Launched on October 6th, Moments came to life from a prior idea under the name “Lightning.” Through the lightning symbol under the “Moments” tab, the origin of the idea plays out. The expansion of Twitter Moments serves as a way to provide news, sports, entertainment, and fun in a space that is less evasive and personal compared to the traditional structure of Twitter.

So what goes into Twitter Moments? According to Mashable, Twitter hashtags play a role. However, timely content that is relevant to users appears as the central focus for the company. Nevertheless, the factors that contribute to what you view in the Moments feed will surely alter and change somewhat in order to continually provide an enhanced user experience.

In a visual format unlike the standard Twitter feed, users trying out Moments see pleasant graphics to draw them into single featured stories. Apart from user experience, the grid layout executed in Twitter Moments illustrates the importance the company placed on design. Although the layout of Twitter Moments is different, actions such as the typical retweet and favorite tool, among others, still exist in order to create a sense of brand consistency.

The mobile interface for Twitter Moments offers snackable content in its ability to allow users to go full-screen with a story and simply swipe to go to the next tweet within a given Twitter Moment.

Once you swipe through all the tweets, Twitter will inform you that you are  “caught up” and allow you to either share the content or move forward to the next item of news within Twitter Moments.

Worried about not being able to see past Moments? No worries – Moments do not expire, thus giving users the ability to explore past ones easily.  Moreover, the Moments feature allows users to temporarily follow a live event, such as The Super Bowl. When the event is over, you do not receive updates in your feed. The aspect of non-commitment related follows allows the platform to become an even greater source of real-time entertainment and news without overwhelming the user.

Overall, if you are already sold on Twitter or still need some convincing, Twitter Moments offer a visually pleasing way to get information in a clean, easy to use format.

The post Twitter Launches Twitter Moments appeared first on Clix.

Burger King recently rolled out the red carpet, wrapped a PR firestorm in silk, lobbed it out to McDonald’s, and McD’s failed miserably. Burger King recently took out a full-page, open-letter-style ad in The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, calling for a truce with McDonald’s and suggesting they join forces to create a “MCWhopper” burger for the sake of world peace. 

BK proposed the two corporations partner with Peace One Day, a nonprofit group seeking to raise awareness of the International Day of Peace, and raise money via the sales of the MCWhoppers.

BK even went as far as building a website, designing packaging, uniforms, and producing a the PR pitch heard around the world… MCDonald’s quickly stomped the idea out with it’s red floppy oversized wingtips, and the public is not happy.

When @bluskyz00 asked entrepreneur, investor, author, public speaker, and digital media wizz Gary Vaynerchuck,  “What do you think of [McDonald’s] response to [Burger Kings’s] “PeaceMcWhopper” idea? Seems like they missed a big opp.”

Gary responded with one of his usual, energetic, ADD-saturated rants that I love him for. Basically, he effectively said that he thinks business is going in a direction where public battles via social media and public forums is going to be the norm, and that McDonald’s is taking a more ‘serious’ approach to BK’s lighthearted request. He also goes on to say, “We are clearly living in interesting times where Burger King can make a micro site to make this announcement and McDonald’s official answer is in a Facebook post – in sentence form.

If you haven’t realized that communication has changed forever in our society please let this be [the] moment…”

I know this doesn’t necessarily answer @bluskyzoo’s question, but I think Gary makes a good point. This social media bellyflop may stand as a small marker in history as the time times officially changed. (and McDonalds was mad an example of)

Check the full video pitch here:

The post Wake Up McDonald’s appeared first on Clix.

1

The Mistake: You’re trying to wear too many hats.

