Branded Viral Videos: The Secret Marketing Sauce

I was inspired today by this article on Mashable.

I don't know about you all, but I absolutely LOVE when companies release videos to advertise some new service or to make fun of their own brand. Brands are now able to post videos on Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine. They previously used YouTube, and videos were never really sent directly to customers' mobile devices like they are now.

The perfect way to cover a boring subject!

I remember fondly when Kathie Lee and Hoda brought up the "Ship My Pants" video on the Today show. I about died! Those two are already hilarious, but when they start talking about shipping pants, Kathie Lee and Hoda are even better.

To this day, "Ship My Pants" by Kmart makes me laugh hysterically. It probably isn't that funny to other people, but I love it.

Shortly after, Kmart came out with "Big Gas Savings."

AMAZING! I love the play on words. I can't stop laughing, and I've seen these Kmart videos probably 13 times each. No shame. It's like Mean Girls. I've definitely seen that video over 13 times.

Then there are other companies who do not do as well with their videos.

I don't know about you, but I'm not very impressed by this video created by Chipotle. They do set themselves apart from the other Mexican grills, but I don't think that this 3 minute video is worth my time...

There are a bunch of other funny videos out there, but I only wanted to share a few.

Well, let me know if you know of any other funny viral videos by brands that are worth a view! I would love a good laugh.

Private Messaging Apps

There have been quite a few messaging apps already in the social field, but there is now a new player, Vine.

(Source)

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat now have to compete with Vine in the private messaging playing field. Vine will allow users to send short videos to their friends. These videos are saved, so it is not quite like Snapchat. With Snapchat, users can take pictures and videos that will be deleted after the receiver views them for a specific number of seconds.

The pros to Vine Messages:

• Include Vine video production features 
• Send text and video messages
• Send messages to people who are not on Vine

The cons to Vine Messages:

• No group messages
• Cannot send still pictures
• Cannot send videos from camera roll

Vine has amazing video making capabilities, and I am excited to see how this private messaging works. Will many people catch on? We will just have to see within the next few months how users and the competition react. 

Happy Birthday, Twitter!

Twitter is turning 8! We were given 140 characters in a small white box 8 years ago! NOOO. I'm getting old...

I cannot believe that it has been that long since we lived life before Twitter. The years when we were going through life without giving everyone a play-by-play of our activities were so long ago. I do not remember hearing about its popularity until about 2008, but I know that it started before that.

I remember my first tweet! It was absolutely nothing special, but I wrote it 5 years ago when I was ready to graduate from high school. It was a very emotional tweet, and I hope to never have it brought up again...

So moving on to this week's article... I found The Top Ten Most-Followed Twitter Accounts on Mashable, and it shocked me!

(Check out these tweeple. I bet that you can't guess who they are...)

The article lists the most-followed Twitter accounts- 5 are women, 3 are men, and 2 are brands! Can you guess who they are? Once you read the list, you will understand how they all made the list.

Most-Followed
1. Katy Perry
2. Justin Bieber
3. Barack Obama
4. Lady Gaga
5. YouTube
6. Taylor Swift
7. Britney Spears
8. Rihanna
9. Instagram
10. Justin Timberlake

Out of these ten tweeple, Barack Obama is following the most accounts, and Instagram is following the fewest. This is a no brainer since it does not make sense for Instagram to follow anyone, but Justin Timberlake comes in second on this list for following the fewest accounts at only 69! Crazy! He has 31.2M followers but is only following 69 accounts.

The article also shows the above tweeple's first tweets. They are pretty funny so take a minute and go read the article. It's not very long!

I can't wait to see where Twitter is in 8 more years.

There's an App for That...

JOB HUNTING! 


Yes, there is actually a way to find a job on social media! While looking for an article on Mashable to write about tonight, I came across this one. The list is short, but it is interesting how the author of the article thought about using the social media platforms. It's pretty cool!

It really hit me and made me have to think...

What would I be trying to do at this point if I didn't have a job lined up for after graduation? (For those who don't know, I'm going to work for an insurance company in Arizona) 
Would I be using social media at this time? 

The author observes 5 popular platforms and how to use them to land a job:

1. Twitter- You can follow lots of different companies and people, and you can search specific hashtags such as #jobs or #hiring. You can then keep on tweeting. The more the merrier for some professions!
2. Facebook- Well, first get rid of those spring break pictures... Employers (and your friends) do not need an entire album with you on the beach with a margarita in every picture. Change your privacy settings and figure out also what those viewing your profile can see. Can only friends view your profile? Next, like the pages that you're interested in and edit your "professional skills" section on your profile. This is a lot like LinkedIn, so it's a cool idea.
3. LinkedIn- This can be your longer résumé. Résumés have to be less than a page, so increase your profile on LinkedIn to say what your résumé is missing. Review LinkedIn's jobs board and continue to connect with as many people that you know as possible. They may help you reach someone else. 
4. Tumblr- An account with lots of content can show what you are interested in. Employers might find you and determine that your interests are right for a job. You can also use Tumblr to search in the search bar for terms such as "hiring" and "jobs." 
5. Pinterest- I never thought to use Pinterest for anything but ideas for crafts and recipes that I will never actually complete, but the article actually tells you to "pin your résumé." There are some other helpful tips and links about using Pinterest to your advantage in the article.

