Sandy blows, but where will she go? Track the frankenstorm.
(Source: thistleraven)
Your Brand Can’t Skimp on Visuals -
Social Media Giants and Mere Humans Demand Them
Are you on Facebook? Twitter? Then you know full well how much competition exists for every second of your day in the social sphere.
Throw in frequent e-mail checking and simultaneous device use, and we have a landscape where grabbing – and keeping – user attention is harder than ever. This onslaught is quite possibly re-wiring our brains, reducing attention spans by more than 50% in the last 10 years.
How can brands cut through social noise? The answer is simple: Content that is VISUAL, CREATIVE and ORIGINAL is what gets people talking - and (what you really need) sharing.
You probably already know this intuitively (just think of what you click on when you scroll through your news feeds). But the proof is in the data. Across industries, rich media (photos, videos) is far more likely to be shared on Facebook than status updates or links alone.
But it’s not just about natural preference for visuals. Facebook Timeline and EdgeRank are giving increasing weight to visual content. Twitter too, has begun to place a higher emphasis on images, debuting user galleries last year, and serving up photos in hashtag search results. And then there’s Pinterest (no clarification needed).
So go ahead. Use a graphic designer. Combine graphics, data and messaging that people will want to share around the web. That’ll give your content – and your brand - legs.
-Marta Grecchi, strategist
According to Mashable.com, tomorrow Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg will introduce Facebook’s new “Lifesaving” feature, whatever that may be. Speculation is rampant, but everyone knows Facebook (and social media in general) has already revolutionized the way humanitarian aid and community activism are happening.
Just recently here in Tucson, a viral campaign took off after a girl went missing from her home. The story of Isabel Celis spread rapid-fire across the web with over 7,000 likes on Facebook, #findisabelcelis trending on Twitter, a music video, updates on Huffington Post and even a song. Whether or not the attention will ultimately help authorities find Isabel is yet to be seen. But situations like this do raise the deeper question of how social networks can help communities help themselves.
We’ll be watching, like lots of people, to see what Zuckerberg has in mind.
