Social media is what we love to talk about at Thoughtpick. In a effort to allow you to better understand and grasp the right use of social media for your upcoming campaigns, we are dedicating this regular section for you tailored to analyze old, new and current campaigns in terms of audience, success, lesson learned and more so you could learn about social media by example!
Stat Box:
Brand Name: VitaminWater “Connect”
Campaign URL: Facebook Fanpage
Social Media Channels Used: Facebook & Twitter
Appeal: Cash prize, sense of belonging & quenching thirst in a healthy way!
Target Audience: Mostly US based Facebook & Twitter users, Vitamin Water consumers, both females & males of ages between 13 and 28
Date: 7 January, 2010
Campaign Duration: Mid January
“Vitamin Water has just launched a new Black Cherry-Lime Facebook flavored drink with Caffeine and 8 other nutrients. Now you can hydrate, take your vitamins and connect with thousands of others on Facebook all at the same time”.
First it was Reddit’s Bacon Soap, and now it is Facebook’s VitaminWater: “Connect”! What is going on with those social media sites and venues? Are they going nuts? Trust me, they are not; they are seeking to gain attention and loyalty and further expand their target audience!
Good move VitaminWater and consequently Facebook, although I have to stress the fact that I saw this coming and I think Twitter is on the way! [read full article >>]
Twitter has been used in many ways as an excellent platform for marketing and promotion. Twitter contests emerged to be one of the simplest and most efficient means for companies and brands to promote their products. They are usually entered with a simple tweet, one that gives the participants a chance to win a prize. Tweets serve as a viral element for the contest holder to promote his/her services; the better the prize offered, the better chance for the promoter’s message to reach more people.
Last month we compiled a list of 15 running Twitter contests which caught the attention of many people, it motivated us to repeat the list and schedule it as a monthly post. Below are the most recent Twitter contests running for November:
1. Win a Family Getaway Vacation for 4 at Almond Resorts in Barbados or St. Lucia
Follow @LongIslandPress on Twitter and tweet the following message to your followers:
Win a trip to Barbados! Follow @LongIslandPress and RT this to be eligible! Details: http://tinyurl.com/lipcontest
Ends November 12th, 2009.

Tweet to win a trip to Barbados!
[read full article >>]
I was chatting earlier on with Beirut (@beiruta) and she was complaining that her Twitter profile shows that she has only tweeted 850 updates, while just a few days ago it was showing more than 5000 tweets. Using Google’s cached results, I confirmed that, and by that time, Beirut had a few more people complaining about the same issue.

The Twitter Number of Updates Bug - comparing current vs. Google cached profiles
So far, comparing cached Google results versus current results, the following Twitter users replied to @beiruta’s inquiry and are facing the same issue at the time of writing:
- @arleigh, dropped 21,000 tweets from a cached count (13 Aug 2009 02:38:44 GMT) of 21,819 to 1,090 tweets!
- @MoGeezie, had an outstanding 15,894 tweets via cached results (10 Aug 2009 10:01:52 GMT) and now showing only 3,824 tweets – a drop of 12,000 tweets!
- @beiruta, Beirut A.H., now showing 850 updates, while a Google cache page dated “10 Aug 2009 23:43:01 GMT” shows 5,662 tweets. A 4,812 drop.
- @togetherwf, Susan Smith, dropped 4,358 tweets from 4,744 tweets showing via Google cache (13 Aug 2009 03:19:08 GMT) to 386 currently showing.
- @memachel, Michelle Brooks, is now displaying with a count of 10,880 tweets, while the cached copy (12 Aug 2009 04:42:53 GMT) has her at 11,473 – a drop of 593 tweets.
- @wallybock, Wally Bock, now showing 6,322 updates, while the cached page on “13 Aug 2009 18:07:02 GMT” shows 6,721. Dropping 399 tweets.
So far @arleigh seems to have the biggest *proven* drop at 21k! Did your tweet count drop?
Is this yet another Twitter bug, just like the tweeting up to 250 characters bug?
I asked Beirut (@beiruta) why that drop made her frown, and she replied…
[read full article >>]
10 Tips to Ensure That You’re NOT A Social Media Sucker!
If only we, for once, actually took the time to understand the value of this quote, most of us wouldn’t have gone through most of the crap we had to deal with, whether on a personal level or business wise! But we are humans and we are stubborn!
My mother knew better than to try to teach me from her mistakes, however, I still have faith in you, my readers, and in the fact that you will trust me enough to learn from my own experience on social media venues as to not commit the same mistakes I did!
Top 10 Tips You Should Follow When Using Social Media!
Are you ready for this? Here we go..
1. Culturize!
Being culturally aware and sensitive is very important when using one or multiple social media platforms or venues. Cultural ignorance is highly destructive in your relationships with the communities you are trying to be a part of!
2. Emphasize!
When active inside a realm as impersonal as social media, it is very important for you to be able to emphasize any point you are trying to make in order not to be misunderstood. No one can hear the tone of your voice or see your body language so your words are your weapon and your executor!
[read full article >>]