So today I’m starting something different, if for no other reason than due to my favourite marketing requirement – consistency. Strangely enough this topic was inspired by reading an article in Classic Rock with the guitarist ‘Slash’. When asked why he was moving into video marketing online for his upcoming new album, he replied ” When it comes down to keeping people interested with shorter attention spans, they need to be drip fed.” – Drip feeding requires consistency… So, welcome to Social Media Saturday, where every Saturday I will do my best to distil all the relevant Social Media news or information that has come my way during the week, and pass it on to you.
One of the biggest developments in the past week or so, would have to be the announcement of the “HeartBleed Bug” which is essentially a flaw in the software used to secure communication across the internet. This bug in effect, allows stealing of information that would normally be protected by the SSL/TLS encryption used to secure the Internet. To explain some basics, OpenSSL is open-source software that is widely used to encrypt web communications. SSL/TLS is what normally provides secure and private communication over the Internet via websites, email, IM, and VPNs. According to CNET, an attacker can exploit Heartbleed to essentially “get copies of a server’s digital keys then use that to impersonate servers or to decrypt communications from the past or potentially the future, too.” If you’re concerned about your security this link will help test your sites security and hopefully put your mind at ease: https://lastpass.com/heartbleed/ (If you’re wondering where this fits in to social media, I discovered the test link on a LinkedIn Social Media Group Forum discussion.)
Facebook is once again looking to change as they take on a mission to clean up the News Feeds of spam. There are three categories they are targeting:
- Like-baiting – Facebook defines this as explicitly asking readers to like, comment or share a post “in order to get additional distribution beyond what the post would normally receive.”
- Frequently shared content – a little bit different to sharing and re-posting, this is more for brands or even individual users that regularly upload the same content (photo’s or videos) over and over again.
- Spam links – pages that post “inaccurate language or formatting to try and trick people into clicking through to a website that contains only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads.” This is commonly referred to as baiting and switching.
Facebook has also announced “a new look for Ads in the Right-Hand Colomn” these will use the same sizes as the desktop news feed adverts. The benefits of this are that there will be less ads in the right-hand colomn and Facebook are predicting three times more engagement. Always a bonus!
Twitter has also announced changes to its new web profile. From a larger profile picture, a customisable header as well as “best tweets” (tweets that have more engagement will show up slightly larger). The new design will also enable you to filter between tweets with photo/videos, Tweets and replies or the simple Tweet itself. This still isn’t available to everyone yet but they are promising the rollout to be within the next few weeks. If you are curious, here are some of the more high profile people they have set up already:
- Film stars @zacefron and @channingtatum
- French TV host @nikosaliagas
- Australian Football League @AFL
- First Lady Michelle Obama @flotus
- Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter @gilbertogil
- Boxer @FloydMayweather
- TV star @kerrywashington
- Musicians @JohnLegend and band @weezer
Finally, my favourite LinkedIn has introduced a “New Groups Landing Page“. The premise behind this is to help you stay up to date with the groups you have joined and for someone like me who belongs to a quite a few LinkedIn Groups, this will make things so much more productive. With current groups now instantly showing the number of updates, new discussions and even job postings once you hover over it. Another great new feature is that it allows you to start or join a conversation directly from this groups page.
Don’t forget if you are new to LinkedIn or want to learn more about how you can grow your brand with LinkedIn, click here to download my free LinkedIn e-Book.
In the meantime, have a great week ahead!
HELP! I NEED TO GET A MARKETING STRATEGY!
