter to block and report spam. The platforms themselves are a hotbed of activity any time a brand is perceived to have done wrong — e.g., Urban Outfitters and one Etsy designer’s necklaces. While brands occasionally get away with taking a risk, it’s best to not go against Facebook’s promotional guidelines. Those that are successful are technically skilled and have great presence and personality.

Watch your tone
“Project Runway’s” Judge’s Take segment is a brutal portion of the show where garment industry experts tear up contestants’ offerings at their seams, particularly when they try to dazzle them with their level of knowledge by throwing out tired fashion clichés. Vicious as it may be, it’s an opportunity for the contestants to hear from experts who aren’t typically enamored with hype.

You can’t speak to the judges in the same way you would a casual shopper. Yet when it comes to social media, many companies of all industries tend to use the same unidirectional, unoriginal communication style on their Facebook and Twitter feeds as they do for their email, direct marketing and conventional advertising.

A lack of research into customer preferences and lifestyle interests can lead to an inauthentic, dismissive tone where incentives and sales take the place of true customer service. The digital format demands content producers develop original material and work with nontraditional media sources. This includes moving beyond working with bloggers as glorified models, but as people who become true brand collaborators.

Pull a fast one and you’ll get pulled over
Gunn can spot a scam a mile away and will call a contestant out faster than a fashion mall store steals from the runway. It’s not pretty when it happens, but the biggest impact is most likely the stigma placed on the perpetrator, who’s now labeled a fake or fraud.

By reading foursquare tips, Yelp and Facebook Reviews, it’s clear that a carefully constructed web presence means nothing in the face of honest customer experiences. Moreover, large brands and even PR firms have been known to attempt to control and seed messages on these sites, inviting interns or providing heavy incentives for positive reviews only.

Bilking the system, be it for a $100,000 cash prize and a chance to create your own clothing line or for an increased review ranking on a popular online platform, will always come back to haunt the originator.

The teaching point is this: Much like a budding designer fresh out of school or worse, a budding reality star, brands have a lot to learn when it comes to respecting social communities, providing unique opportunities and content, and allowing space for transparency and authenticity. After all, just because one knows how to sew a hem on a pair of pants doesn’t mean they’re ready to send couture down the runway.

Read Article on eMarketing & Commerce Here>>>

September 9, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

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Marketers Plan To Increase Social Media Spend - MediaPost
“CMOs are planning to increase their spending on social media substantially over the next five years, according to a Duke University survey. The 249 CMOs of U.S. companies said they will increase their spending on social media from its current level of 7.1% of their overall marketing budget to 10.1% over the next year and to 17.5% in the next five years.”
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Will Yahoo Shakeup Bring Renewed Focus On Mobile? - MediaPost 
“Yahoo’s lack of an aggressive mobile strategy may not have doomed Carol Bartz, but the burgeoning mobile sector is another key arena where the Web portal has been overtaken by rivals like Google and Facebook. The contrast is especially sharp with Google, which has made no secret of its ambitions for dominating the mobile space as computing and the Internet increasingly shift to handheld devices.”
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What 2 Billion Smartphones Mean for Customer Service - ClickZ
“Customers own the conversations that they start, and they are free to start whatever conversations they want. It’s a free world, eh? Brands (including their employees, representatives, and paid advocates) own whatever response -including no response – they see fit to offer to a customer-initiated post or ongoing conversation. That same “free world” works both ways: After all, as U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney put it “Corporations are people too, my friend.”
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Brands award customers points and gain appeal through online rewards programs - Direct Marketing News
“Companies are focusing their rewards programs online because that’s where their customers are. “People are online spending, so tying rewards to places like Amazon.com and Zynga and enabling them to use reward points by clicking a button makes it much easier,” says Elizabeth Crosta, VP of public affairs at American Express Co. “Ultimately for us, the more people redeem, the more customer loyalty we create.”
 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

APPAREL INSIDERS LLC
Crosby Noricks, Director of Social Media, Red Door Interactive