1. First and foremost, small business owners can’t do it all forever. At some point, the time spent doing tasks that take away from business development cause small businesses to stop growing and level out or regress. For example, if you run a small bicycle shop in Kirkwood, Missouri, but neglect your customers by investing your time in areas outside of your expertise, you’re bound to get a flat tire. Often times, we get the response from small business owners, “I can just learn how to do my own online marketing.” This is absolutely true. Anyone can learn anything in my humble opinion. If I wanted to learn programming, I could research a starting point, then buy a textbook (I prefer paper over digital). If I were to try and learn how to do everything inside and out, I would have no time for online marketing. Unfortunately, it’s virtually impossible to be good at everything. I wish that weren’t the case. A lack of focus is distractive. Undivided attention that takes into consideration necessities such as marketing your business (offline and online) and development of internal efficiencies is much healthier than dividing your attention among many different areas.

The Fix: Be willing to delegate components of your business to invested partners.

2

The Mistake: You’re not staying educated, which leaves your business vulnerable.

• Understand what you’re getting into. If you hire an agency to manage your online marketing, then they should be expected to help you understand what their services entail. Depending upon your personality, you may want to know a lot or hardly anything about online marketing. My advice is to have at least a top-level understanding of online marketing and your goals. Retain the information that your agency sends you, be proactive, and ask questions. Part of the reason you’re hiring an agency is to have an experienced source for education, i.e. consulting.

The Fix: Be involved as much as you can. Marketing is dependent upon collaboration. You can’t expect to have a successful online marketing campaign that includes SEO, PPC, social media, content, and lead nurturing without communication, feedback, and execution.

3

The Mistake: You think marketing (online or offline) guarantees XX leads per month. Supply and demand, comparative shopping, and browsing exist online too.

• Understanding the components of online marketing lends itself to realism. There is a difference between setting lofty goals and unrealistic goals. Is their a fine line between the two. No. Goals in general take into account a myriad of variables, one of which is accrued data. Online marketing is founded on making decisions based on data. Without data, you’re in the dark. If you’re a small business owner who is unwilling to track online conversions-or be patient enough to accrue the data-how can you expect to make educated decisions moving forward? Marketing is an investment, not an expense. This is the true difference between someone who is driven by value and understanding compared to someone who is strictly driven by cost. There certainly is a hybrid, e.g. someone who would invest more into their monthly online marketing budget because they understand the value of driving visitors to their website. Unfortunately, they’re still very small. We understand and empathize with this particular business owner. However, your goals still need to be realistic. If you’re a small business competing against a national brand with great placement, a seemingly limitless online marketing budget, and a massive social media presence, then you certainly can’t expect to compete nationally with only a small fraction of their resources.

The Fix: Be realistic in setting your goals. Understand that certain components of online marketing take time (e.g. SEO and content), while other components have instantaneous effects on traffic flow (e.g. PPC). Marketing revolves around providing a solid product or service, presenting it effectively online (on your website), and marketing it online (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.). Remember that your actual product or service is the foundation of which marketing is built.

4

The Mistake: You’re not staying up to date with online marketing.

• Your product or service may be terrific, but adaptation is a necessity online. If your still telling your friends about your awesome website that was built in 2000, then you’re in need of a reboot. Today, it’s pretty easy to identify that technology is always changing. New hardware and software are being released at alarming rates. Online marketing is affected by these rapid changes. Take for instance mobile devices. Exponentially more people browse their smartphones and tablets today to interact with their friends online, shop stores, research products, find and call service companies, get directions, and more. The world is eagerly adopting mobile, which means that your online marketing requires adaptation. If you still think that Google provides 10 search results for the multitudes of desktop searchers, then refer to common mistake number 2: education. There are factors that have an effect on search placement today that weren’t in existence a year ago! Does this mean that your budget should be flexible and be ready to expand? Not necessarily, just budget accordingly. Unfortunately, online marketing agencies need to remain focused as well and can’t afford to provide an all-you-can-eat buffet of existing services and new services for $XXX per month.

The Fix: Be ready to adapt when it comes to online marketing. Within an environment that is regularly changing, it’s imperative that you rely on an experienced agency, stay educated, be realistic, and be adaptable.

