Since the advent of the hashtag in 2007 it had been widely adopted by prominent social networks like Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ as a way to aggregate and participate in topic specific conversation. So, the real question regarding the Facebook hashtag transcendence is what it actually means for marketers.

Beets, Bears, Facebook Hashtags

#Discovery

When Facebook released the updated algorithm decreasing the visibility of brand posts among their audience, many brands were forced to rethink their social strategy. In order to garner the same type of reach, they needed to become smarter and more in-tune with the type of content that resonated with their community. The introduction of hashtags now provides brands with another layer of visibility. These now clickable hashtags will bring up a list of posts from friends and followed pages that contain the tag allowing for a greater level of content discovery outside of users’ immediate friend circle. While Twitter remains their biggest competitor in the social space, perhaps this move, coupled with the introduction of Graph Search, points to Facebook now setting its sights on Google.

#Amplification

Facebook hashtags now have the potential to make hashtag-based campaigns even more impactful through cross-channel amplification of the message. If brands are already using hashtags in a campaign through other channels, these campaigns can now extend to Facebook. Hashtags only amplify the native role Facebook plays in joining and driving conversations. However, the same best practices on Facebook still apply – compelling copy and photography that are in the brand voice work best.

#Insight

Facebook is already a data mine in and of itself, but hashtags provide a deeper layer of conversation-based insight for brands. According to Facebook, this is only the first step in surfacing relevant and important public conversations. Over time we will see additional functionality for marketers, including trending hashtags and new insights to allow brands to better understand conversations that may help drive business objectives.

Hashtags certainly mark an important shift toward conversation-based marketing for Facebook, and we are eager to see where they go next.  The great news is that at the very least, we can now all rest assured that when we see our friend’s annoying and irrelevant hashtag on Facebook; it will be aggregated into a group of other people’s annoying, irrelevant hashtags. #phew.

Apple's 2012 Back to School Promotion

What do you want to accomplish and by when? Do you have enough time to execute?

We're getting into crunch time with the back-to-school season quickly approaching. If you’re not already working on your back-to-school strategy, you’re probably going to miss out. A key question to address when laying out the foundation for any campaign is- do you have the correct amount of time needed to properly deploy your campaign? Timing should be paramount when planning because being short on time can affect the campaign execution, while launching too early could catch consumers in the wrong mind frame (still summer loving)- and therefore fail to strike when the iron is hot. It sounds simple, but having an accurate and achievable timeline is one of the most crucial components of campaign planning. Particularly when the campaign you are launching is dependent on seasonal timing.

Have you utilized industry learnings to inform and optimize your campaign?

Learning from previous campaigns before moving forward with your own plan can help inform your campaign strategy. To help catch you up to speed, here are a few Back-to-School best-in-class examples that are definitely worth a second look.  You will find that the most successful campaigns typically involve highlighting a product, offering a stand-out deal, or even pledging that sales will benefit a good cause.

• Product features: When catchy creative campaigns catch fire, students typically fall victim to the popular following and can’t resist the urge to get in on it too. See: Microsoft, Microsoft vs. Mini Fridge
• Hard to beat offers: The campaigns offering students legitimate deals leave customers walking away feeling valued, and that the company simply wanted to better their lives by offering such a great promotion. Such experiences will entice students to buy again or consider the brand for future purchases. See: Apple's $100 Back to School Gift Card
buy glasses online
• Profit for Non-Profit: The ability to do good instead of just making a regular purchase is something that stands out in any consumer's mind. Substantial interactions that accomplish two tasks for the price of one is an experience to remember, offering consumers with a positive brand association for back-to-school (and years) to come. See (AMP's work): Staples for Students

Does your plan include a post-campaign strategy that continues conversations?