We could argue until Betsey Johnson retires (never!) about which department should “own” social media — marketing, PR, branding, customer service? (Short answer: like your BFF’s closet, social media was made for sharing). In fashion, however, some of the greatest social media success stories occur when PR is at the helm. A quick glance through Lucky Magazine’s relatively exhaustive list of fashion brands on Twitter shows that in addition to social media darlings DKNY and Oscar PR Girl, Tibi, Elizabeth & James, and Stuart Weitzman all promote a decidedly PR-centric approach to social media. And why not? In-house fashion PR reps are connected to the day-to-day of office goings-on. In the know about everything from upcoming press placements to celebrity dressing, the fashion PR perspective can effectively extend the brand personality into social by providing “behind-the-scenes” content and, by engaging with fans and followers, build long-term rapport and loyalty between brand and consumer.

Yet, for many fashion publicists, their professional background is more pitching media than PPC, more credit checks than custom application development. As a result, the ins and outs of platforms like Facebook and Twitter are often misunderstood and misused. Here are five ways fashion brands are getting it wrong when it comes to social media strategy:

Fashion has a Police; Facebook has Promotional Guidelines
While it is remarkable how many fashion brands still have profile pages instead of business pages, the single biggest faux pas on Facebook is fashion brands that run contests on the wall. These contests often come in the form of status updates asking fans to post a picture or leave a comment for a chance to win something. The skinny is that while you can promote your contest on the wall, you must use an application to manage the actual entries. Solution: commit Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines to memory and then find a Facebook-approved vendor or developer to help you execute Facebook contests or sweepstakes.

Full Article>>>

August 19, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

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Android Owners Use Apps Twice as Much as Mobile Web - Mashable
“The average Android user spends 56 minutes per day using his or her device to surf the web and use apps. But the latter takes up two-thirds of that time. The top 10 apps account for 43% of all the time Android users spend on mobile apps. The top 50 apps account for 61% of all time spent. There are a total of about 250,000 Android apps in the market at this time.”
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What does your social media voice say about your brand? - SmartBlog on Social Media
“What kind of voice you use for your social communications can say a lot about your brand. How you frame your social media communications depends largely on the industry you are in, your social media goals and the kinds of information you’re trying to convey. Each voice has its own strengths and weaknesses. There are times when each voice is the most appropriate.”
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5 ways to use mobile barcodes (before they’re obsolete)- iMedia
“Mobile barcodes are everywhere. From bus benches to the shelves of major retailers, the chunky codes have become integrated into nearly all media. At the same time, many pundits and trend-watchers rally that mobile barcodes are already on the way out, obsolescing by advances in image recognition and near-field communications (NFC).”
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7 Back-to-School Must-Reads for the Business Bookworms- Marketing Profs
“September always seems to be a month of new starts, new learning and new challenges—and probably more so than the New Year. Here’s a pile of books, to share in hopes that you’ll find them interesting, motivating, and inspiring!” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

August 12, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

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Android Had 43.4% of the Global Smartphone Market, Apple at 18.2% - ReadWriteWeb
“Globally, smartphone sales were near 107.7 million, of which Android was the top performer (43.4% on sales of 46.7 million units) and iOS was third (18.2% on sales of 19.6 million).Between the two, they accounted for 62% of smartphone sales worldwide.Nokia’s Symbian is still clinging to the leader board, with 22.1% of the smartphone market on 23.8 million units sold.”
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Facebook Grouped News Feed Stories: What Marketers Can Do - Ignite Social Media
“Facebook announced that it was starting to group News Feed stories by topic, aggregating similar conversations together.The Ignite team brainstormed how this new feature may effect a brand’s content strategy on Facebook, and what the marketer benefits of this new feature may generate.”
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LinkedIn Audiences Highly Engaged, Active in Groups- Marketing Profs
“LinkedIn continues to dominate the executive corner of the social media universe with a highly-engaged member base: 61% of registered LinkedIn users say LinkedIn is the social site they use most for professional networking, and 35% check the site daily.”
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As Part of Microsoft, Skype Plans Deep Integration With Windows Phones- ReadWriteWeb
“Since Skype will soon be a Microsoft product, the Windows Phone application that’s built will be more deeply integrated with the OS than it is on Android or iOS. That’s becausebuilding for the Windows Phone operating system will enable Skype developers to access things like the user’s contacts and the phone’s video processor.” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

They Did Whaaaaat?

