Category Archives: Online Marketing News

My Hands On Experience of New Twitter

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New Twitter Preview

Today whilst Tweeting for a client I was given the option to try out ‘new Twitter’. I wrote an article about the features of new Twitter a couple of weeks ago.

I obviously giggled like a schoolgirl on the inside and said yes to the proposal. What I did notice is that the layout has changed quite a lot. The site seems to be 50% wider than before.

The search function has been moved to the top bar, like Facebook. To logout you click a drop down menu at the top right of the page, like Facebook. You can also now embed videos into the feed, like Facebook. The message inbox is also very similar to Facebook. Twitter now promote who you should follow on your Twitter page, not just the Twitter front page before you log in.

Everything is generally easier to navigate and the extra functionality means you don’t have to click off site for images or video. As soon as the UK receives new Twitter fulltime  I will be using it to promote my short films and film blog very much. The UK has not had a full rollout of the service yet, and some won’t like the changes, but will get used to it.

For some reason Twitter won’t let me use the new version a the moment, but I like it. We will be featuring an updated New Twitter review when it becomes nationwide.

Google Goggles – Browse The Web by Taking an iPhone Photo

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I was on Twitter earlier today and saw the trending topic ‘google goggles’, and was intrigued. At first  thought they had done something new to their homepage. Again.

But no, it was a new iPhone App that lets you search Google by taking photos of objects and landmarks.

Here is a young Adrian Chiles explaining how to use the Google Goggles iPhone App

So, what we know is that the App is very clever and can be great fun. If you are in a famous city you can find out what buildings are which, but its a long way off before you can photograph the Walton on Thames Aldi to get a search result about it.

I remember having great fun whilst at my mate’s flat using his barcode reading app that brought up a price comparison list to buy products online. I was very amused at the sheer range of obscure products it managed to get results for. Even VHS tapes that went out of production over a decade ago.

This looks like a great App and I may just have to become like all my friends and get an iPhone.

Sponsored Promoted Twitter Accounts

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If you are a frequent Twitter user you will already know about Twitter making suggestions on who to follow. But now, just like Youtube and Digg, Twitter are now more aggressively pushing sponsored content.

Twitter now let sponsored accounts appear on the Twitter homepage, as suggestions to follow. This means if you follow a lot of film industry people, Twitter may suggest @empiremagazine.

This will open many marketing opportunities for businesses to advertise to their selected target audience.

Twitter bided their time very well before introducing more commercial elements into the site.  The ominous sponsored trending topics is another way they are promoting paying brands.

With new Twitter around the corner in the UK, who knows what sponsored content they will promote in the future?

Google Vs Apple in Mobile Advertising

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Recent research by Bloomberg/Business week suggests that Google and Apple are neck and neck in generating revenue from mobile phone advertising. In the US here are the suggested figures:

  • Apple: 21%
  • Google: 21%
  • JumpTap: 13%
  • Millennial: 11%
  • Yahoo: 9%
  • Microsoft: 7%
  • Nokia: 2%
  • Other: 16%

Apple’s iAd service allows advertisers to reach users through their iPhone and iPad devices, and has popularised the use of the mobile internet. Apple have become very innovative in defining trends in society, and have managed to achieve the feat of drawing the same advertising revenue as Google.

Many analysts state that Apple will most likely overtake Google in revenue generation any  time soon. We will be keeping a close eye on the situation.

Google Changes It’s SEO Guidelines

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Google has released an updated form of it’s PDF that gives advice on best SEO practices. The biggest changes to the guide have been the inclusion of a glossary of terms, and advice for mobile devices. The guide has also been given a rewrite to make it easier to understand.

To see the new Google SEO guidlines click here.

Jumo – A Social Network for Charities

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Philanthropist Chris Hughes, who helped set up Facebook has given a press conference on his latest project: Jumo, a social networking website for charities and causes to market themselves online.

Jumo is apparently set to revolutionise how people interact with charities, although details are under wraps for now. Jumo is promised to be a site where you search for local or international causes to follow. Once you have followed them, you can receive updates and be invited to donate or offer voluntary services.

Being a website just for good causes, Jumo will help charities market themselves much easier online as they will stand out more. They will not get lost in a sea of other pages, such is the once-stop-shop of Facebook.

The high profile of Chris Hughes will attract the attention of the world’s media, and I am sure celebrities like Bono, Chris Martin and Bob Geldoff will jump on board to promote this charitable project.

