Xbox Connects with the Couch Potatoe

Ok so after taking in entire semesters worth of social media knowledge, you’d think I’d be pretty up to date on a lot of things. Well, I just found out about Xbox’s connection to the social media world and it has been out for just around a year now! As if things were not easy enough for generation Y and Z folks, Xbox has made it yet again, easier by integrating Facebook and Twitter in with its gaming console. No need to get off the couch or grab the laptop; Xbox now allows users to connect to Facebook and Twitter straight from their gaming controller. According to Marc Whitten, Xbox's General Manager, Xbox's social media ability will be just like that of a computer. Users will be able to flip through albums and photo's of friends and family. The great thing about connecting social media platforms and a gaming system like Xbox is there will be instant user generated content and tremendous consumer interaction through things like wall posts, updating twitter status's, Facebook chatting, and uploading new photo's of games.

Bing’s Social Search Optimize Content, Takes Shot at Google

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Microsoft’s Bing.com just recently announced that it is integrating Facebook’s very sought after social graph information in to parts of its search results. In the social media world, this has been both expected and long waited for. The “social search” will search algorithms to pick up on signals such as location to figure out what a person is trying to find or do. In lemans terms, Bing is using Facebook’s “like” results and profile search results and integrating them in to their search engine.

Whenever you are signed on to Facebook and are using Bing, you will have an option of viewing search results that will take in to consideration what your Facebook friends have liked or searched. By tapping in to Facebooks information database, Bing is taking a direct shot at other search engines such as Google in the race to customize search options specifically for individuals.

For companies, this is also a huge step. Those companies that know how to manage social media and use it effectively can use Bing to their advantage as the search engine moves towards better search results based on social graphs. Through more relevant user generated data, socially connected people and companies will be in-the-know and will consequently make more money!

NFL gets a Fantasy Boost

                                     

We have talked about advergaming and things like Second Life and World of War craft. But, we haven’t talked about how the fantasy world is hitting up the sport industry. Fantasy sports such as football, basketball, and baseball are all the craze amongst sports enthusiast and it’s paying off big time for TV ratings.  For example, the return of the NFL football season has allowed NBC to crush its competition during primetime with Sunday Night Football. NBC had 11.4 million viewers one week, which was roughly 5 million more than the next best network. The NFL has stated that the rise in fans playing fantasy football leagues has gotten more fans in to the games. Before, fans would pay attention only to their favorite teams.  With fantasy football, fans are focusing on many teams that in the past they would not have cared about. Now, with fantasy football, fans are closely watching many games specifically to see how their fantasy players are performing.

Fantasy football allows regular fans to become more involved in the NFL. Fans can create a league and draft players just like you see on television. Fans manage their team just like a General Manager would and compete with other teams in the league.

The NFL has also stated that other social media outlets have helped increase ratings. Fans texting each other during games or posting comments on their Twitter and Facebook pages has also increased the interest in the games.

Become a Hollywood Producer at Vimeo!

So today at work, my boss asked me if I could download a Facebook video to our shared drive in our office. Now, I know how to surf the web with the best of them, but when it comes to embedding codes, transferring files and things of that nature, I am no pro.  I started off doing what probably the majority of people would have done: going to Google of course! Google took me to a video sharing website called Vimeo. I had never heard of Vimeo before, but apparently it is quite popular.  It is almost like an upscale YouTube where consumers can customize their own videos, collaborate on projects, and build a community of followers with similar interests. Vimeo’s mission is to provide creators with a safe and positive environment to share their videos and connect with others, as well as to develop simple and elegant tools and features to present your videos to the people you want.

One of the best things about Vimeo is its online community. Vimeo allows users to post comments of opinions and suggestions to help one another out.  By watching others videos and “liking” them, as well as posting your own videos, other users will be notified of your work and users with similar interests will soon follow.

Some users may be intimidated by the quality of some of the videos, but they should not be. Vimeo claims that all you need in “a camera and a little bit of motivation.” The tools, online community and resources are in place to help you out from there!

Here is a video that I found while exploring. Looks like WKU is up with the times! Spread the Red!

