The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, May 17, 2013
Roadtrip Forever: Transport Accident Commission’s social media road trip - PR Examples
This Bug Spray Billboard Is Actually a Giant Insect Trap - via Gizmodo
Arrested Development: Tobias Funke’s ‘Insert Me Anywhere’ sizzling reel and new photos - via Zap2It
Disney Lets Fans Create 3d Printed Versions Themselves As Star Wars Stormtroopers - via iO9
If Fonts Could Speak by Uniball - via Digital Synopsis
The Rise of Visual Socialization
When social media is mentioned, there are a few platforms that are top of mind. The leaders are Facebook and Twitter. After that, it depends on whom you talk to, but YouTube and Foursquare (and possibly LinkedIn as well) are in the conversation. Tumblr gets mentioned a lot, and Reddit is gaining more mainstream popularity. Pinterest has received a lot of hype and is still very popular (not to mention a strong driver of traffic). Instagram (owned by Facebook) however, has now worked its way into the upper echelon of social media platforms.
Social media has always had a visual tilt to it. Facebook is actually the world’s largest photo sharing site; Twitpic was built early on to serve Twitter’s need for photo sharing and much of Pinterest’s popularity is attributed to the ease of creating (taking images and videos) and curating visual content (sharing images and videos created by others). Most people are familiar with the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and in social media, a statement like this certainly has its place. With limited time and numerous sources of content, images are an easy way to convey thoughts, ideas and emotions. Many people would much rather show you what they’re doing rather than tell you.
Instagram looks to be the leader in the world of social visualization, but it depends on what you’re looking for. It’s not just about taking pictures, but what you do with them. Viewing and sharing is just as important as creating. Other platforms like Pinterest and Tumblr are growing and have become strong hubs for visual content. In the past, brands used to clamor for viral videos, now a viral image can be just as valuable.
Celebrities and brands have been using Instagram and other visual services for a while now, but we’re beginning to see a more prominent use of the platform as a social medium. For example, the recent Hurricane Sandy cover of Time Magazine was an Instagram image shot on an iPhone. CNN used Instagram images of the Empire State Building on election night directly on their site. Rich Kids of Instagram became a meme and actually uses Instagram and Tumblr to showcase the images. Singer Ke$ha used Instagram to tease her new album. This is just a small sampling of the tremendous popularity and reach of visual content online, Instagram in particular.
A recent study from the Pew Research Center revealed some interesting statistics.
- 56% of adult Internet users either create or curate photo content.
- 12% of online adults (and 19% of women) say they use Pinterest.
- 12% of online adults say they use Instagram, but the number jumps to 27% of Internet users between ages 18 to 29.
- 5% of online adults say they use Tumblr, but this number jumps to 11% among young adults.
- 66% of online adults use Facebook, and 16% use Twitter.
Clearly, Facebook and Twitter still lead the pack, but other services are rising. Especially interesting is the large jump in percentage among younger users.
One thing that we can be sure of is that visual socialization is here to stay. Older users are adopting new platforms, and younger users are growing up with them as a core function of their lives. Digital and social media are more and more a part of everyday life, and visuals will continue to dominate. Sharing will be easier and more and more people will expect visual content — not only from friends, but from brands as well. Take a look around, and you’ll see the trend. And when you do, be sure to snap a picture.
A version of this post previously appeared on The Agency Post.