The post 4 Online Marketing Mistakes You’re Making appeared first on Clix.

I’m sure you’ve happened upon a magician at least once in your life. And, hopefully that magician was relatively decent at what he or she did. From elementary card tricks to elaborate hoaxes, magicians of all types have built their craft with the intent to entertain and perplex. However, what if every magician you met revealed how they do every trick? I think of this analogy when clients refer to SEO as magic, trickery, and manipulation. The reality is that humans (us) inherently question or push aside what we don’t understand. We try to lump the complex with what we feel is “digestible”. In this case, SEO is largely perceived as complex by small business owners, especially baby boomers. And, what is complex is categorized underneath an umbrella that is comprehendible, i.e., “online marketing” or just “marketing”.

Part of our job as online marketers is to reveal the secret behind what business owners perceive as magic, trickery, and manipulation. Hopefully after educational meetings, emails, and phone calls, the intangible becomes a bit more tangible and understandable. Today, SEO/Online Marketing is a recipe (minus the fixed quantities), not a series of magic tricks. Backlinks should not be brought, exact match anchor text abuse is not permissible, microsites with the wrong intentions are wastes of time in the long-term, and so on…

Given the in-depth nature of online marketing, capable and willing search engine optimizers are evolving into online marketers for better or for worse. On the other hand, search engine optimizers who solely relied on manipulation are drowning. Changing how small business owners perceive SEO by expanding their understanding of online marketing as a whole is crucial. Communicate the importance of:

In the outline above, it is obvious that optimizing your site for search is not what it used to be. Optimization is comprehensive. Additional weight has been placed on the importance and value of engaging content that is marketable both online and offline. And, today it’s not so much about redefining search marketing as it is re-evaluating it so that we can answer consumer questions for our clients like:

By catching up with online marketing, understanding where search is headed, and adopting the attitude that SEO is about marketing-not magic-a website online (even if it means through offline methods), then you’re ready to leave “what was” SEO behind and embark on a more collaborative and long-term online marketing approach.

The post Is Your Approach to SEO Outdated? appeared first on Clix.

1. New Site Design

I love pinterest, and have since it first came out. The best part about pinterest to me, were the images and how easily you could see food, clothes, home decorations and anything you else pin. The new design has enhanced the images greatly in my opinion. They have removed the white space around each of the pins to allow for the pin images to be larger and has made a clearer layout of your newsfeed in general. They’ve also changed your profile page, its more condensed now, and is much more focused on each image, rather than the white space surrounding it. While these updates may look minor to some, to me and others who are on Pinterest all the time, it was very noticeable, and a welcome change. Bigger is better, and I am loving the new look with the bigger images, its much more inviting and easier to browse.

This update will also help brands and businesses who are imaged based get more business from Pinterest. The larger the images, and the indepth potential customers can see your products, the better. This is a nice change for businesses as well.

The Old Pinterest Layout

The New Pinterest Layout

2. New Analytics Tool

In March, Pinterest introduced a new free analytics tool which allows users to “track he number of pinners and pins collecting material from their sites, and the number of repinners and repins those initial pins received.” Website owners can also track the number of impressions and reach on Pinterest, as well as referral traffic sent back to their website. This is all great data to have as a business owner. They can easily see what products and images are or are not doing well on Pinterest, and which ones are bring the most traffic to the website. Its great data to have for future reference so you can make sure you put the right products on Pinterest.

Both of these updates have enhanced the user experience on the social media platform. Its important for businesses to see the type of traffic they are getting from such sites like Pinterest, and this new tool will make that a lot easier and provide reliable information.

The post 2 Pinterest Updates Worth Knowing About appeared first on Clix.

