Twitter launches follow button for websites
In my last posts I discussed about the expansion of twitter. How and why they acquired tweetdeck. They are about to launch their own photosharing services. Now they have launched twitter follow button for websites which enables users to subscribe to the twitter feeds of organisations and individuals directly from their websites with a single click.
Till now website had to redirect users to their respective twitter page on twitter.com before users can follow them. This new feature of follow button will definitely encourage organisations/individuals to increase the number of their followers by “follow us” prompts on their sites.
So, we can say that twitter has gone one step ahead by launching this new feature of twitter button.
If you want to know more or want to set up a twitter button for your own website you can go here.
Twitter & Tweetdeck, Nice combination?
After hearing the rumours of acquisition for several months now, finally it was made official that Tweetdeck will be joining Twitter.
I am using Tweetdeck, a desktop and mobile application for organising tweets and other social media in handy columns, from last 2 years. And let me admit that I am a big fan of Tweetdeck. TweetDeck, which was launched in 2009, is an Adobe Air-based applicationfrom which not only allows to organize tweets but also the other social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and others.
TweetDeck founder Iain Dodsworth, said in his blog, “By becoming part of the official platform, TweetDeck will now fill that role for brands, influencers, the highly active, and anyone that just needs ‘more power”.
TweetDeck is the most popular third party application for twitter, which is easy to use and extremely user friendly. So, I believe that its a great combination with twitter. People are fond of twitter & tweetdeck, which are now coming under the same umbrella.
Hope to see more of twitter and tweetdeck in the coming time.
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Social media strategy does not require hefty budget!
Its a general notion that creating and launching a high impact social media campaign require a good amount of budget along with so called social media experts, an army of software developers or a team of SEO people.
Well, these are just misconceptions. You don’t need to spend lacs of rupees to get good follower on twitter or get a decent number of fans on facebook page. However it only requires an involving social media strategy which revolves around the target audience. Your facebook page or twitter background may not require to be highly colorful and technologically advance but it should be appealing and interactive.
The content should be engaging, short and to the point. Videos should be shorter in length. It’s always good to initiate and encourage conversation over the social media rather than just posting your content and not thinking about the interest, expectation and taste of your target audience.
So instead of wasting your time and money on frantically responding to tweets, wall posts, and reading about the social media tools, techniques, and trends of tomorrow focus on your target audience, their preferences, your content, engagement level and of course simplicity.
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Use of QR code in your marketing strategy
In my last post I discussed about the QR code, how it can be generated and its general use. In this post I am going to discuss about the marketing use of QR code.
Here are a few ways that you can use QR codes as part of your marketing strategy.
1. On business cards – Instead of making your business card cluttered with much information, you can use QR code that leads people to your phone number, email id, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. That would be a tech savvy way to create a business card.
2. Product labels – You can use QR codes on your products so that the customers can scan the code and obtain additional information related to your product. This information might include link to your website, your contact information, or link to your social networking accounts along with the price and product details.
3. Poster, TV advertisements – You can put up a poster advertisement in your local area or TV marketing about your business. Where you can provide all the information in one go. Here you can use a QR code which is not only an innovative idea but also saves space and time.
4.On your blog/website – Use your QR code to provide people to your blog/website/e-mail newsletter signup/subscription link or rss link. Just make sure you give people a compelling reason/content to subscribe to your content.
5. More audience to your social page – You can create mobile-friendly landing pages with Facebook like buttons or lead them to your Twitter page for a follow. That would be a good idea to associate people with your business page on social media.
Well, above are some of the possible uses of QR code. Apart from them there are numerous ways to use QR code. Depending upon how well they fit in your marketing strategy.
I hope this information will be useful for you.
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QR Code and business
You must have noticed the square barcodes appearing in advertisements, newspaper advertisements, business cards etc. If you have observed they are starting to appear more and more frequently. Let us have a look what is a QR code and how it can be useful in marketing.
What is a QR code?
A Quick Response (QR) code is basically a two dimensional barcode that can be scanned by a smart phone’s camera and transfer information. From the barcode, information such as text, photos, videos, URLs etc can be retrieved. Based on the type of code it is, it might direct the viewer to a website, make a phone call and much more. It could be taken as a new form of sending your information across in the form of QR code.
How to generate QR code?
Its quite easy to generate a QR code. There are many websites available where you register and generate the QR code. You can create QR codes for your Facebook profile link, Twitter or for your website, for your business card etc. If you have an business you can also create barcode for a point on the map.
Use of QR code
Well, now a days everyone has a smart phone. So they can read the QR code and access the information it contains. It can be used everywhere, where you want your users to access the information about you or about your products. For example, when people are shopping and are in stores, and your products have QR codes on them, the customers can scan the code and obtain additional information related to your product. This information might include link to your website, your contact information, or link to your social networking accounts.
In the next post I shall discuss about the marketing use of QR code in detail.
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Retinoblastoma week – is your child safe?
In todays post, I am deviating from our usual marketing thoughts. This week is the Retinoblastoma week and my friend at the Cankids foundation is doing their work with children suffering from eye cancer. Here is a small video about it.
Think before you post on social media
Posting irrelevant, obscene content over the social media is not an acceptable way to get noticed and appreciated. I unfriend/unfollow people who talk nonsense, anti-semite or antisocial way. So one should take care of the content/pic before posting on social media otherwise it may also attract some unfavourable repercussions.
Before you post or send anything that may be inflammatory or controversial, give yourself some time to analyze its consequences. Try and think how your communication will be viewed by your friends and relatives present on social media.
Do not respond to or initiate inflammatory language, and resist replying immediately to anything you do receive of this nature. Give yourself a some time to to ponder on content and your response to it. You also can consider getting the perspective of someone you trust before responding to these provocative and unsocial content.
Don’t let your frustration to go on social media. This is just a temporary state of mind, don’t make it permanent by posting on social media. In fact take correspondence as business- ike and straight to the point, rather than emotional and frustration.
So, control your thoughts before you start interacting in social media.
Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 billion
It looks like that fuss over skype is over. As I have discussed in my earlier blog that Google and Apple are in race to buy Skype. Now it has turned out something different. Now Microsoft has apparently finalized a buyout – for $8.5 billion.
There is question that will it be like another good service, like hotmail once was, will now rot in MS possession? Well, the time will answer this question.
At a value close to $8 billion, the Skype deal would rank as the biggest acquisition in the 36-year history of Microsoft. Beofore that, in 2007, Microsoft paid approximately $6 billion to acquire online advertising firm aQuantive Inc.
Skype uses a technology called voice over Internet protocol, known as VOIP, which treats calls as data like email messages and routes them over the Internet, rather than a traditional phone network. Skype’s software, which can be downloaded free, allows users to call other Skype users on computers or certain cellphones for free. Skype users can also call land lines for a fee and conduct video calls.
Hope that Skype will grow into a much bigger brand in the coming time.
Facebook, Google to buy Skype
Skype is on sale. Facebook and Google are in the race to buy VoIP service leader Skype. If not buyout then we can see a joint venture coming up. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been in discussions about potentially buying Skype. Google also has held talks about a potential joint venture with Skype.
The reason why everyone seems interested in Skype is advertisement. For the first time last month, Skype introduced video advertising on its client software. Which is a lucrative enough to ignore.
For Facebook, it also could be a great opportunity to add voice chat in its kitty of hosting and sharing video and apps and news content.
For Google, it would be great value addition to its online advertising vision. Though google already provides the voice and video chat.
Skype is valued nearly $3bn. Let’s see who will take the skype for walk.
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