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, January 18
Disney Created an 8-Bit Lane in London to Promote Wreck-It Ralph - via Laughing Squid
Fake Subway Ad For Comedy Central’s Kroll Show: Plastic Surgery For Dogs - via PSFK
Hilton teams up with The Onion to make fun of overworked employees in need of a vacation - via Skift
Dr. Pepper: Like Report - via Creativity Online
Warby Parker’s Interactive Annual Report - via warbyparker.com
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, January 11
App Tells You Which Facebook Friend Will Give You the Flu - via AdWeek
Expedia Vacations Hides Greetings in Luggage Tags - via Trendhunter
Cinemax Premieres Entire First Episode of Banshee as Animated GIFs - via Buzzfeed
Urban Outfitters and HBO’s Girls Want To Pay Your Rent for One Year - via Glamour
‘Monopoly’ retiring one of its game tokens, letting public decide in poll - via Staten Island Advance
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed Last Week: Tuesday, January 1
Skittles: Telekinize The Rainbow - via DigitalBuzzBlog
USA Network invites fans to create tagline for new season of ‘Psych’ - via Lost Remote
Ladder: Homepage for the Homeless (direct link) - via Creativity Online
Israeli Lingerie Company Uses Facebook Poke for New Ad - via Mashable
The Naked Cowboy Rents Skin Space to Tattoo Company - via PR Newser
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed Last Week: Monday, December 17
Volkswagen: The Polowers Race - via Adverblog
Face-aging app created to help young people save for retirement - via CBC
An Instagram Advent Calendar - via Mashable
50-Foot Duck Floats Down The River Thames - via Inquisitr
Toys’R’Us Towers by Ubisoft is like Tiny Tower, but with actual rewards - via Games.com
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week - Friday, November 30
Promotion That Turns Mundane Cars Into Hot Wheels Collectables - via Branding Magazine
Grabbing a Red Stripe Causes Store’s Other Products to Break Into Music - via AdWeek
Best Buy Has The Droids You’re Looking For - via Hypervocal
Snoop Lion Gets Dickensian For Adidas’ Holiday Campaign, Urges You To Un-Scrooge Yourself - via Fast Company
Stella Artois Lets Users Send Personalized Carolers To Their Friend’s Doorstep - via PSFK
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, October 12
Old Navy Hits 5 Million Facebook Fans, Gives Them 120-by-60-Foot Human Coupon - via JustLuxe
Pepsi Makes Things Personal With The Interactive Vending Machine - via Branding Magazine
Mind the Gap: NYC Rolls Out Doubled-Sided Branded MetroCards - via Brand Channel
Wonderbra: The Ad ‘Decoder’ App - via DigitalBuzzBlog
JetBlue Will Help Angry Voters Leave the Country - via PRNewser
How to Merge Facebook Pages: A Step-by-Step Process
Some brands still have their Facebook presence in the form of a profile rather than a page. Not having a page severely limits the use and interactions you’re able to have on Facebook. It limits the apps you can use, the analytics you can receive, and how you can interact with fans, not to mention there’s a “Like” cap at 5,000 (though the recent addition of subscription options helps). This means you are not only limiting how you can use your page, but also the size of the audience you can reach.
Merging pages can be somewhat of a hassle, though, and even a bit tricky. If you need to merge your Facebook pages, or even convert them, our tips below should help make your transition a bit easier.
Merging Facebook Pages
There are a few ways to merge Facebook pages. For one reason or another, some options may not work or may not be available. If that is the case, move on to the next option. But in all cases, you must be sure that you are an admin of the page, with selected admin privileges (meaning you have administrative rights to manage and edit the page).
- First, make sure you are an admin of all pages. This includes your main page and any pages you would like to merge.
- Next, confirm your pages are both actual pages, and not profiles or groups. You cannot merge a profile. If you need to convert your profile into a page, check out the section below.
- To help the process, make sure your page names (the page name is different than the username or vanity URL) and addresses are identical for both pages. You can do this by going to Edit Page > Update Info > Basic Information (if you have a page with 200 or more Likes, you will not be able to edit the name of the page).
- Option 1: Go to your Facebook page and select Edit Page > Resources. Under Develop Your Page you may see a Merge Duplication Pages option. If so, click the link to begin the process. In most instances, you must be logged in with your personal account (that is connected to your other pages) for this option to appear.
- Option 2: If the above step doesn’t work, you can request to merge pages (up to 5) with this link: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/?id=238908726149664. You should do this while logged in as the admin to the page you wish to keep.