Many marketers make the mistake of approaching Back-to-School as a one-off campaign, which is thinking that can only lead to missed opportunities. BTS might be a once-a-year execution, but the customers you create during that time are still yours for the remainder of the year, not to mention years to come. Therefore, it is valuable to have a long-term plan in place for speaking to these same consumers at different points throughout the year. The solution is to approach your BTS campaign as a platform for generating a conversation with your target audience, and then utilizing that platform as a means for obtaining and collecting meaningful information from your consumers that will be used in post-BTS initiatives. Social channels are the perfect tool for initiating and maintaining this relationship with consumers.

A nice campaign to reference in terms of generating a relationship with their consumers is American Eagle’s 2012 “Live Your Life” campaign.

American Eagle's 2012 Back To School Campaign

American Eagle asked consumers to share their individual style by submitting photos of themselves wearing their new back-to-school AE jeans. Fans and followers were asked to vote for their favorites, giving 15 finalists (with the most social votes) the opportunity to appear on the brand’s blog, Facebook page and YouTube channel. In the end, 15 finalists were also to be featured in the American Eagle Spring campaign. Not only did the “Live Your Life” campaign reach and communicate with consumers through all social outlets and ask for consumer participation, it also planned for future engagement (goodbye BTS, hello Spring Campaign) and left fans feeling  truly valued by the brand (social fans are now brand campaign stars).

This is in no way a definitive list of ways to be successful during the Back to School season, so we would love to hear your thoughts on other best practices that you have seen. Sound off in the comments below.

It’s 3PM, and you’re tired. Those 5-hour ENERGY commercials creep you out, so you don’t have any. You took a 10 minute nap in the bathroom stall, but it didn’t work. You should walk some stairs.

“The smallest act is greater than the greatest intention”-Kahlil Gibran

AMP’s Stair Walks derived from a group of coworkers that were tired from a long day, but still had a large end of the day pile of work to go. They needed a quick break, but also a boost to finish the day strong. Stair Walks seemed to be the perfect solution. Before I break it down for you, let me introduce myself.

My name is Chichi or Chi² and I work on the Analytics team, so I take my statistics seriously. Some people talk the talk, but I talk the numbers. After realizing the benefits of adding stairs to a work day, it was easy to use numbers to convince my coworkers of what they were missing out on. The ROI is just something no one can ignore.

Here at AMP, we’re on the 8^th floor.

• Going up and down is 16 flights of stairs with a total of 309 stair steps
• There are also some gaps in between each flight that total 128 steps, so now there is a total step count of 437
• It takes me about 2min and 29secs at a casual pace to do all 16 flights (9.3 seconds per flight, 0.3 seconds per step)
• In a typical work week, I spend 12 min and 25 seconds walking 80 flights of stairs and taking 2,185 steps doing them
• Men’s Health says if you walk 2 flights of stairs a day, you can lose up to 6 lbs a year.

Assuming I don’t take the stairs on weekends, and taking into account holidays and vacations, I can lose up to 32 lbs a year for a  3 minute break every day. How’s that for ROI?

 “An escalator can never break; it can only become stairs… Sorry for the convenience”-Mitch Hedberg

Some people see the glass as half empty and can’t open their eyes to all the positives. Here are a couple responses I get from time to time.

Q: Hey Chichi, won’t I sweat doing it? The stair walk is going to ruin my fabulous-ness.

A: First of all, this isn’t a decathlon, you’re walking up some stairs. Secondly, so what? Sweat is the new black; wear it with pride.

Q: Yo Chi, I do Wii Fit. So, aren’t these stairs going to be a waste of my time?

A: I know you’re lying because no one’s used a Wii since ’09. But regardless, stairs give more than health benefits. It allows you to interact with coworkers, give the mind a mental break from work and get the blood flowing in the body.

Q: But, but… I’m so busyyy.