Using social media to help you find a job is a great idea. Many companies are interested in employees with a large social footprint and proving yourself by finding the company on social media is a great way to show your worth and expertise.  

Running and Fitness Blogs

I don't know if you all are anything like me, but I LOVE to read fitness blogs. Being a fitness instructor myself, I like to see what other instructors and runners are talking about. There are so many products and so many new trends in the fitness industry that I never hear about until I read their blogs. Here are three blogs that I have been loving:

     Peanut Butter Fingers
     Carrots 'N' Cake
     Run Eat Repeat

All three of these blogs post reviews of equipment, clothing, websites, recipes, and food! They are an amazing resource for me, and I continue to tell others about all of the information that I read on these blogs.

Even better, these blogs are a great resource for companies to tap into! I've seen some of these blogs with links to products, and I've gone and made a purchase because of what I have read. I use these blogs to understand more about a product and to become more comfortable before I make a big purchase.

Yes, some of these bloggers are given a lot of merchandise to post about a product, but it still works and draws me in. I like how all three of these women will state exactly what they received from the company at the end of the post about a product. I love it.

Oh, and here is a link to something that I learned about on Carrots 'N' Cake. It's called Stitch Fix, and I am in love with it! Lucky for them, I read about their service online, signed up, and made a BIG purchase. Suhweet!! I love learning about new things because of blogs :)

Snapchat Valentine

And the worst Valentine of the day goes to Snapchat!

I couldn't believe when I saw the notification on my Snapchat icon on my iPhone home screen. I was thrilled to actually have another Snapchat... but it ended up being the annoying video from Snapchat itself. I wasted seconds of my life watching a video from them wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day!

I LOVE Valentine's Day, but I love it more when I'm getting lots of chocolate. My mom sent me a great care package with tons of chocolate and love all the way from Texas. It was great! But I truly did not feel any love from Snapchat in their valentine. It was a great attempt and brought me back to the site, but I wish that the Snapchat had been from a friend and not a corporation.

On the other hand, I think that Snapchat is an awesome way to share a message on Valentine's Day. Here are some Snapchats that do just that: Snapchat Valentines. These valentines are awesome and did not need much effort. The creators didn't have to pay for postage, and they were able to send the same virtual valentine to as many people as they wanted through Snapchat.

Snapchat is awesome on Valentine's Day, but I sure hope that I never get another meaningless valentine from the company.

Facebook Fraud

     I came across this interesting article on Mashable that discusses how flawed the Facebook model is. Pages are receiving thousands of likes from people that don't even exist and are made up. I still do not know if I can fully understand how Facebook is allowing this to happen. Isn't the goal of "liking" something to show how popular it is. A page should not be popular if it turns out that no one likes it. I have found that most people are now losing their trust in Facebook and looking to Reddit more. 

     I don't know if you guys are like me, but whenever I am on Facebook looking for a product or service and go to its page and see millions of "likes," it drives me insane. I usually don't look at that company again when I am thinking about making a purchase. How do all of these groups find all of these friends to like the page? There cannot be that many people who are liking these pages but are never interested enough to actually interact on the page, and that is exactly the problem for pages that are trying to get attention. Facebook rewards the pages that have the most interaction for the number of likes on the page, so a page that has millions of likes but no one interacting will be shown and supported less by Facebook. It's interesting because you would think that the pages with the most likes would be the most successful.

     The article that I posted a link to above discusses Derek Muller who is behind the Veritasium video blog on YouTube that include science experiments. Muller's engagement percentage has plummeted because he has too many likes for the amount of interaction on the Veritasium Facebook page. 

     Muller is getting a lot of support for the above video, but he still has over 130,000 likes on his page, and he does not want them. He needs fewer likes in order to stand out.

Why does Facebook not fix this flaw? How long will we see the fraudulent Facebook accounts that like everything? The days of being popular and liked on Facebook are over, and it is more important to see the few people who actually support a page.

Facebook: A Never Ending Class Reunion

While looking at Mashable for inspiration for a blog post on this lovely Super Bowl Sunday, this article caught my attention. It is an article about how Facebook has completely changed how we share information during the decade that it has been around. Yes, we all know that Facebook has made our lives so much more connected in every way, and it has also made our lives easier when we want to really connect with someone. Older users are able to reconnect with their "friends" that they haven't seen in decades, and our generation is able to remain connected after many ties are lost with the people that we are meeting every day. We meet someone, and the next day we have a friend request. It's great.

Half of the people that I'm friends with on Facebook I have only seen and spoken to once. Why did I accept that friend request? Why do I keep cluttering my news feed with the food pictures, engagement pictures, and selfies that I do not care to see? Am I afraid to lose contact with these people that I have met? In many cases, I am afraid... What was life like without social media? How did people stay connected?

