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| Forget Emoticons -- Skype Wants You to Use 'Humoticons' | |  As part of Skype's latest marketing campaign, the video call service has launched a Facebook app geared at making our interactions more human: Skype Humoticons. The app basically allows us to recreate classic emoticon images -- such as the smiley face, sad face or tongue-out face -- with our own real-life expressions. You can post existing photos to a "Humoticon gallery," or snap new pictures within the app. The results can be shared on a Facebook wall, downloaded, or turned into a URL to share in an Instant Message. The "It's Time to Skype" campaign launched earlier this month, is based on the premise that social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are "degrading humanity." Some of the slogans Skype is using for the campaign: "140 characters doesn't equal staying in touch" and "Upgrade from a wall post to a first class conversation." Photo courtesy of Adweek The reasoning behind Skype Humoticons? "Because nothing can replace the look on your face," according to a Skype blog post. There is a distinct irony in the campaign. At the same time it blasts Facebook and Twitter, Skype isn't above using both social networks for promotion purposes. As part of the "It's Time for Skype" social media campaign, for example, the hashtag #timeforskype will be used on Twitter. And not only does Skype have a video call integration feature on Facebook, but the entire Humoticons campaign is housed on a Facebook page. Do we really need to mimic emoticons to put the humanity back in our conversations? Will you use them, or are they just another superficial way to show what we're feeling? Sound off in the comments. Photo courtesy of Skype Humoticons |
| How to Maximize Your Facebook Engagement | | Friday, April 27, 2012 10:38 PM | Brian Carter |
|  Brian Carter is vice president of marketing and customer success at InfiniGraph. He's also the author of The Like Economy and the forthcoming LinkedIn For Business. Follow him @briancarter. If you have a Facebook page, you likely know how important it is to get likes and comments. Without those, your EdgeRank suffers, and your posts are seen by fewer fans in the future. Facebook has already admitted that the average Facebook page only reaches about 17% of its fans. Since less than 1 to 2% of fans go back to your page, EdgeRank and newsfeed visibility are critical. When you get a new fan, you have the opportunity to keep them engaged. If you don't, they'll simply stop reading your posts. Here are some of the things you should keep in mind as you determine how best to engage your Facebook customers. Which Days are Your Fans Most Responsive? You need to maximize likes and comments to be visible to fans. Part of getting better engagement results is knowing which days of the week your fans are most and least responsive. This is different for every company and industry. Knowing the best day of the week for all Facebook pages won't help you with your brand. So even if the best overall day is Tuesday, your company's best day might be Sunday. For example, recent research indicated that the most responsive day for high-fashion brand pages is Wednesday, while the most responsive day for outdoor clothing brand pages is Thursday. Why should brands care? Well, even if you post every day, your greatest focus should go to those days when followers are most responsive. So, if your best day is on the weekend, make sure you have that covered. It also turns out that the best days of the week to post on Facebook are not always the same days brands create the most posts. Sometimes it's a Sunday, and maybe no one is working. It appears that the amount a brand posts is not based on their most responsive days, but perhaps just on convenience or coincidence. Case Study: Chanel When you compare individual companies, you see that the days they do the most posts are not the same days that they get the most likes and comments per post. For example, see the following charts: Here is when Chanel posts the most (average posts per day over 90 days): And here is when their fans are the most responsive (likes + comments per post): Chanel's fans are most responsive on Saturdays, but it's their second-to-least posted on day of the week. Most likely, their social media person isn't working that day, and they're not scheduling posts for that day. Without realizing it, they're missing out on a lot of likes and comments, which of course hurts their Edgerank and lowers their fan page's post visibility. This highlights that you shouldn't post most when it's convenient for you, but when your fans are most responsive. How to Maximize the Most Engaging Days If you want to figure out this data for your page, here are the steps: 1. Go to your Facebook page insights and click on likes. 2. Click on export data. Choose post level data, then select at least a two-month range so you have a good sample. 3. Save it and open it in Excel. 4. There's not a quick way in Excel to group dates by day of week, but with a bit of manual work, you can find the average lifetime of engaged users per post, per day of the week. The only shortcoming here is that the data is limited by how good and engaging your posts have been. It's better to look at 10 to 20 brand pages per industry. You will have to manually look at hundreds of posts, or find a way to scrape that data. Then you can find the average likes and comments per post, per day of the week across an entire industry. If one of your competitors is doing a much better job at getting likes and comments, you might want to follow their lead. It could be, in part, the days of the week they post, and also the type and quality of content. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ymgerman |