A: Don’t think I didn’t see you on Facebook 20min ago. And, even if I didn’t, a three minute break in the action has more benefits to work production than negatives. Research shows taking a step back from your work at 3pm improves work output.(Sample size is small)

The equation below summarizes the message of this post:

 Walking Stairs = Being Awesome

Stair Walks are just one of the reasons why AMP’s culture is so awesome. So you should probably apply to one of the positions on the career page because we don’t just do awesome work, we also take steps to making ourselves more awesome.¹

¹You see what I did with the title and the last sentence of this post? Pretty clever huh? You only get that clever by walking the stairs.

First let's look at the way it used to be. You develop some rich media, let's say a game, that you want to drive traffic to from Facebook. You would probably host that content on a Facebook tab or a micro-site. You would then post a link or an image on your Facebook timeline to drive traffic to your game.

Play AMP Agency's first Facebook Feed Game

But what if users ne

ver had to leave their Facebook timeline? What if clicking on that link in the Facebook timeline opened the rich media experience right there. You've been able to do this with videos for awhile but now anyone can create rich media that can be played the same way.

This functionality has been around for almost a year now however few have begun to experiment with it. The idea can be extended beyond games to create interactive surveys, custom video players, contests and more. All that's required to get going with “Feed Gaming” is a little knowledge of how to create Facebook apps and the open graph. Unfortunately the rich media units will not work on mobile devices that don't support flash but that just creates an opportunity to show off your HTML5 know-how to develop mobile friendly alternatives on your micro-site.

Big data, ROI, content marketing, thought leaders, low hanging fruit. In the ever-evolving world of marketing, it can be impossible to steer clear of the eye-roll inducing buzzword. Buzzwords are written or spoken words that are technical in nature and have become popular to use, therefore are used very frequently in their nascence. For many, these words are cringe-inducing, but they are important to be mindful of, as they represent evolution of thought. Like all new words, some will live for only a short while and provide little utility (remember ‘next gen?’), but others will go on to reshape an entire industry (we will never forget ‘high engagement'). Buzzwords can be used in both good and bad ways, but ultimately it is important to be mindful of their purpose and possibility.

Bad Buzzword Use

“To show our client that we are thought leaders, let’s think out of the box and bring some gamifacation into the mix by creating an immersive and edgy experience for our consumer.”

Bad buzzword use occurs when imparted simply to impress. Use in this way tends to not impress anyone at all as everyone has access to the same industry resources that spread these words. While bad use does show awareness of the field, it does not provide utility in the conversation. Conversation is meant to be a collaborative process. When it is ambiguous, it fails.

Good Buzzword Use

“Our client has expressed interest in ROI measurement. Here is an example of how I envision this coming to life and providing value to our client.”

Good buzzword use occurs when affording ground for action. When discussing ways in which a buzz worthy topic can be useful for your clients, this is good use. If something unique is contributed, such as a relevant new tactic or deliverable, it displays boldness and creativity. Being able to align and excite a team around a plan, or having actionable results around those buzzwords communicates leadership.

It is important to be cognizant of how buzzwords are being used. If bad buzzword use is taking place, consider how the conversation can be navigated to good use. Good use helps everyone involved become smarter, see opportunities before anyone else, and solve problems before they exist.

Your Point Of View The great thing about you is that you are not me. I want your fresh perspective on the topic at hand. It's your unique voice that will keep me coming back. Continue the conversation, don't repeat it. If you think someone did a great job covering your topic it only seems logical that you would link back to the original post. Same goes for tweets, comments and other conversations already happening elsewhere on the web. Aggregate the best of the best.Rather than writing a whole blog post about an awesome tutorial you found, why not post a collection of your favorite tutorials. At least fall back to tip #2 if you need to re-share that one awesome tutorial.

How To Properly Cite Other People's Work

Blogs Always link back to other posts when you can. Most blogging platforms will actually detect the link and create an automatic link back from the original article. Social Media Most social media sites provide you a way to link back to the original piece of content. For comments you can usually click on the date to get a direct link t

o that comment. Also keep an eye out for ways to embed your social content into your sites. Twitter, for example, recommends that you use their new Embedded Tweets functionality. Images To summarize from “Copyright Fair Use and How it Works for Online Images”

… when in doubt, assume it’s subject to copyright and don’t use it without the appropriate permission …

It's best to either use your own images or images that have a Creative Commons license. Learn more at “Using Creative Commons to Find Photos You Can Use”.

Still Not Sure?

If you are unsure or worried about breaking copyright laws, just remember these simple rules:

• If you didn't create it you need to link back to the original source
• It's safer to link to content than to copy it

More Info on About.com

Conclusion

In the end there isn't too much to worry about. You will usually be contacted by the source if you end up stepping on any toes. A majority of people want you to remix and link back to their content. It's the heart and soul of what makes the web so powerful.

Most brands have hundreds, if not thousands, of product images on their websites. And those images get reused, re-blogged, re-tweeted and re-posted by hundreds of other sites and users around the internet every day. So that’s good, right? Well, not really. While it’s great for awareness around a product, tracking those photos becomes extremely difficult, not to mention the fact that carefully crafted marketing messages that live on a brand’s site are nowhere to be found when those images find themselves elsewhere. That's where Stipple comes in.

nk”>

Stipple Allows Brands to Share Interactive Images. Image source: Stipple.com

 Tag, Share, Track, Repeat

Stipple believes they have solved that issue by allowing everyone from brands and merchants to bloggers and photographers to place interactive, trackable tags on all of their imagery. Now, when those images are pulled onto other sites (social sites included), they will be embedded with everything from videos to e-commerce tags to make purchases directly. For more on Stipple, check out the video below.

 Game Changer?

Will “smarter” photos have the ability to make imagery the future of social commerce? Is Stipple the solution that marketers have been looking for when  trying to measure the effectiveness of their content sharing? We'd love to hear your take. Sound off in the comment section below.

The 2013 PSFK Conference – New York kicked off with a captivating presentation titled “Life With Extra Senses” by contemporary artist Neil Harbisson. Neil was born colorblind and has permanently attached a cybernetic eye, an antenna so-to-speak, to his head which allows him to hear color frequencies. He explained that through technology he is not becoming more machine but moving closer to nature as he is uniquely in-tune with his surroundings.  He is like a dolphin using echo-location to better navigate or a Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer using smell to determine taste and safety. Technology is making us more intuitive, more organized, more social— more human. And, here is how:

Storytelling should exist in multiple dimensions

The easiest way to trigger multiple senses is to tell stories in multiple dimensions. And why shouldn’t we? We have successfully added a digital layer to our physical world. Food designer and writer Emilie Baltz talked about her exploration into creating and digitally chronicling meals that trigger our feelings of desire, love, and lost. Through taste and sight, we can feel emotion. Think of the last gastronomic delicacy that made you shed a tear, and I am not just talking about cheese steak spring rolls.

Neil Blumenthal, of the famed Warby Parker, attributed their success to the continuous narrative in their brand aesthetic, e-commerce platform, customer service, and now brick-and-mortar retail spaces.  Human beings are connected through storytelling. It is how we pass down our history and build community. And, the Warby Parker community is the same online as it is in person, which not only builds brand loyalty but increases brand evangelism.

Redefine “touch” points

Tied to storytelling are touchpoints, how brands interact with their customers. In an integrated-everything world, we have to re-evaluate our interactions just as we are re-evaluating silo-ed marketing campaigns. Brands aren’t just meeting people at the cashier or on the tv screen anymore. Brand interfaces are everywhere, even on your Nicki Minaj Pandora station. A panel on “How Technology is Driving Brand Innovation” featured representatives from Avery Dennison, NBC Universal, IPG Media Lab, and Waggener Edstrom

and focused on the cross-hybridization of traditional and new media and the extension of the screen. Technology is so integral to our daily lives that brands need to think of themselves as a resource to everyday function. The touchpoint should become the “passion point” and aim at solving problems of the human condition.