The article reminded me that my cousin brought up over Christmas that he will have his high school reunion this year. First, it's insane that he is old enough for a 10 year reunion, and second, people still go to high school reunions? I cannot imagine going to a reunion over a decade ago. How did the invitation to attend find you? With Facebook, I can see many life events that I never would have known about until my own high school reunion in 6 years. I can see who has had a child, who has gotten engaged (or even worse-- married!), who has gotten a great job in the middle of nowhere, and who is still living at home working. We all take our different paths, and Facebook allows us to remain connected through all of it.

It's pretty cool and pretty scary... A never ending high school reunion...

#HarryPotter and a New Dove Study

While watching the Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family Friday afternoon through Saturday night, I couldn't help but notice the words "#HarryPotter" in the top left corner during all of the movies. (Yes, I watched all of the movies this weekend that were on ABC Family...) When I saw the hashtag, it drew me to Twitter to look up what people would actually tweet about while watching the movie marathon. There were a ton of tweets! Some people were bashing the HP series, and others were sharing their love for the series. HP was a part of my childhood, and fans can now share the love on Twitter with people who are watching the same movies. This is just another cool way that social media is bringing all of us together when we sit in front of multiple screens.

Now on to some real social media news...

According to this article on Mashable, Dove recently conducted a study and discovered that 82% of women believe that social media is influencing how we define beauty. This is crazy, but I believe this number! We have stopped letting magazines tell us what beauty looks like, and women are taking control of their definition of beauty. Our friends our showing us what beauty, and the media on television is telling us less!

Take a few minutes to watch this video.

We see so many different definitions of beauty on social media, and we are able to see more natural, attainable beauty in our friends. No one else can tell us what it means to be beautiful especially when there are fewer magazines read that tell young girls how to dress and look. We are no longer seeing that you have to be a size 0 to be happy, but we are seeing the untouched pictures of our beautiful friends. Sure, we are still hearing one thing from our mothers who grew up seeing a different image of beauty in a magazine, but women on social media are hearing a different story about beauty online. We are all beautiful and can post that selfie for everyone to see!

It's time for women to determine for themselves what beauty really is by listening less to outside sources. Now is the time to stop letting others tell us what it means to be beautiful.

Super Bowl Ads Go Social

This blog is in response to Max Knoblauch's article "The Top 10 Most-Shared Super Bowl Ads of All Time" on Mashable. Click here to read the article

If you're anything like me, then you only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, and it drives us nuts when the commercials are released earlier than that night. Knoblauch states that 60% of the most-shared videos were released before the game. I hope that most are saved for the game this year!

Do you all remember last year's Super Bowl ad that Coke created? I remember the ad because it allowed viewers to vote and share the video on Twitter... Yes, I HATE sharing what I do on social media. If I am going to vote for something, then I don't want to share it with all of my friends. It is unnecessary and makes me feel like I'm being held hostage. The ad made me feel a sort of connection because I had to see the ad during the Super Bowl in order to find out whether the group that I voted for had won during the Coke race. It was a pretty cool ad, and I hope that Coke will do something memorable with the $4 million that they will spend for only 30 seconds.

Source: YouTube.com

Knoblauch reminds us in his article that three of the most-shared ads of all time are video trailers, and two of those three are for the Fast and the Furious. This makes the Super Bowl a huge opportunity to show consumers what to expect in the upcoming months. There are over 100 million people that will be watching the game and millions more will see the ads through social media. Corporations need to step up their game and provide viewers with memorable commercials that will continue to be shared in the weeks following the Super Bowl.

Give me a break!

I'm serious (and not just asking for a Kit Kat...)! The celebrities on social media have got to learn from their peers' mistakes. The words that are used online within captions are terrifying, and we have all been around social media long enough to know what is right and wrong. While I was reading USA Today yesterday morning, I saw an article about Madonna's poor choice of words on Instagram.

Here is the link to the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/01/18/madonna-instagram-slur/4636491/

Madonna did come out and apologize for the use of a racial slur on Instagram, but ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!? She used the N-word in an Instagram showing her son boxing... The fact that this is news and that social media users have not figured out that social media is not private is appalling. We have seen how Paula Deen lost many of her endorsements for using the same word, and other celebrities are losing a lot of respect for similar problems. Social media is not the place to call someone a word that remains offensive to a large portion of the population and that our mothers would be ashamed to hear coming from our mouths. Celebrities and many of my "friends" on social have no control over themselves, and it needs to stop. We need to use Madonna and similar celebrities to show us what not to do.

When I post anything on social media, I like to think about who could possibly see my posts. Here are just a few important people who can read my posts: my grandmother, pastor, father, mother, aunts, uncles, brother, cousins, past teachers, past and present employers and many more. Do they want to see me having fun with my friends? YES. Do they want to read an offensive comment that will keep me from getting a job? NO.

It is time for all social media users to clean up their act before it's too late. Maybe one day our children will be able to see these "permanent" posts when they Google our names in the future. Anything is possible.

P.S. If you took the time to read this, thank you! This is my first blog post ever.