| What Do You Do When Your Co-Founder Quits? [VIDEO] | | Friday, April 27, 2012 8:16 PM | Mashable Video |
|  Deciding to leave your full-time job for your startup isn't easy. But what happens when one founder is on board and the other would rather continue to take home a steady paycheck? That issue plays itself out in the third episode of TechStars, where one company's co-founder decides to stick with their day job instead of join the accelerator program full-time. The problem: she still wants to keep her unvested equity in the startup she helped create. Watch the Full Season of TechStars on Mashable In this episode, we also see the TechStars startups deal with challenges defining their business models and face questions from investors over their expertise in the industry they're trying to transform (New York City real estate). Check out the latest episode above, and be sure to leave your thoughts on the topic in the comments below. TechStars on Mashable Getting into a top startup accelerator program can make the difference between a company making it big and being lost in the ether. Mashable is going behind the scenes of that experience by bringing the show TechStars to our community. We've made the entire series available on-demand, and chopped it up into short segments that are ideal for Internet viewing. Over the course of the next couple of months, we'll also be sharing each episode as part of a Mashable post, giving our community a chance to discuss the themes of each show in our comments section. You can read more about TechStars on Mashable here. |
| The Fastest-Growing Jobs Online | | Friday, April 27, 2012 4:06 PM | BusinessNewsDaily |
|  Back-office positions like business process outsourcing and data processing are among the fastest-growing online jobs, according to a new report. With more than 5,000 new jobs in the past three months, business process outsourcing showed the highest growth of any category, according to Freelancer.com's Fast 50. The rankings are based on jobs that have seen the most growth since the last quarter of 2011. Overall, more than 170,000 jobs were posted in the first quarter of 2012, up from 130,000. "We have seen a huge increase in outsourcing on the whole, with businesses rethinking their strategies moving into the new year," Freelancer.com chief executive Matt Barrie said. "The huge growth in outsourcing is made up of a wide range of different types of projects being completed in countries all across the globe." The other jobs in the Fast 50's top 10 include: PDF Converters and Editors Excel Data Processing Copy Typing Web Search Virtual Assistant Data Entry Article Submission Customer Support The research also shows a significant increase in demand for mobile developers. App developing for both iPhone and Android devices rose more than 25%. "In a difficult global economic climate, businesses are looking to optimize their cost base and are therefore looking to online freelancers as a profit driver," Barrie said. SEO jobs, meanwhile, aren’t showing much growth; jobs in that field were up just 8% since the last quarter of 2011. Google’s fight against low-quality link building has had a major impact on the SEO industry, causing significant pain for e-commerce and blog sites by delisting major link networks, according to the study. The study was based on data from 172,936 jobs posted on Freelancer.com in the first quarter of 2012. Chad Brooks is a Chicago-based freelance business and technology writer who has worked in public relations and spent 10 years as a newspaper reporter. You can reach him at chadgbrooks@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @cbrooks76. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, track5 |
| How Mark Cuban Does Business [VIDEO] | | Friday, April 27, 2012 3:46 PM | Jesse Draper |
|  Jesse Draper is creator and host of "The Valley Girl Show" through which she's become a spokesperson for startups and helped pioneer the way of new media content distribution. Formerly a Nickelodeon star, Draper is now CEO of Valley GirlT where she oversees the show and runs technology blog Lalawag.com. Mark Cuban, the "Shark" in Shark Tank, had a giggly time with us while he told us about one of his investments coming out in Walmart later this year: Lipstixx, a lip balm company that changes flavor when you kiss someone. But when Cuban does business, it's all about email. "I've literally invested $4 million in people I've never met," he says while explaining his process of investing in people via email as long as they can prove themselves to him, also via email, by answering his tough as nails questions on their business models. SEE ALSO: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Mark Cuban It may be all about virtual communication for Mark Cuban when it comes to business, but it's definitely about face time when he is on the basketball court. Cuban has been fined over $100,000 by the NBA for various misconducts surrounding the game. "I'm just a fan," he told us, so we had a little fun and suggested something to help him stay in his seat: duct tape. It's certainly cheaper than those fines. Take a look. More Video from The Valley Girl Show 5 Things You Didn't Know About Mark Cuban Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg Offers Career Advice Jimmy Wales Shares Wikipedia's Growth Story |
| 'The Economist' CEO: Flipboard Is a Direct Competitor | | Friday, April 27, 2012 2:50 PM | paidContent |
