by
2 Comments

Mall of America Runs a Twitter “Parking?” Party

posted on December 15, 2010

Twitter parties are all the rage with social media moms, but this Saturday, Mall of America is taking that concept one step further with the “Big Secret Parking Party.”

Everyone knows the horror of holiday parking at the local mall, but imagine the nightmare at the biggest mall in the US! It’s enough to make even the jolliest person turn into the Grinch. So this year, for the first time ever, Mall of America will be rewarding their loyal Twitter followers with a VIP ticket to the best parking around.

The event is being run through EventBrite where batches of tickets are being released twice a day for a total of 96 spaces. To claim a ticket, a person must follow the mall on Twitter and provide their Twitter name. There are also very specific times for arrival and a print out of the registration is required.

by
4 Comments

Too Much Talk Leads to a Few Less Followers

posted on December 15, 2010

We know that most people choose to follow a business in order to get deals and coupons, but what makes them “unfollow?”  Last week, Smart Brief on Social Media polled their readers on this very topic and here’s what they had to say:

The majority of the people (44%) said they unfollow because they’re overwhelmed by too many updates. Along a similar line, 36.79% said they unfollow if the postings don’t add any value to their day.

by
6 Comments

Stick a Fork in Yahoo?

posted on December 15, 2010

Yahoo continues to be in the news for all the wrong reasons. Yesterday the Internet company (how do you even classify them anymore?) gave pink slips to 4% of their workforce. Yahoo wants to give the impression of a company that is rising from the ashes but it still looks like one that continues to burn to the ground.

TechCrunch reports Yahoo’s response about the reports

Today’s personnel changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo! for revenue growth and margin expansion and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace. We’ll continue to hire on a global basis to support our key priorities.

Yahoo! is grateful for the important contributions made by the employees affected by this reduction. We are offering severance packages and outplacement services to these employees.

by
5 Comments

Majority of People Surveyed Say Online Rep is Important

posted on December 15, 2010

78% of people surveyed in a recent poll said they believe it is very important to look up information about people and/or businesses online before deciding to interact or do business with them.

And when they look you up, what will they find? Social media is a great tool for connecting with your customers but it’s also a potential minefield for those who don’t tread carefully. Take the Chipotle restaurant manager who recently posted to Facebook that she’d run over a cat on her way to home. The company says it was the work of a hacker, but more likely it was just a bad joke on the woman’s part. It caused a flood of nasty comments on the restaurant’s Facebook page and even a retaliatory page called Chipotle Hates Cats.

by
1 Comment

Twitter Opens Advertising Opps to the Masses

posted on December 15, 2010

For quite a while now everyone and their brother has been lobbing the “when are you going to really monetize Twitter” bombs into the micro-blogging giant’s front yard. It’s a popular thing to do but as of late that cry has lost a little steam (in part due to having real business people like Dick Costolo at the helm) and the latest move by Twitter could put a dent in one of the Internet industry’s favorite pastimes for sure.

The Next Web first reported the new Twitter for Business section and reported

The new version of business.twitter.com will provide business owners with twitter success stores, ideas, tips, tools and resources. Some of the tools included are information on promoted products and tutorials one how to communicate with customers using mobile.

by
1 Comment

Do the Big Brands Have an Advantage When it Comes to Social Media?

posted on December 14, 2010

Social media is the great equalizer; Lady Gaga (VEGAS tonight, gambling and inappropriate attire to ensue ) Tweeting alongside Taylyr, the junior high school student with a band (:/ im in QUIET the awful state. im pretty sure i dont want to go to school in the morning). Facebook, where you can have updates from TV vampires right next to reminders from your mom. Age, race, socio-economic status, celeb or regular Joe — there are no barriers in social media.

So why is it that the big brands are dominating when it comes to social media marketing? That’s the question Brian Sheehan is asking over at AdAge.

by
3 Comments

Trackur Gets More Klout, Adds Twitter Influence Metrics

posted on December 14, 2010

One of the cool features about Trackur’s social media monitoring is our InfluenceRank scoring system. For every web site, blog, or Twitter user, we’ve always shown you just how influential they are–with a simple score out of 100.

With news sites and blogs, we provided further analysis with screenshots, traffic details, backlink numbers and more. Today, we’ve added a similar dashboard for Twitter users influence.

As you can see, we have all the info you need to make a quickly decide if this person is someone that is exerting an influence on your brand.

The Trackur dashboard includes: