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Thoughtpick: A unique perspective of the Web and social media...
A unique perspective of the Web and social media...

February 18, 2010

Learn Social Media by Example: Put Your Best Face Forward with Estee Lauder

Stat Box

Brand: Estee Lauder (Beauty Industry)
Channels Used: Facebook, booth in department stores
Appeal: Feel better about yourself by looking better
Target Audience: Women ages between 35-55
Date of Campaign: October 2009 — Current

I will go ahead and dare you to find a Facebook group with as much loving as Estee Lauder’s. Check it out, it is absolutely amazing.

Every wall-post has around three “I love Estee Lauder’s…”, and believe me when I say there are tons of wall posts. I have spent the past 10 minutes going over January, and all the messages are so loving it almost makes me cringe.

Estee Lauder must spend tons of money on getting their clients to love them so much.

What I love about their very subtle social media campaign is how it makes the effort to understand the needs of its audience. By offering luxury beauty product, there’s a fine line between selling an expensive product short and beautifully having women strut their best face forward with a nice nod to Estee Lauder. They address the desire to look good in one of the most important digital life-files online: Facebook.

Estee Lauder photo touch-up expert fixes the photos even further after the make-up is done

Estee Lauder photo touch-up expert fixes the photos even further after the make-up is done.

You can also do a do-it-yourself make over with the option to upload on Facebook on Estee Lauder’s website.

[read full article >>]

Filed under: Social Media By Example — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — Roba @ 4:37 pm

February 9, 2010

Infograph: The State of the Internet Today

Today, the Internet world is more important than ever. Our lives are interwoven with it, both private and corporate.

We plan our outings, keep in contact with friends, and communicate with each other on the Web. Our daily business dealings revolve around email, online resources, and collaborative software like Google Wave. We get our news online, watch our movies on YouTube, and keep-up-to-date with Twitter. More importantly, the Internet, and Social Media in particular, are proving to be very important to the way we advertise and market ourselves, our products, and our ideas.

Keeping up with ThoughtPick’s latest “Learn Social Media By Example“, we believe that to pull off great online campaigns, you need to be familiar with the audience. Not your audience in particular, but the larger Internet audience that might come across your campaign. It is essential to keep the Internet’s demographics in mind when creating any online content.

We will be using parts of our latest favorite infograph, created by Focus, to explore the different facets of online existence.

These illustrations use 100 circles to help visualize a crowd of a 100 people, and how they live in the online ecosystem.

The Basic Information: Gender, Age, and Income

who

Who uses the Internet

[read full article >>]

Filed under: Deductions and Realizations — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Roba @ 9:31 pm

January 15, 2010

Google StreetView: Virtually Stealing Adspace

Google patent for the ads

Google patent for the ads

Google was just granted the patent above, which is leading internet observers to believe that Google will soon introduce ad-retailing on outdated billboards in Google Street View.

Basically, if a banner owner feels like the ad showing is totally out of date, he would be able to update the spot with a different ad, just like on a real billboard.  According to the patent, it will also work with posters in shop windows and theatres, and Google seems to be planning to also sell space for “unclaimed” spots–potentially leaving the spots free for rival services to advertise on a competitor’s business.

500x_googlebillboard

Okay, it probably won't look exactly like this...

What Does This Mean For Online Advertising?

With banner blindness going stronger than ever, advertisers and ad-sellers must come up with new ways to make use of the online community to generate advertising money.

Advertising in virtual worlds like Second Life became very popular several years back, but soon proved to be a fad. Meanwhile, contextual advertising like Adsense is still growing strong.

[read full article >>]

Filed under: Web News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Roba @ 5:35 pm

January 14, 2010

Social Media Says: DIAL 90999 For Haiti

The Internet population is always on the top list of those reacting to a disaster. Sitting behind the safety of their computer screens, flustering the Internet world by tweeting, blogging, and digging in for news, and trying to take in the magnitude of the disaster. They also often try to organize digital relief campaigns and take action, complete with “Donate” buttons and “Send SMS Now”.

Having noticed this, charities are trying to utilize the social aspect of the Web, as we know it today, and get creative with their fund raising strategies. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are often used for creating a larger donor base and reaching a new, younger audience base. Recently, a non-profit working to provide safe drinking water to Third World countries raised more than a quarter million dollars using Twitter alone.

Live Example: The Internet Society for Haiti

Following the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti this Tuesday, the Internet population was looking online for ways to help. Many global relief efforts immediately started popping up on the various social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook spokesman Larry Yu said that since the quake, there had been over 1,500 status updates a minute containing the word “Haiti.” The Facebook application Causes posted a video of the destruction in Haiti. On Twitter, one of the most prominent campaigns to gather donations is from the American Red Cross, which is actively encouraging people on Twitter to test “HAITI” to donate $10. A day later, this initiative raised over two million dollars for Haiti. The Huffington Post, CNN, and The New York Times are curating special lists to track events related to the disaster.

Screenshot of American Red Cross campaign

Screenshot of American Red Cross campaign

The Internet is indeed a fantastic “tool” to help others in need. We will leave you with this video that explains the magnitude of help that the Internet is providing for the Haiti disaster, beyond donating  money:

Have you ever donated online? Do you think that online charities are actually successful? Or is it just a few charities with cover stars?

For more places to give online, the San Francisco Chronicle has created a list of legitimate organizations seeking donations.

Filed under: Web News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Roba @ 4:09 pm

December 17, 2009

Youtube: Unintentionally Marketing Drug Use to Teens!

“Telling a teenager the facts of life is like giving a fish a bath”. ~ Arnold H. Glasow

Teens...

Teens...

Dealing with teenagers’ emotions, mood swings, habits, behaviors and even their rebellious nature can be really difficult for parents and older siblings for many reasons which hundreds of studies and researches have been trying to uncover for years!

Recently, and based on the above statement, I found myself deeply entrenched into the thought about teens and web marketing, especially after having spent a few hours watching different Youtube clips aiming to warn about certain harmful practices such as drug abuse. All of a sudden, I realized that with no supervision or control, there is a very thin line between warning and motivation for those teenagers!

How Can Web Marketing Confuse Teens?

An old saying I faintly recall goes something like this: “What you don’t know can’t harm you”! And here, for this particular post, I strongly agree!

Although the internet has taken over almost every aspect of our daily lives, through certain random eye opening “awareness” campaigns being advertised over mediums such as Youtube, we are taking a risk of actually being the reason for introducing teens to many practices they might not need to be aware of!

[read full article >>]

Filed under: Controversial Picks, Deductions and Realizations — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Beirut @ 4:07 pm

December 5, 2009

Ikea’s Social Marketing Genius

Watch that movie and weep. It’s not sappy of course, but its so simply brilliant it’s almost hard to bare. Ikea practically invents Facebook tag marketing.

How? They use the photo tagging function where users were able to tag objects in photos of Ikea showrooms with their own names to win these very products. What they managed to do is: advertise their products socially, spread the love, and involve people in conversations.

This campaign was done by Forsman and Bodenfors, who have been working with Ikea since 1996. This is their first social media campaign.

Via Advertising/Design Goodness

Filed under: Web News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — Roba @ 4:20 pm

November 20, 2009

Verizon’s New Campaign Rocks! Should AT&T Be Scared? [video ads]

Enough beating around the bush and let’s just face it: Some brands know how to use social media to their advantage while others don’t! It’s a rather simple statement that doesn’t need too much explanations or justifications. I mean with all the noise out there, getting your message through needs certain elements and variables which, when ignored, could turn against you.

Whether it is the fight between the iPhone and the Blackberry or the long lived battle between Apple and Microsoft, when a brand is able to use social media to capture attention, create awareness and build trust and loyalty, it has a higher percentage at succeeding and sustaining profits.

[read full article >>]

Filed under: Web News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Beirut @ 4:32 pm

October 26, 2009

User Manual: What to Expect When Using Social Media?

“Anger always comes from frustrated expectations”. Elliott Larson

Expectations are – simply put – the building blocks and the breaking points of everything in life.

Expectations Only Lead to Disappointment!

Expectations Only Lead to Disappointment!

Whether in the way we conduct our personal lives or business wise, expectations usually have the power to strengthen or hinder efforts and in turn influence any outcomes either positively or negatively.

Hundreds, no, thousands of books and articles were published about various subjects pertaining to expectations all around us. The main reason for these publications is to prepare individuals for what they might face in certain situations or during specific events or cases and how to deal with them accordingly.


Social Media Expectations: The good, the bad & the ugly!

Preconceptions about a certain concept, person, place and so on have the ability to cause confusion. This is because the human mind conditions itself to a certain way of dealing with things based on prior expectations. Thus, if the expectations are not met, the mind usually refuses to change its perceptions and whatever is at play might lose its credibility and attractiveness element.

Therefore, I thought I would prepare a list, divided into 3 categories: the good, the bad and the ugly. The main purpose of this list is pointing out everything one must expect to encounter through his/her use of social media channels, tools and platforms.

[read full article >>]

Filed under: Deductions and Realizations, Research-Based Topics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Beirut @ 7:13 pm

September 8, 2009

50 Top Noise-Free Twitter Tips & Links in Social Media, Marketing, SEO, Design & More! Part 3

Wouldn’t it be just great if you could find the most useful tweets and links about the hottest most interesting topics online, all in one place? Wouldn’t it be just convenient if you could link that valuable information to the tweeple who posted it so you can have continuous access to his/her tweets by following him/her accordingly?tips

Below you will find our third specialized well researched list of 50 Top Twitter Tips and Links divided into 5 distinctive categories: 1) Social Media & Technology, 2) Marketing & Advertising 3) Design, 4) SEO, 5) Motivational & More.

1. Social Media & Technology Tips & Links:

2. Marketing & Advertising Tips & Links:

Filed under: Research-Based Topics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Beirut @ 5:37 pm

August 26, 2009

Dell vs. Toshiba – Death Match via Youtube, Facebook & Twitter…

Is social media turning into one of the main reasons for purchasing trendy, fashionable and tech products these days? Could a brand’s wrong utilization of social media affect its image negatively? Is it fair to solely depend on web marketing and social media channels (such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook) in order to decide whether to purchase a certain brand or its competitor?

A month or more ago, I published an article about Blackberry Storm vs. iPhone 3G. I noticed that our readers really enjoyed this type of topics. Therefore, the ThoughtPick team, and after an idea-loaded brainstorming session, decided to turn this type of posts into a series: Social Media & Web Marketing Wars!

A Little Bit of History…

Before moving on to evaluating the effectiveness of their social media utilization, it is only fair to talk a little about Dell and Toshiba’s histories.

Let’s begin with Dell. Dell was established in 1984 by Michael Dell and it employs more than 76,500 people worldwide as of 2009. “Dell grew during the 1980s and 1990s to become (for a time) the largest seller of PCs and servers. As of 2008 it held the second spot in computer-sales within the industry behind Hewlett-Packard. The company currently sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals”.

As for Toshiba, it was founded by the merging of two companies in 1939. Toshiba America Information Systems was created in 1989. “Toshiba is the world’s fifth largest personal computer manufacturer, after Hewlett-Packard and Dell of the U.S., Acer of Taiwan and Lenovo of China.”

Dell & Toshiba… “Social Medially”!

As a crucial part of my research, I made an effort to cover 4 important aspects of Dell and Toshiba’s online presence, especially when it comes to social media platforms: Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Blogs.

1. Twitter:

What does Dell conduct itself on Twitter?

Dell seems to very well understand the power that Twitter is able to equip it with and appears to be doing the most it can to reap the benefits of having a strong presence as a Twitter user:

Filed under: Deductions and Realizations — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Beirut @ 3:47 pm
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