|  The Economist’s CEO thinks news publishing will go all-digital at some point in the near- to mid-term. “Print circulation is at record highs,” Andrew Rashbass told the Paley Center’s international council in Madrid on Thursday. “We’re holding on to it as long as possible – but my view of what’s possible is more pessimistic than a lot of other people's ... It’s not fashionable to say it, but I think, frankly, it will be all digital. I don’t know when that will be exactly, but the idea that mass printing of paper will be around in 25 years is odd.” Rashbass’s excited realisation at The Economist is, after years of trying to find a viable model for the Economist.com website, it is the linear and packaged “lean-back” experience of tablet publishing – more akin to familiar print magazine publishing – which gives the title its greatest possible digital manifestation and its best shot of online business success. As titles like The Economist go there, some pure-play digital services like Flipboard go in the same direction, aggregating their content in the same way many publishers complain the web has done. So will publishers be disaggregated on tablets in the same way many have been on the web, I asked Rashbass? “They didn’t ask me (to include our content) and, if they did, I’d probably have said ‘no’,” he replied. “It’s not a creative reimagining in some way – it’s a head-on competitor. I don’t think it’s that significant, the (Economist.com) team obviously felt they wanted to do it. Let’s see – I’m happy to see experimentation and change minds later. “But you’re heading down a route we’ve seen before – giving the opportunity to extract value to somebody else in an area that should be our own – so Flipboard is problematic.” The Economist has a branded presence on Flipboard, with content taken from Economist.com rather than the magazine. No ads were visible when last checked by paidContent. Rashbass declared himself “relaxed” about Apple’s 30% commission on its iPad edition, however: “I don’t find the 30% problem problematic,” he said. “The majority of people in this room have always worked through third parties – whether through newsstands or other things. Even we have always have a newsstand presence.” Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Barcin |
| Wedding Contest Draws on Collaborative Consumption Economy | | Friday, April 27, 2012 12:24 PM | Erica Swallow |
|  If you're all about the sharing economy and have ever dreamt of getting hitched in Central Park, here's a contest for you. Done., a marketplace for hiring talented people to help you get things done, is giving away the first wedding powered by collaborative consumption. The prize includes $4,000 of Done. credit, which can be used to hire everyone needed for the big day - photographers, caterers, musicians, bakers, bartenders, a seamstress. The site even boasts an ordained minister, just in case! The winning couple will also receive a $1,000 Airbnb credit to cover accommodations during the big event or an exciting New York City honeymoon afterward - or both, if they shop wisely, of course. Set in the South Garden in Central Park, which is also romantically called "The Secret Garden," the ceremony location can accommodate up to 75 guests. The ceremony will last for one hour, and the couple will have 30 minutes of access to the private lawn afterward for photography. The big day can be planned for any time before September 15 of this year. To enter, hopeful couples must submit their love stories along with a picture on the contest website. The Done. team encourages entrants to be themselves and be creative - and it doesn't hurt to link off to a video that captures that cute couple chemistry. The contest winners will be decided by popular vote - so, a social media strategy or campaign of sorts could be a nice way to get the word out. The winning couple will be announced on June 1, with just enough time to pull everything together. The contest is open to all U.S. citizens over the age of 18, and the typical terms apply. Though, Done. Director of Community Rachel Amondson told us with a hearty laugh that the team would like to avoid "bridezillas" if at all possible. Amondson, previously a set costumer for TV shows Modern Family and The Office, came up with the idea for the wedding contest in an effort to showcase the talents and abilities of the Done. community, a group that she believes in so much that she'd "let them help plan her wedding." And so the idea was born. Amondson says that the winning couple should be able to find unique doers on the site to take care of all of those little details that make a wedding personal. "Not only do we have bartenders, but we have bartenders experienced with designing specialty cocktails according to your personality," she says. "And we have a graphic designer who makes wedding invitations, but can also paint Converse shoes with all the details of your wedding," she says. The site even showcases a yoga instructor that also designs cakes based on personalities on the side. "Not only aretalented; they have such unique skills and are kind people that you just want to be around," says Amondson. "It's a great opportunity for a couple to get to feel like they have a community helping them." "I'm just sad that I can't win the contest and don't have a groom yet," jokes Amondson. But for everyone else, there's always HowAboutWe, she says. Image courtesy of Done. |
| Kraft Thanks Facebook Fans Via Song [VIDEO] | | Friday, April 27, 2012 12:01 PM | Todd Wasserman |