Remember the time Apple shut down Google Maps, and we were all lost for a few months? Think that essential.

Bring everyone to the (digital) table

We are all probably believers of the “Content is King” theory. Because that content, whether enriching or mindless, is inevitably being shared. As Abigail Posner of Google pointed out, we share videos of everything from screaming goats or the latest buzzworthy commercial. Human emotion is infectious and formatting content in easily shared tidbits (Twitter, Vine, Youtube, memes, or the like) enables our innate desire to come together. And this coming together around the proverbial roundtable is easier than either. Co-working spaces like Benjamin Dyett’s “Grind” allow us to work anywhere. His talk emphasized the shift away from “corporations” to “communities”. Technology has knocked down walls and allowed us to roam free along the countryside (or the Starbucks in most cases) and explore new experiences while still connected.

We are even able to physically build communities. Through the magic of crowdfunding we can essentially lay the building blocks for entire cities. Founder & President of the Prodigy Network Rodrigo Nino discussed how the tallest building in Colombia, the BD Bacatá, was funded by 3,500 Colombians and not a single corporation or institution. For better or worse, technology is making it easier to connect to our fellow (wo)man.

Treat time like the commodity it is

But life is short, and then you die. Through all the technological advances, we still have not become the Terminator, and we will not be back (atleast not in the form we are used to). So, we should treat time like the precious commodity it is. Though we are now accustomed to everything updating in “realtime,” we have to stop and take stock in our real time. This is something creative production agency Mssng Peceseloquently displayed with their new

product, ThePresent, a clock that measures time annually and gives us a sense of the cycle of the Earth and seasons rather than the EOD deadline.

Author Douglas Rushkoff reminded us that our digital age means that we are always on-call as pointed out in his new book “Present Shock”. We are constantly in heads-down smartphone-on mode, so when we do look up, our physical experiences should be as enriched as our constant stream of digital information. Rachel Shechtman  is capitalizing on this notion of all-encompassing brand experiences that intersect retail, media, and publishing on an ever-changing (albeit monthly) basis via her concept store, “Story.”

The overarching message of PSFK 2013 was that technology is making it easier to do everything, especially be more connected to our world. How do you see technology connecting us to the world around us and making us more human? Were there any other points that struck a chord with you at the 2013 PSFK New York Conference?

Photo Source: www.latimes.com

It’s about the behavior enabled by social media and how we still have a lot to learn about being a community that lives, breathes, watches, shares and does just about everything including listening to police scanners – online.

Being a Bostonian and living through last week’s events has made me reflect on a lot. My deepest condolences go out to those who have a suffered loss or injury. And, when it hits ‘home,’ it really does. No longer are there 6 degrees of separation, everyone knows someone who has been affected.  And, throughout this experience, our city has shown an un-surmounted pride that reigned strong throughout the airwaves, digital or not. But, what’s got me is that this ‘always on’ movement of social, content and communities is bigger than any of us can even imagine – and it came to light last week.

Social Media is a Game Changer

Social media, especially Twitter, has completely changed the game. Sure, there is the issue of speed vs. accuracy in the race to ‘be the first’ to break news, but we aren’t even skimming the surface here. Friends were alerted about the marathon explosions seconds after they happened, so they could get off their bus; loved ones used social to alert others they were safe in the absence of cell coverage; and words of encouragement, pride and support were shared near and far. But, what you didn’t read in your social channels was the deep-rooted fear that existed behind each in every tweet.

We will always be #BostonStrong, but social had an adverse effect as well – building fear and anxiety as people obsessed over every detail. From fake social profiles to the real ones, to the brilliant use of social for donation solicitations, I found myself in a love

/hate relationship with my social channels. Rumors spread faster than the speed of light and what made it worse was the media was now even retracting statements.

Who Controls the News?