First of all, last nights Super Bowl was the most watched Super Bowl ever – which is saying a lot. Not only it was it the most watched, but it was also one of the most talked about events across social media platforms. Here are the three most talked about moments from last nights Super Bowl:

1. The Power Outage. Did anyone else think that it was done on purpose to make the game a little more exciting?? The fist half was a bit of a yawn. The power outage was the second most talked about event from yesterdays Super Bowl on Twitter with 231,500 Tweets Per Minute. It was the 3rd most talked about moment on Facebook. That 30 minute delay really put a damper on the game, but luckily when the power came back on, the game got a lot more exciting!

Power going out at the Super Bowl

2. Beyonce’s Halftime Performance. Not surprisingly, Beyonce’s half time performance was one of the most talked about moments from the night. It received 268,000 Tweets Per Minute, making it the most talked about moment on Twitter, and was the second most talked about moment on Facebook. The most talked about moment of her halftime performance, was the reunion of the group Destiny’s Child. This was by far my favorite moment of the Super Bowl, that girl can dance!

Beyonce & Destiny’s Child

3. The Ravens Winning. Of course the whole reason why there is a super bowl in the first place is to see who wins the big game, and this year the Ravens took the cake. The 2nd half (luckily for the NFL) ended up being pretty exciting to watch and it was a close game with the Raven’s prevailing in the end. When the clock expired in the 4th quarter there were 183,000 Tweets Per Minute talking about the Ravens win, and it was the most talked about moment on Facebook – beating out both Beyonce and the power outage.

The Raven’s Win!

The other big winner of the night had to of been Twitter. They were mentioned in half of the 52 ad’s that ran during the Super Bowl, far more than any of their competitors (Facebook was only mentioned in 4). And, this Super Bowl was the most tweeted about Super Bowl in the history of Twitter.

The big loser of the night was Go Daddy. There was just too much noise in that commercial! I know that I, and everyone I was with was really grossed out. And twitter just confirmed my thoughts with the majority of the people I follow also extremely grossed out. Bad move by Go Daddy, thats for sure!

It was another successful Super Bowl, and I cant wait to see what sorts of surprises next years game has in store for us.

The post The 3 Most Talked About Super Bowl Moments appeared first on Clix.

Just call me McKayla.

I’m not discounting the search tool from the outset, but there are a few things to consider before we all jump on the good news bandwagon.

1. Facebook Has Had The Data All Along

First, my biggest issue with Graph Search is that Facebook has had all of this data for years. I’m not diminishing the task of organizing millions of connections, there’s no way I could personally do it. The question is: why now? Why has the search feature been left alone for years without significant improvement? I won’t even touch on the fact that web searches through Facebook default to Bing.

2. Search Remains Limited

The information you can search is limited to the information that users choose to share with the social network. The search assumes that users within a search actively Like pages for businesses, restaurants, music, sports teams, etc. and that these likes are true and legitimate reflections of that user’s taste.

3. That Whole “Privacy” Issue…

Facebook maintains that the new search feature will not affect users’ privacy. To accomplish this goal essentially means that the information you find in Graph Search will all be information you could already see elsewhere. This isn’t new information, just a new way of categorizing the data.

My Thoughts:

Despite  all of the negatives, I think there is potential for Graph Search to take off. It could change the way we search and review businesses. Natural language could change the way we conduct searches everywhere. All of these great, enormous alterations to the way we find information have potential- if people actually use it.

Facebook may find that the search is a quickly passing fad or that it is used in ways the social network does not intend (i.e. stalking) and general applications are not as popular.

Businesses may panic and establish a presence on Facebook. Then again, they may not. Until it becomes widely available and moderately functional there is no real way to know if Graph Search will be the game changer Facebook is imagining.

The post Facebook Graph Search – Not Impressed (Yet) appeared first on Clix.

The tweet was swiftly deleted, but but many of the brands 25,000 followers had more than enough time to see the post and retweet to their own followers. Obama’s grandmother passed away in November 2008, just before her grandson was elected President.

This latest social media management mistake made me think about other times in recent memory when posting for a brand accidentally or in bad taste has resulted in negative backlash. The cause of the tweet, degree of offense, and response make these seven social media #fails cautionary tales for brands and social media employees.