I believe Jumo will be a landmark moment in social media as I am very surprised there is nothing like it online at the moment. Modular Internet Marketing will be a very close eye on this promising website.

Digg Selling it’s Community Out

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Digg is the world renowned social bookmarking site, where you can find an article online and submit it to Digg to be read at any time. When you ‘Digg’ an article, you are in fact casting a vote for an article. What made Digg so different before is that it was the user community that chose which articles would be promoted, not an editor. The articles with the most Diggs would always get pride of place on the homepage.

What Digg v4 did to sell out it’s community is to let large commercial articles gain automatic placings on the homepage. The website is now just another commercial news site and former fans of Digg are moving onto similar services like Reddit to experience what the old Digg use to be like.This is an important marketing message to those who have a loyal fanbase.

New Marketing Opportunities For YouView Internet TV

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As I write this YouView is a hot trending topic on Google Trends. Formerly know as Project Canvas, YouView will become the natural successor to FreeView. It works by streaming Free TV through the Internet to a box connected to your TV. This is an initiative funded by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, TalkTalk, BT, Arqiva and Channel 5 and will come out early 2011.

A new feature of the device is the ability to go back and watch selected programs that appeared within a week ago or even some programs that can be skipped forward to in time. This is complimented by the use of Apple iPhone/iPad like ‘Apps’ that people will also be able to include on their TVs.

The openness will allow developers to create apps that can connect with social networks sites and blogs, providing a new potential marketing platform.

YouView Marketing for Content Providers

I look forward to using YouView to promote my film work through creating my own portal site. Once you make your YouView portal, you can make your content available through the main YouView guide. This could be a great way for brands to get their message across to viewers as this feature is claimed to be open to everyone. I look forward to seeing how it will all work.

YouView Marketing for Developers

Developers will be able to makes apps for the TV, connected to backend services like social networking, music and video services, search providers and so on. Online marketing and TV advertising will converge together, and new industries may get created. Details on how the apps will work exactly are still quite sketchy, but as soon as we know, we will be the first to blog about it.

The New Twitter Layout – Including Embedded Video

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Twitter have announced a new version of it’s website that is currently being rolled out across the world over the next several weeks. The site will be widened to get extra content viewable, as you get to see extra feeds and more features too. This is to stop people having to having to go elsewhere for other information fixes. It will no doubt gain more popularity with all the new features, but hopefully it will not lose the simplicity it has over facebook.

New Twitter Layout

The new version now also includes the ability to use embedded video, which you can see when select a particular Tweet. This is a huge leap forward as you will now have more reason to spend time on Twitter. People will now be able to share more content with each other, whilst commenting on it. This now makes Twitter more attractive as a tool for me to promote my short films.

For some Facebook is too complicated and current Twitter is too basic. New Twitter will meet that middle ground and will no doubt become a much larger force in social media.

Using Facebook Places to Promote Your Business

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Facebook places follows hot on the heels of Foursquare as a tool to let you say where you are on a map. Officially, Facebook Places only appears in North America at the moment, but it will be rolling out across the world very soon, including the UK.

Using a mobile phone application, you can “check-in” after searching for the location of where you are via GPS. This then let’s your friends know exactly where you are, so if they are in the area you can bump into them. Make sure to set it so only the people you trust can see where you are, unless you actually want to be burgled. You can be tagged by people at locations, but I suggest you turn it off. I have friends who would use it to keep tagging me at alternative lifestyle clubs as a joke.

Where your business comes into the equation with Places, is that you can register the location of it. You’ll need to open up the Facebook iPhone application or Facebook for touch devices on a compatible mobile and search to see if your place exists already. You can do this by searching for the place. If it doesn’t exist, you can quickly create it by clicking on “Add” or the “+” sign. You will them need to claim the place by clicking the “Is this your business?” link at the bottom of the place. Your phone number will be compared to by Facebook, which is easily changeable.

Once ownership is claimed you can converge your Page with the Place. People will then be able to see your shop, restaurant, or any other type of business if they are nearby. The clever part is you can send messages to people to promote your services if they have “checked-in”.

This all sounds like a great way to open up location based marketing, as it’s fun and captures the imagination. Be prepared for the privacy issues media backlash, but if used correctly, this functionality has huge potential, especially with other features on the horizon.