Coverage on TV was delayed and just didn’t feel as detailed as what I was seeing on Twitter and Facebook. When you have homeowners reporting live with video, photos and tweets to update the public on what was going on in their backyards, how can you wait for a generic statement from the newscasters 10 minutes later? Gunshots vs. Flash bombs, evacuations and threats – it’s crazy that I found myself ‘trusting’ a complete stranger that others were endorsing as being the my most accurate, up-to-date source of information online.

I also have to mention the hundreds of thousands of police scanner app downloads that occurred during the course of last weeks’ events. So much sharing was happening that police asked the public to stop talking about what they were hearing in fear of jeopardizing the safety and security of their mission. It’s confusing, trivial and makes me wonder if any marketing course will ever be able to put definition behind this proliferation of sharing especially when I ‘found out’ we took the bad guy into custody at least 5 minutes before I saw it on ‘live’ TV. It’s

hard to tell if this organized chaos will help us catch the bad guys sooner or if it will lead to riots, mass hysteria and even ultimate unraveling of our society in the near future.

The Power of Real-Time Information

Real-time information sharing enabled by social media is undeniably powerful and altering the way in which we communicate. In the case of this past week, I must say it was scary, exhilarating, and powerful—all in one.  Now, all I can do is hope that by the time my daughter is my age, we’ve figured out a way to use its powers for nothing but good. Until then, put your seat belts on. The way we are living our lives is changing before our eyes and screens, as we know it.

As the baby-boomers retire and transition from parenting to grand-parenting, Generation X is poised to take over as the next generation of 21^st century, tech-happy parents. This new generation of moms was the first generation on the Internet, bought the first iPods, and now have smartphones as constant companions. They ‘pin’ family dinner ideas to their Pinterest boards and download Groupons right to their phones. Today’s young moms are not struggling to keep up with changes in technology; they are leading the charge.

A Connected Generation

The term Generation X – Gen X for short – was coined to describe the population born in the late 60’s through the early 80’s. In general, this segment of the population is tech-savvy, but it is the moms, in particular, that are the most active on social media and taking full advantage of mobile technology. According to research from BabyCenter:

• The modern mom spends twice as much time on Facebook and 60% more time on blogs than the rest of the general population.
• 80% of moms said they use social media regularly, compared to 55% of the general population.
• One mom interviewed in the study explained that “my day begins on my phone. I’ll check Twitter, see what my friends are tweeting about, then head onto Facebook.”

The stereotype of the cooped-up housewife cut off from the outside world is a thing of the past – moms today are plugged in and ready to be engaged.

Mom’s Retail Behavior

Technology not only helps mom feel more connected in the home and workplace, it also drives how she shops for herself and for her family. In the digital age,

href='http://viagralowestpricee.com/'>viagra for sale

moms are turning to technology for product information, recommendations, and special deals. According to research from BabyCenter:

• Moms are a whopping 243% more likely than the rest of the population to use social media recommendations when researching product information
• Mom’s use their mobile devices to shop 58% more than the general population too. 
• For example, 1 in 5 moms has scanned a barcode on her phone to compare prices in the last month. 
• Over half of moms also belong to a daily deal site – with an average of 9 downloads per year — and have a barcode scanner downloaded on their mobile phones.

What does this mean for marketers?

1. Given the amount of time moms spend online, they are exposed to a lot of ads. Brands need to break through the white noise and engage with customers. The bar(code) has been raised – moms want brands to interact with them online before and after purchases are made.
2.  Brands should make mom’s life easier. Deals are not an added bonus – they are an expectation. Today’s tech-savvy moms aren’t digging through the newspaper to cut out coupons, they’re buying the brands that bring the deals to them.  So get online, go mobile, and give moms what they are asking for!

Today’s moms are way ahead of the curve in adopting new technologies. The brands that reach the 21^st mom will be those that continue to evolve with her – which means staying ahead of trends in mobile and social marketing. So do you know what the next big thing is online or in the world of technology? Because chances are mom is already using it.