Insensitive Posting:

Insensitive posting on behalf of a person or brand can negatively impact both their own image and that of any companies they represent. In the case of public personalities, personal twitter feeds aren’t really personal and jokes meant for friends can be shared with the world. These four learned the hard way:

     1. Gilbert Gottrried

In March 2011, as Japan struggled to recover from a devastating Tsunami, comedian Gilbert Gottfried responded with jokes on Twitter. The series of tweets landed the voice of the Aflac duck in the hot seat, and he was swiftly fired. Poorly timed and intended to be offensive, Gottfried’s tweets came as no surprise to those who love the comedian. In this case, the social media failure may almost be directed to Aflac, despite the fact that Gottfried was using a personal account.

Selecting a spokesperson gives them the power to influence your brand message with their personal tweets. In this case, Aflac should have expected that Gottfried would not toe the line.

     2. Roger Ebert

In June 2011, “Jackass” star Ryan Dunn and a passenger were killed in a car accident after Dunn posted photos of the two drinking on Twitter. The following morning Roger Ebert’s response drew fire from the “Jackass” stars and fans alike, accusing him of insensitivity and lack of respect for Dunn. Ebert, who is notorious for offensive opinions, later discovered that his Facebook page had been removed for violating Facebook’s Terms of Use. Speculating that he had been targeted by fans of the “Jackass” series. Rather than apologize for his tweet or remove it, Ebert took to his blog to explain his side of the story.

Toxicology reports later revealed that Dunn’s blood alcohol level was at .196, double the legal limit in Pennsylvania, and he was driving at speeds between 132-140 mph at the time of the accident.

     3. Ashton Kutcher

     4. Kenneth Cole

Mismanaged Accounts:

Managing a brand account is not possible for every company owner to manage personally; however, hiring a social media company or choosing an in-house team to manage your social media is not to be taken lightly, as these companies learned.

     1. Red Cross

Passing the keys to social media accounts can be dangerous, as the Red Cross learned in February 2011. An employee accidentally crossed their accounts while learning to use Hootsuite. The Red Cross swiftly responded by removing the tweet and responding in good humor.

This case of crisis management done right earned the Red Cross kudos from the Twitter community, and even sparked an influx of donations. Their blog explains the mistake, and thanks supporters for their increased donations.

2. Chrysler

While the Red Cross was remarkably understanding, Chrysler and its social media company, New Media Strategies, were certainly less forgiving of the employee who confused a personal handle with Chrysler’s account after a stressful morning commute. The tweet in March 2011 was directly contradicting Chrysler’s focus on promoting Detroit at the time. Chrysler responded by firing New Media Strategies and sharing a blog to clarify the situation. New Media Strategies in turn fired the employee responsible for the tweet.

The response to this situation gained negative publicity for Chrysler not only for the tweet, but for allegedly demanding the firing of the employee and claiming to promote Detroit while selecting Eminem to star in their Superbowl ad. Chrysler is a cautionary tale for any social media manager- you could pay for a single tweet with your job.

3. Celeb Boutique

One of the more recent social media outrages was sparked when Celeb Boutique attempted to hijack the #Aurora trending topic in the wake of the Aurora movie theatre shooting in July 2012. The social media company behind the handle had not checked the reason for the trend before making a joke to promote a product.

Celeb Boutique responded with a series of tweets explaining that they use an outsourced company who was unaware of the shootings. This explanation did not stop boycott groups from forming in protest.

Lessons Learned:

Assuming responsibility for a brand’s social media is not to be taken lightly. Always proofread, double check your accounts, and do your research before posting. Brands should understand that mistakes happen, and the result has more to do with your response than the tweet itself.

The post Social Media #Fails: Lessons For Brands appeared first on Clix.

“On average, less than 1% of Likes on any given Page will be removed, providing they and their affiliates have been abiding by our terms.”