- Option 3: If none of the above options work for you, you can report the old page as a duplicate and indicate the “real” page. However, you cannot currently do this as an admin (since you are an admin for both pages), and thus you will have to do this from another account. To do this, go to the duplicate page (the page you no longer want) and click the button that looks like a gear next to the Like or Message button. When you click it, there will be an option to report the page. Check off that it’s a duplicate page and copy and paste the URL of the main page you want to keep. Then submit. Another page will pop up confirming you are reporting the page as a duplicate. Check this off.
How to Convert a Facebook Profile into a Page
You can begin the process of converting a profile into a page here. More information on the process can be found here: Converting Your Personal Account to a Facebook Page. (Be sure to read this first for a full understanding of the process.)
Claiming a Facebook Place
On occasion, you may find there is already a location within Facebook for your location/page. When this happens, you can claim the location. You can find out how to claim locations here: Claiming Places.
Do you have any other tips to offer? Let us know in the comments.
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, September 21
How Michigan judicial candidate Bridget Mary McCormack got ‘The West Wing’ cast for her campaign video - via Washington Post
Canadian Department Store Zellers Releases Bear Mascot Into Wilderness - Agency Spy
Benetton Wants You for Their ‘Unemployee of the Year’ Contest - New York Magazine
The coolest police website ever - Adverblog
App Wipes Facbeook Timelines For A Day To Raise Awareness For Alzheimers - via PSFK
Generating Social Engagement Through Photo Sharing
Photographs have always been a great draw for consumers. People tend to want to document their adventures, whether it’s a trip, an event, or just everyday life. Think about any time you’ve been to an amusement park. There are often park photographers roaming around offering photo booths/cutouts you can insert yourself into and, of course, the action snapshots for sale at most major roller coasters and other attractions.
With the rise of social media, photos have played a major role. In fact, Facebook is one of the largest, if not the largest, photo-sharing sites online. The growing popularity of Instagram and Pinterest, as well as video apps like Socialcam and Viddy, show that the “visual web” is on the rise.
How can brands take advantage of this development? The Halo Group recently integrated a photo booth into an event for one of our clients. We wanted to create a fun atmosphere that allowed guests to socialize and share photos with their friends who were not at the event. We were able to create a physical experience that naturally linked to social media. Just about every person who attended the event had some form of interaction with the photo booth, whether it was taking and sharing a photo, browsing the images, or simply watching others have fun. The element of sharing photos resulted in a highly social event, during which guests not only participated and shared their photos, but also came back to the client’s Facebook page to comment, like, and tag their images.
If you create a memorable experience, people will often go out of their way to share it. You can check out some of our photos in the event album on Facebook.
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, August 17
James Harden’s beard lands starring role - via USA Today
Vodka Bottles Come With Programmable Ticker - viaPSFK
Original Beverly Hills, 90210 Cast Reunites for Old Navy Commercial, Fires Up Classic Love Triangle - via E! Online
A Bowl of Soup and a Simple Gesture of Kindness - via Patch
NYC Airports Bring Virtual Assistants to Life - via 1to1 Media
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, July 20
Volkswagen: Voice Activated Interactive Banner - via DigitalBuzzBlog
Shell “Let’s Go” campaign a brilliant, elaborate hoax - UPI.com
IKEA Airport Lounge Helps Passangers Relax While Waiting For Their Flight- via DVICE
Play life-sized Monopoly on the Streets of Chicago - via Adverblog
Rapper Pitbull exiled to remote Alaska Wal-Mart in wake of Facebook poll - via Alaska Dispatch
The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week - Friday, June 29
Bank’s Real-Time Ad Campaign Thanks People For Honesty - via Ad Rants (See Video)
‘THE DARK KNIGHT RISES’ BILLBOARD: YOU GOTTA SEE THIS - via Screen Crush
Gay Pride rainbow Oreo sparks 20,000 Facebook comments, debate - via LA Times
Your Ad Here, on a Fire Truck? Broke Cities Sell Naming Rights - via NY Times
‘Deserve to Die’ posters pop up in some U.S. cities - via Yahoo News