|  Kraft Mac & Cheese on Friday rolled out a special thanks for Facebook fans -- a nearly seven-minute song that namechecks people who "liked" a post from the brand earlier this week. The brand enlisted the help of the YellowJackets, an a capella group, to thank all the 4,800 fans who "liked" the post on Tuesday. The post set a "like" record for the brand. In addition to scrolling all the names of the fans, several are mentioned in the tune, including Brian D., Ken R. and Rita W., among others. (Kraft didn't disclose the fans' last names for privacy reasons.) The video, called "Likeapella," is the brand's latest attention-seeking effort in social media. Over the past year, Kraft Mac & Cheese and agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky have launched a "jinx" Twitter game rewarding users who tweet about Mac & Cheese at the same time, introduced TV ads based on fans' tweets and enlisted YouTube celebrity Ted Williams to do voiceovers for ads and read fans' Valentine Day tweets. What do you think of this latest effort? Do you "like" it? Sound off in the comments. |
| Why No Brand Is Too Big to Fail, Too Small to Succeed | | Friday, April 27, 2012 11:09 AM | Mashable Video |
|  Brian Solis is the award-winning author of The End of Business as Usual, as well as a principal analyst at Altimeter Group, a prominent blogger and a keynote speaker. To get to where he is today, Solis worked in technology marketing and data-based development, but he challenged the conventional roles of those industries. Solis spoke to Behind the Brand host Bryan Elliott about his beginnings in marketing and public relations. "Being a technologist, I was always frustrated with...the lack of positioning around what the technology was," he explains. "It was always about features and speeds and fees, and not necessarily about how that technology would benefit an organization, a customer or what have you." He jumped in and began a different approach -- really thinking about how the brands in question can help. He tells Elliott that he always looked ahead and challenged traditional pillars of marketing. "I was just someone who was passionate about technology. I could translate that story into the benefits of whomever that technology was for," he says. At a certain point in his career, Solis decided that he needed to back off from marketing and instead document everything he had learned to help companies and organizations be more engaged with their consumers or communities. Solis talks about the success of Pinterest and how everyone is flocking to the network now even though it's almost three years old. "At some point the founders of..saw a different path. They saw a different way to provide something to customers, and they went after it. And that's what it starts with..." Pinterest identified demand and tried to solve a problem -- what Solis calls "pragmatic marketing." He also mentions that he uses Clear, a list-making app for the iPhone, and says that Realmac Software cared enough to make an app that had the features he and other consumers want. It's no question that businesses need help in this area. Circuit City, Borders, Kodak. No one's safe right now. You're not too big to fail, and at the same time, you're not too small to succeed," Solis says. The overall theme of Solis' interview seems to be how brands can remodel and reinvent the design, presentation and experience of a product so that the consumer or community is the primary focus. Watch the full Behind the Brand interview above, and tweet your questions to @BryanElliott, or leave them in our comments section below. More Recent Episodes of Behind the Brand: Why Tony Hawk Always Tweets for Himself/a> Question: Why Is Rainn Wilson so Awesome at Social Media?/a> How One Company Helps Sales Teams Leverage Their Social Influence/a> |
| Samsung Now the World's No. 1 Handset Maker [STUDY] | | Friday, April 27, 2012 10:16 AM | Todd Wasserman |
|  Samsung became the world's top handset maker by units, ousting Nokia, which had held that title for the past 14 years, according to a researcher. Strategy Analytics estimates that Samsung shipped 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, besting Nokia's 82.7 million. Samsung's market share is now 25% vs. Nokia's 23%. Nokia had been the world's top producer of handsets by units since 1998, when it overtook Motorola. Most troubling number for Nokia perhaps: Sales in China fell 62%. The changing of the guard came as Nokia is in the process of switching over its smartphones to the Windows Phone OS. Nokia told analysts this month that it sold more than 2 million Windows Phone-based units in the first quarter. Windows Phone is still a distant competitor to Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms, which controlled 23.8% and 50.9% of the global smartphone market, by units, in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. (Gartner hasn't released its estimates for Q1 global sales. In 4Q, it pegged Nokia's global market share at 23.4% compared to Samsung's 19.4%.) Samsung didn't forsake profits for the sake of market share. The company posted a $4.5 billion profit in its most-recent quarter, nearly doubling last year's figure and beating analysts' estimates. Though Samsung had a comfortable lead in Q1, it's unclear whether the Korean electronics giant will be able to keep its dominance. Tom Kang, a Seoul-based research analyst at Strategy Analytics, told Bloomberg that "Samsung will probably still be number one in the second quarter, but the full year will be a close call because the third and fourth quarters are traditionally Nokia's best." Image courtesy of iStockphoto, itchySan |
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