The news is welcomed by legitimate brand managers and social media marketers, who will find it a relief that those engaging in less-than-honorable tactics will feel repercussions. While the larger companies can afford to lose thousands of followers without making a dent in their revenue (Texas HoldEm Poker lost over 103,000 fans- less than one half of one percent of all fans) smaller businesses and start up companies can not afford to see such fluctuations.

Among the top 20 brands on Facebook, all but 4 have lost Likes in the last 24 hours, with only Facebook For Every Phone, Facebook, YouTube, and Coca-Cola remaining immune to the slaughter. In those cases, the positive metric does not necessarily indicate that no Likes were lost, but rather that the number of Likes gained was greater.

Data courtesy of PageData.

The elimination of fake Likes is important for brands to consider when selecting a social media company to manage their online presence. While it is tempting to see a massive influx of Likes initially, it is crucial to remember that true, organic growth takes time. Hoping for a quick fix in this case may get you much less than you bargained for long-term.

This once again stresses a point that we at Clix share with out clients- choosing to engage in social marketing and SEO are long-term solutions. The audience must be carefully cultivated and the brand loyalty genuine. Like Facebook, potential customers can spot a fake profile, and your reputation will not be improved in their eyes. The key is to remain constant and cater to the real needs of your real followers. This should keep you too busy to spend time looking for fake Likes.

The post Facebook Fake Out appeared first on Clix.

As a social media company, we believe it’s crucial to stay involved in all of the latest developments in technology and sharing, so naturally this latest development caught our attention.

What’s The Big Deal?

According to the Apple Store’s description:

“With Camera, you can share photos on Facebook faster than ever, and see what friends are up to in a feed of nothing but their photos.

–Post a bunch of photos at once

–See friends’ latest photos in one place

–Play with crops and filters

–Tag friends, add captions and say where you are

–See photos from different apps”

But isn’t that what Instagram already offers? The difference is in the style of sharing and the quality of the product. Instagram gained popularity as the first in its field to really take the concept of making ordinary mobile photos look professional, and Facebook Camera plays on essentially the same concept.

The Sharing Style: Friends Vs. Followers

Instagram gives users the option of selecting to post public or private profiles. A public profile in this sense is much like the style used for Twitter. Users have the option of “following” others who they think post good content. There is not an approval process, and just because User A follows User B, User B does not necessarily have to follow User A. It means that you can follow anyone you want with a public profile, not just those with whom you share personal connections.

Facebook Camera, on the other hand, operates in the traditional Facebook “friend” format. Two users who have mutually accepted a friendship on the social network will show up in each other’s respective feeds. This means that the content you access will be limited to those you are already connected to. You’ll see the same photos that appear in your newsfeed already, but with a more stylized appearance.

Bonus: Instagram allows users to connect their social networks and share to all simultaneously. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, and Foursquare are all connection options. Do you know what that means? Instagram is already sharing on your Facebook account if you want it to.  Two birds with one metaphorical stone, if you will.

Quality: Filtering Out The Good From The Bad

Instagram gives users 18 basic filters to apply, along with blurring and border options. The names are relatively creative, and the editing quality dramatic. The filters and blur options add an artistic quality to the service aside from just improving the image.

Facebook Camera has 15 filters. That’s about it. The filters primarily highlight different elements of the image and focus on lighting. A quick breeze through the line of filters makes it obvious that the focus is improving the basic, visual quality without the artistic element.

And The Winner Is…

Facebook clearly comes out on top. No, not Facebook Camera: the company itself. Owning both Instagram and Facebook Camera means that the social network has purchased its greatest competition and now has the ability to control its promotion. Facebook can choose to promote both platforms simultaneously, singularly, or scrap one of the apps all together. It seems that Instagram has the stronger case for surviving such elimination.

It’s far too likely that Facebook Camera will go the way of Google Video after the acquisition of YouTube and disappear quietly into the night.

The post Facebook Camera- An Instagram Challenger? appeared first on Clix.