The younger generation would rather watch a 2 minute video than read a page of text.

How do I know that?…because I asked them.

Last week I was standing in front of thirty young adults aged from 18 to 25 at the International College of Management and I posed the question.

“Would you rather read a blog article or watch a 2 minute video?”

Twenty five of the thirty put up their hand and said  ”video!”

This maybe not the scientific method preferred by mathematicians with PhD’s and avid students of statistics, but it’s fast and efficient and measures the beat of the street.

That crowd is not getting any younger and in fact they are becoming your mainstream audience as they move into management and create startups. You need to create content that communicates to that crowd.

This is a challenge for marketers and bloggers.

Sensory overload

Readers and younger viewers demand more titillation and excitement. Videos that entertain and content that contains more visual eye candy in high definition. Have you noticed that a 42 inch big screen TV is now no longer big enough. A 3.5 inch smart phone is sometimes seen as too small. We are heading into a mobile gadget world and now 5 inches is fashionable and demanded.

Sensory overload is a journey of diminishing returns, but you have to play the game. It is now essential to think color, visual and multi-media.

Monochrome and mono media is not enough anymore.

The game is multi-channel and multi-media.

What other media content should be on the menu?

Images, photos and infographics are some of the other key elements to content curation and creation that grabs attention and asks the question.

Is this interesting enough to share on my Facebook page or Twitter account?

Infographics are a media that attracts attention and flows across a social web. They started to gain more prominence about 2 years ago and have maintained an interest that sees them used in marketing campaigns and used to create blog attention.

What are the seven key steps to create an awesome infographic?

It starts with selecting a topic or an event that that you think people will want to learn or know more about.

Learn about the others below.


Infographic source: Graphs.net







































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The question that seems to be on everyone’s lips on the social media marketing team is “How can I increase the number of Facebook likes?”



This has led to tactics emerging to increase engagement by posting frenzied Facebook updates many times a day. Brand pages are offering incentives, bribes and tactics that look very much like begging.

Just to gain those precious additional likes.

The magic marketing goals often heard around the water cooler are 1,000, 10,000 or even 100,000 Facebook fans. Always numbers with many zeros.

It all has become a bit unseemly really.

Despite large fan counts being the social media managers holy grail, the core challenge on Facebook is that it is filtered. It is lucky if even 15% of updates such as photos, quotes and videos even appear in people’s Facebook timelines.

This filter on Facebook is due to censoring being applied by the social network called “Edge Rank”.
So the question that needs to be asked is this “Is a Facebook like worth what we think it is?”

The Twitter advantage

Twitter might seem a bit more wild west. But its advantage is that is not filtered. Every tweet appears in your followers streams.

This is something that the marketing team quite often forgets.

What is not appreciated by many is that it is easier to build a loyal tribe of fans on Twitter who are interested in your content and subject than it is on Facebook.

Maybe you should rethink your social media strategy?

Top tactics to gain more Twitter followers

So how do you get more Twitter followers?

• Follow people on Twitter. The law of reciprocation is what works with this tactic
• Have great content that links from your Twitter account. People will check you out and if your content is good on your blog or website then it is more likely you will be followed
• Engage with your followers on Twitter with retweets, comments and questions
• Make it easy for people to follow you on Twitter from your website by including a follow me on Twitter button that is obvious and near the top of your page

40 ways to increase your Twitter tribe

So you are still short of ideas? Here is an infographic to get you started.



Infographic Source: Twiends














































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When those friends, family and old college acquaintances came up on your screen and you were invited to connect with them after years and maybe decades of no contact.

For me many looked the same, others a bit older and some I couldn’t recognize. It was a bit of a “Wow” moment. Global connection in an instant in full living color.

The network touched us, connected us and provided glimpses into lives forgotten but still lived. It allowed us to share photos, videos and stories of our adventures. Some glimpses into others lives are exciting, others intriguing and some just border on the mundane.

Engaging with your friends online from your news feed can be done in a variety of ways from placing a comment, sharing the update  or just hitting “like” if we don’t have much time.

But we are still working out the ways to play.

Does the “Like” button need an alternative?

The ever present “like” button seems to have been with us forever. In fact it has only been with us for just over four years on personal pages and replaced the “become a fan” button on brand pages in June, 2010.

We have all seen those updates from friends where we silently say “I didn’t want to know that!” Other reactions are sometimes “too much information” and sometimes you feel like saying “I don’t care“.

Maybe we need buttons like “funny” when you see an update like this.

“I am proud of myself. I finished the puzzle in just 6 months while the box said 2 to 4 years“.

9 Updates Deserving the “I Don’t Care” Button

Here is a fun look at 9 types of  updates that don’t need a like button.



Infographic source: By www.themaplekind.com  - where you can waste a lot of time and also have a chuckle.



















































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The big question that is often asked about social media when it comes to investing money, resources and time is “what is the return on investment?”

Some pundits will say that is not the right question because it is like asking “what is the ROI on your phone?”. Others will say social media should stand up and be measured in its own right. The challenge though is that we live in a multi-channel marketing world and the path to your sales door for your product is not a straight path and easy to measure.

It is not unusual for a company or brand to have the following digital channels and tactics that are all engaging, marketing and selling.

• Email
• Paid search ads
• Organic search results
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blog
• Slideshare
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest

And I have only just started and haven’t even mentioned Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr or a multitude of other channels.

These are all working to drive the prospect to your business and buy your product or service.

But there is also another question.

Should the first click or the last click get the credit?

In our social and online world seeing that your friend  liked a certain brand could lead you to visit that Facebook page and click on a link that offered a discount for their product that took you to their online store. You didn’t buy but left the site.

A week later you do a Google search for the brand, visite the site and buy the product.

Who gets the credit? Google or Facebook?

Research by Adobe analyzed 1.7 billion visits to the websites of more than 225 U.S. companies in the media, retail, and travel industries. It shows that the ROI for social increases significantly if the first click attribution is accepted.

“Using first-click attribution for the retail websites we analyzed, the average visitor from social media sites delivered $1.13 in revenue. In contrast, when using last-click attribution, the average visitor from social media generated $0.60”

In the end both contributed.

Is social media about engagement or selling?

“Social media’s” main role in this online marketing game is revealed by the first word in the  phrase. It is about engaging first and selling second. It is human and social. Do this well and selling your product becomes easier. Your content will define your brand. It is achieved with images, videos and content that humanizes your business.

Social media’s value is not always captured by first-click or last-click attribution models. This value includes:

• Brand awareness
• Customer loyalty
• Engagement through social conversations
• Engagement due to content
• Offline channel transactions
• Personal referrals due to awesome content that adds value

These are hard to put a value against but they are real but soft metrics and should be in your marketing tactics tool box.

10 Examples of Social Media ROI

So what has been the results achieved from social media marketing? Here are a few examples.


Infographic source: psoshul.com

So what about you?

How do you use social media? Is it more about engaging than selling?

Does your CEO need more hard facts and wants to see the ROI before they commit the resources and cold hard cash or is creating brand awareness and customer loyalty valued?

Look forward to reading your stories in the comments below.




































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Social media is emerging from its adolescent phase and is rapidly maturing.


Initially social networks had an image problem with some CEO’s and executives thinking Facebook was for teenagers to post the weekend’s party photos and Twitter was for narcisstic attention seekers with a limited vocabulary.


There was also an initial perception that because the platforms were free to use that participating was cheap and easy. Experience has shown otherwise.

Social media, blogging and digital content creation are resource intensive and doing it right takes time and money.

Tools and time saving apps are emerging to help companies to be more efficient and able to manage, control and  monitor social media. These functions and features are also being integrated into Enterprise class software solutions.

Social media has grown up and is now accepted as mainstream by companies including the Fortune Global 100. These companies include Ford, Walmart and BP.

Facebook , Twitter, Google+, YouTube and the fast emerging Pinterest have all been embraced by the top companies as they find ways to leverage their brands globally.

Burson-Marsteller first launched a study in 2010 that looked closely at how companies were adapting to this new media. Here are their 2012 findings

5 Insights into Global Social Media

In 2010 the Fortune 100 were participating on social media but not to the extent they are now. The social networks were used for broadcasting but there was limited engagement. In 2012 they are having constant conversations with their customers and followers and creating vast amounts of  digital content.

What are the top 5 findings from their latest research?

1. Twitter is more than 50% of the Conversations

Corporations, Brands and organisations have realized that  social media spreads stories in real time and at high velocity. In 2012 the Fortune Global 100 are mentioned 10.4 million times per month with Twitter transmitting 5.6 million of those conversations. This represents a growth in Twitter conversations of over 700% in just 2 years.

Gone are the days when PR companies were clipping media mentions from newspapers and magazines and posting them to the corporation via snail mail.

2.  YouTube is a Serious Media Channel

In just one year YouTube use has increased by 39 percent. It is no longer considered a channel for just entertainment but also education and positioning and branding. Corporate YouTube channels are averaging over 2 million views. This growth in conversations and views by customers is making it compulsory for companies to participate on social networks.  The social networks are proving to be a great source of free media attention that is not paid but earned.

3. Engagement is the Norm

Organisations are not just broadcasting but engaging with their customers and prospects. On Twitter 79 percent of companies are engaging via retweeting and @mentions. On Facebook 70 percent of brands are are responding to comments on their walls and timelines.

4. Multiple Accounts are Common

The average number of multiple social media accounts has soared since 2010. The number of average Twitter accounts is now over ten (up from four since 2010)  and over 8 YouTube channels (up from 1.6 in 2010). This is because companies have realized that they need to target audiences by geography, topic and service. The larger organisations now have both the tools and the resources allocated.

5. Companies are Rapidly Adapting to New Platforms

In the last twelve months Google+ and Pinterest have entered the social networking ecosystem. Companies have quickly embraced these channels with  nearly 50 perecent of the Fortune Global 100 on Google+ brand pages and 25 percent on Pinterest.


Infographic source: Burson-Marsteller







































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Social networks are evolving before our eyes. The changes are often subtle and hidden.


Facebook is still the defacto social network with over 900 million users. To make money though, it has no other option but to monetize the stream called the Timeline. This puts a lot of clutter onto the screen.


Facebook has also admitted that it hasn’t got its mobile strategy and platforms positioned to take advantage of the explosion in mobile from iPads to Androids and the recently announced Microsoft mobile tablet “Surface“.

This gap in their plans was seen more clearly when they paid a premium price of $1 billion for the mobile photo app Instagram to secure a mobile online asset as a beach head.

Facebook and Apple have also announced a close integration of Facebook for mobile in Apple’s new mobile operating system iOS6. This promises a more seamless and user friendly mobile interface.

Why Google Doesn’t need to Make Money from Google+

Google doesn’t really care about monetizing Google+ because it makes its money elsewhere. This is why

• Mobile advertising revenue in the last 12 months was $2.5 billion
• Search Advertising revenue in total is $38 billion

Facebook’s total revenue stream is from paid advertising and the monetizing of social games on  Facebook.

Last year this totaled $3.7 billion according to Forbes. That keeps the comparison between Facebook and Google in perspective!

Is Google+ a “Pure” Social Network?

The social signals that Google+ adds to its search algorithms maintains its search engine relevancy for users who will receive more personalised search results that improve user experience. This is vital for Google…to continue to be relevant.

Google+ can then be a “pure” social network without “Ads” that provides social signals for its other online assets because of the value it brings to its total ecosystem.  It doesn’t need to make revenue from its Google+ platform that cost it over $500 million.

Facebook has no choice but to include advertising in its network platform.

The Philosophy of the Social Networks

In viewing the philosophy and personas of the the top three social networks they are all taking and staking different positions online.

• Google sees Google+ as core to its online properties. This can be seen with the Google+ button on almost all its online properties from Gmail to Google”Reader”. Google is about relevancy and user experience.
• Facebook positions its social network platform as being about people’s identity. The “Timeline” update further reinforces this position as it allows you to update your life history and place it with the appropriate date stamp in your timeline stream.
• Twitter sees itself as about “Events”. Breaking news and events globally in real time but keeping its charm and interface simple.

The challenge that most Facebook users face with changing to other social networks is that number one, it is a matter of time managing two social platforms and secondly why change when most of their friends already hangout on Facebook.

So what are some tips, resources and insights in to how to use Google+.

#1. 9 Reasons to Switch from Facebook to Google+

This is a good overview of the advantages of Google+ from the PC World online blog. It looks at

• Integration with Google’s other online assets and services
• Its inproved data protection and privacy features over Facebook
• The power of “Circles”

#2. 6 Essential Google+ Features for Marketing your Business Online 

This resource provides a good introductory overview of how to get started on Google+ By Angela Stringfellow on the Unbounce.com blog.

It covers key features and functions in an easy visual format.

• Google+ brand pages
• The Google+ button
• Google+ hangouts

#3. 27 Google+ Tutorials

This is an extensive list of resources from A Brighter Web blog,  that will have you viewing videos for days. If I don’t see your comments below I know where you have gone.

It includes video tutorials for using Google+ including

• An overview of Google+
• How to add text to a video
• How to share images from Gmail
• How to format your posts with bold and italic

#4. Guy Kawasaki on Google+

Guy Kawasaki is someone I have followed online for quite a while now and I have adapted and  used his approach and philosophy to social media especially in regards to Twitter. Guess what they worked and that is why you are maybe visiting this blog today.

This is a short video with his insights.



This is how he sees the three major social media networks.

• Twitter as about news
• Facebook about friends and Family
• Google+ is about passion and strangers

He has released a book on Google+ called “What the Plus! Google+ for the rest of Us”

#5. Chris Brogan on Google+

Chris has become an evangelist for Google+ and here is an infographic that highlights the use of Google+ for business.



































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I am starting to wonder if Google+ is a waste of time as a marketing platform for bloggers and brands.



Google+ launched with a bang last year and has now reached over 170 million registered users and 100 million active users.

The demographic is mainly male at 67%, the average age is 28 years old with a technical bent.

I do like the Google+ interface and I am sure it had a significant impact on maintaining competitive  pressure on Facebook to keep its user interface fresh with its new “Timeline” design rollout and evolution.

But there is a problem.

Google+’s engagement levels are so low that actually rank behind MySpace and almost any other significant social network you want to mention.

Google+ Engagement is Poor

Research from RJ Metrics shows that that despite the large user base they are hardly spending any time on the site whether vthat is publishing, reading or engaging.

Here are some of the findings:

• The average post has less than one +1, less than one reply, and less than one re-share.
• 30% of users who make a public post never make a second one.
• After making five public posts, there is a 15% chance that a user will not post publicly again.
• Among users who make publicly-viewable posts, there is an average of 12 days between each post

Other research reveals that Google+ users spend on average only 3 minutes per month versus Facebook at over 400 minutes.

What about Traffic Referral?

I am finding that it is hardly referring any traffic to my blog (despite having over 7,000 followers on Google+)
In speaking to other bloggers at the “Social Media Down Under” conference recently they agreed that they were only posting there because it was Google.

What I am finding also is that Pinterest drives more traffic to my blog than Google+.

A lot of users are posting but only because it is a Google property!

Here is some more information via an Infographic regarding Google + vs Facebook



































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