Social Media Presentation

In my entrepreneurial marketing class the other day, we had a guest speaker. His name was Steve Chandler and he runs his own online ad agency called Chandlerthink.com. He gave a very cleaver and informative social media presentation with some eye popping statistics.  The most interesting things in my opinion were his catchy sayings. For example, with social media and advertising in general, Chandler states that you must “fish where the fish are.” Today, there are many skeptics out there, thinking social media is a fad and is not worth the time or effort to use efficiently. However, the numbers do not lie. With over 400 million people on Facebook, over 50 million tweets per day, and roughly 100,000 YouTube video uploads per day, it is clear that the fish are swimming in the social media stream of today’s society.  Advertisers must recognize this and adapt.  Chandler explained that being successful at social media is not a simple thing though. Advertisers must be real with people. Chandlers discussed how profiles on Facebook are like people’s personal “me time” and that time should not be interrupted by annoying scheme’s and ploys by advertisers. He recommends being interactive. Chandler stated that he lives by posing the question, “WWBRD?” That stands for “What Would Bonnie rate Do?” Bonnie Rait sings the song, “Let’s give them something to talk about.” Chandler says that is exactly what advertisers need to do when trying to connect to consumers using social media tools. Chandlers gave a personal example of a client his company has. They created a Facebook page for the client and initially posted bland non-interactive comments. This got the Facebook page hardly any additional followers. For the first six months, their new followers looked like this: 1) low 90s 2) low 90s 3) 0 4) 500s 5) over 1,000 6) over 14,000. Clearly Steve Chandler and his colleagues figured out something around month 4. They began interacting with their followers more by posing questions regarding favorite personal memories and opinions on various topics. The followers soon started flooding in. This is just another example of how advertising today is moving toward non-traditional media and today’s consumers are much more educated when it comes to a company’s attempts to be real with them.

A Technologically Savvy Resume could mean a leg up

Although the job market may be a bit scarce these days, it is certainly not for lack of opportunities for recognition by job searchers. Today there are more opportunities than ever to get your name and resume in front of businesses looking to hire. With such great resources like monster.com and theladders.com among others it is essential that people understand their resumes are no longer just a piece of paper. For a leg up, resumes should incorporate today's multimedia and social networking capabilities such ones blog or LinkedIn account. Another recommendation is to post videos of mock interviews or audio testimonials of references like a former boss. You can easily do this on your blogs or YouTube.  Incorporating these things in to a state of the art technologically savvy resume not only shows that you are cutting edge, but it also allows recruiters to emotionally connect with you on a level they would not otherwise be able to. 

Now, it is important to note that if you are to create a social media resume, you must thoroughly inspect all your social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, Blogger etc.) and make sure they represent you in a professional manner that is appropriate for hire.

Here is a link on how to build the Ultimate Resume !

Disney Takes a Social Media Approach to Recruiting College Campuses

The other day in my entrepreneurial marketing class, we had a recruiter from Disney come in and talk to us about Disney as a brand. We talked about the history of the company, its significance in today's society and what makes Disney so successful. A big reason Disney is so successful is because 75% of its customers are repeat customers. It is Disney’s extreme attention to detail that helps create a magical fairy tale experience for each Guest. I do say Guest, not customer. Disney calls each customer a guest because that is how they should be treated. Disney is all about the fairy tale and incredible memories that last a lifetime. Their new marketing campaign "Let the Memories Begin", fits right in with utilizing social media in a correct manner. Disney admits they were late getting in to the social media game and still are hesitant in aspects because their brand is so delightful and distinct that they have a fear of hurting it when allowing the user to control content. But their new campaign allows guests to still be interactive with Disney and be original all while allowing Disney to have ultimate control. Another cool thing the recruiter showed was how they have changed their marketing plan towards recruiting students. Disney’s advertising and recruiting efforts are no longer just a poster up on college campus that students walk by. The Disney recruitment posters have a 2D barcode on them that can be scanned with a smart phone. Once the code is scanned a roughly two minute long interactive advertisement video plays right on your phone. This new way of advertising avoids having to type in long URL’s or search for content that may be hard to find. The 2D bar codes can also easily be uploaded to a Twitter account, making them even more viral through user interaction. The Disney video does a great job of bringing the poster and overall marketing campaign to life. The campaign is more unique and makes the prospective employee or guest feel like the message is directed specifically at them, which in turn makes them want to be a part of the magical Disney family.