If you weren’t watching your Twitter feed last Friday, or you are not yet following @Reddoor, you may have missed the announcement that the Red Door Interactive interns hijacked the company’s social media outlets! Yep, even this is a hacked blog post self-promoting our intern greatness! We changed the passwords and are dedicated to bringing you some fascinating content in the upcoming weeks.

The initial takeover began with a memo to our fabulous and 100% Jerk Free CEO who took the takeover in good stride, even seeming to relish in his new found Friday freedom.

However, some of the other Red Doorians did not share Reid’s laissez faire attitude. They were somewhat concerned by our actions, threatening to sell us to the highest bidder….

One employee even made fake twitter accounts to try & hack us. Obviously, it didn’t work. Nothing can stop us!

With the social media takeover now in full swing we plan to continue this momentum throughout the summer (or at least until RDI can guess our new passwords!). With all the excitement, be sure to follow the action on Twitter (or #interntakeover) and Facebook. You never know what we’ll be up to next.

By the way, today we took over the LinkedIn & even the @RedDoorJobs feed! We figure HR won’t fire us if we have some bargaining power…

P.S. We still haven’t heard if we’ve received any offers from the Craigslist ad – we want to know!

July 15th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

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Custom Landing Pages for Your App - ReadWrite Mobile
“App.net lets you make customizable landing pages for your mobile application. Using simple templates, your landing page can feature a description, a mockup of a mobile phone with a rotating carousel of the app’s screens, links to download the app on various app stores, social sharing buttons and links to your company’s online presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter.”
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Facebook Commerce: A Brief History - Ad Age
“Brands have been hawking product on their Facebook fan pages for no more than two years now and yet the promise of F-commerce has the retail world buzzing. One prediction says social commerce will top $30 billion globally by 2015, with Facebook-generated sales one of the primary drivers.”
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Privacy Options Come to Online Video Ads   - Ad Age
“Beginning this September, online video ad network Tremor Video will feature the privacy icon on virtually all of the ads that appear on its network, mostly 15- and 30-second commercial spots common to TV. Tremor is the largest video ad network, serving more than 700 million ads to more than 20% of the internet audience in May, according to ComScore.”
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5 Chrome Extensions That Improve Google+ - Mashable
“While Google works on adding more features, some available Chrome extensions can fill the functionality gap. Whether you want to get better notifications, enjoy improved sharing options, or scroll through your stream more quickly, there’s an extension available — for free — to help.”
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Twitter gears up auto-ads for big clients - Reuters
“The company will soon provide a so-called application programming interface, or API, that will help advertising agencies and corporations deliver large volumes of ads on Twitter. Access to the API, which Twitter plans to begin in the fourth quarter, will initially be rolled out as a test involving a limited number of partners.” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

June 24th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Get Satisfaction Gives Customer Service on Facebook an Upgrade - Mashable  
“Facebook is increasingly becoming a front-facing interaction point for customer service. Users expect to be able to ask questions, send suggestions or get help from a company Facebook page. The problem is, the Facebook Wall was never designed to really manage that type of interaction. Get Satisfaction is addressing that problem by making it possible for administrators and customer service agents to take data from the wall and funnel it into their existing CRM system, be it Salesforce.com, Oracle or even a separate Get Satisfaction community page.”
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AmEx Expands Foursquare Pilot - MediaPost
“American Express members who link their foursquare profiles to their cards can “load” and redeem merchant specials without the need for coupons, special codes, or showing their mobile devices to cashiers. The functionality is powered by the American Express Smart Offer APIs.
The national launch kicks off with Specials from H&M, Sports Authority, and Union Square Hospitality Group, and is expected to expand rapidly to include additional national and local merchant offers in the coming weeks and months.”
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Study: Within Four Years, 70 Percent Of All Mobile Ads Will Be Local  - PaidContent.org
“U.S. mobile ad spend is expected to balloon to $4 billion in 2015, up from just $790 million last year, according to the latest projections by forecaster BIA/Kelsey. One of the key drivers of the growth will be targeted local ads, which will account for $2.8 billion, or 70 percent of total spend, compared to $404 million, or 51 percent, this year.”
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Google Rolls Out Behavioral Targeting - Search Engine Land  
“Google is finally rolling out the ability to target ads to users by interest — based on their previous browsing activity, or behavior — to all of its advertisers. The company first announced a beta test of this capability more than two years ago, back in 2009, and it has slowly been introducing it to larger groups over time. The company says the capabilities are available today. The announcement marks Google’s full entrance into the world of behavioral targeting in AdWords.”
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Twitter Moves Toward Promotional Tweets - AdWeek
“Twitter may be one step closer to introducing advertisements on the main feature of the site, the streaming tweet timeline. The plan to place promotions in the tweet stream has been in the works for more than a year and now it looks as if the idea is gaining traction on the sidelines of the Cannes Lions event.” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://www.delicious.com/reddoorinteractive. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts http://www.twitter.com/reddoor

June 10th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

HOW TO: Start Marketing on SCVNGR - Mashable
“What do Neiman Marcus, HP and Buffalo Wild Wings have in common? Not a lot, except that they’ve all created marketing campaigns on SCVNGR. The breadth of industries above showcases exactly why SCVNGR might be a good tool for your business. Mashable spoke with Chris Mahl, SVP of marketing at SVNGR to find out how businesses can get involved with the platform and start cashing in.” 
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Google Buys PostRank to Boost Social Analytics - Search Engine Watch 
“Last week, Google bought PostRank, a social analytics service that tracks and measures social posts. With this acquisition, Google has gained a resource to better understand the social web, and that resource can be applied to great impact in several of Google’s key social arenas. What Is (or Was) PostRank? PostRank, in their own words, “is the largest aggregator of social engagement data in the industry.” The service allowed users to get real-time data on trending topics, high-volume conversations around the web, and their own posts.”
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Mobile Display Ads More Than Doubled in Last 2 Years - AdWeek
“According to a study from comScore, display advertising on mobile devices has more than doubled over the past two years. The study found that in April 2011, 689 advertisers used mobile display ads to reach consumers on their smartphones—an increase of 128 percent from two years earlier. According to the report, 50 percent of all ads were for mobile content and publishing, while 26 percent of ads were for consumer discretionary goods, 7 percent for information technology companies, and 6 percent for financial services ads.”
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Why Email Marketers Need To Pay Attention to Mobile  - MediaPost
“Ignoring mobile may have real consequences. If your subscribers are mobile-savvy, and your email isn’t optimized for these environments, you run more than just the risk of missing out on communication. By not reaching customers the way they prefer, your emails will go unread, marked as spam and your messages will be ignored – all greatly impacting your reputation and deliverability.”
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Facebook Face-Recognition Tool Under Fire - MediaPost  
“Guess we were wrong to assume that Facebook had grown too powerful for privacy-related criticism. No, the social giant is now being forced to apologize for the way it rolled out its face-recognition system. “A group of privacy watchdogs drawn from the EU’s 27 nations will study the measure for possible rules violations,” Bloomberg reports. “Tags of people on pictures should only happen based on people’s prior consent and it can’t be activated by default,” the group tells Bloomberg, before promising to “clarify to Facebook that this can’t happen like this.”
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://delicous.com/RedDoorInteractive. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts http://twitter.com/reddoor