Love it or hate it, the iPad is the topic of conversation the web is buzzing about. Yesterday Trendrr revealed that there were 177,000 tweets alone in the first hour after the announcement. But what was the sentiment behind those tweets? Now we know. Read More

Out of all the social media tools out there, the one that people go to in order to figure out what’s hot on the web has to be Twitter. With millions of tweets crossing its servers and constantly updated trending topics, it’s easy to find out what’s happening right now.

We’re taking it a step further with a new series, Top Twitter Topics, a weekly recap of what people were buzzing about in the Twitterverse. Thanks to What The Trend, we know what events captured… Continue Reading

In 2009 Global usage of social media sites increased 82% from the previous year statistics.  Is your business using social media yet or if you are you using to its full extent?

2010 is the year of the Social Media Revolution.  In December 2009 almost half of the US population used facebook and that number is growing every day.  There are hundreds of social media sites in the United States and worldwide.  There are the large sites that you hear about on a daily basis including facebook, twitter, MySpace, Linked In, and YouTube.  There are also more industry specific sites like Active Rain and i-Meet.  There also sites that have large followings, but are not always in the news like Bebo and Flixster.  There are many other large sites that are popular only outside the US and could be very useful if your company is global.

Many companies use a mix of different sites, tie them together, and tie them back to their own website.

If you currently have an outside vendor handling your social media there are some key questions you should ask them to maximize your online exposure and interaction.

• What sites work best for my business/industry?
• How many different sites should I join?  Is quality better than quantity?
• How often are you updating the content on my social media accounts?
• Are you tracking the hits on my account?

Interactivity Marketing founded and has maintained the Myrtle Beach fan page on facebook and has grown the page to over 150,000 thousand fans since starting the page in June of 2009  We were able to grow the site through constant interaction with fans, contests, and giveaways.

If your new to social media, feel like you don’t even know where to begin, or want to redevelop your current social media plan contact Interactivity Marketing and let us put together a plan to get your business into the social media revolution today.  We will do all the research to see what sites similar business are on and the site your target audience is using to ensure you’re not wasting your time or money.

The GRAMMYs have always been a big night for recording artists and their fans.  This year the fans will get to feel they are more a part of the party.  The Recording Academy, the foundation who votes and hosts the awards show, has always been very reluctant to change and embrace the newest trends.  The RA was hard pressed to add Rap as an awards category and did not give a GRAMMY for Best Rap Album  until 1996 and Best Rap Song until 2004.  It seems now the RA is running with one of the top trends, Social Media.  The GRAMMYs have always been very protective of their brand and liked having the control over its message and brand.  By using social media they are exposing themselves to interactions with fans who might not always agree with the GRAMMYs opinion or ideas.

The GRAMMYs saw how social media has not only become a huge part of their industry, but in our culture over all.  Many of the recording artists up for GRAMMY awards have their own fan pages on facebook, including Beyonce, who has over 2 million fans, and Lady Gaga who has over 5 million fans.

Before going full force into social media the GRAMMYs created a task force in 2008 and worked hard in 2009 to see the best ways to use social media to promote the GRAMMYs.  They wanted to make sure if they made the jump to social media they made it knowing their target demographic and what social media sites the demographic visited the most.  The GRAMMYs are now on twitter, facebook, and YouTube and have promoted their social media plan with WereAllFans campaign. The facebook page currently has over 100,000 members, growing every day.

The WereAllFans site has constant update feeds from twitter, flickr, facebook, & YouTube and feeds into each GRAMMY nominated artists page on the site creating an ever involving portrait of the artist.  During the awards show the GRAMMYs will use live updates and encourage tweeting from fans watching.  After being slow to embrace the idea the GRAMMYs plan to continue investment into social media for the future.

If you or your business need help embracing the social media craze contact us at Interactivity Marketing!

Facebook post insights are live:

Today’s consumers are under influence.  No, No.  Nothing illicit.  It’s about engaging with social media and social influences to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization.  So is your business engaged?  If you answered no then you may be falling behind the times.  Some companies are afraid to try social media marketing for fear of failing.  By not joining the social media craze many are failing without even realizing it.  Entering the social media networking world cannot guarantee instant results and may require a long term commitment to growing the brand online.

Social media allows interaction between companies and consumers like never before.  The interaction can allow for positive comments as well as negative ones if a consumer had an issue or problem.  With social media you have the opportunity to respond back and find out why they a bad experience and possibly rectify the situation.  Word of mouth marketing is a still a top tool in many industries and by clearing up a bad situation a company may prevent the consumer from spreading their bad experience to others.

For the best social media marketing results test numerous sites and options within those sites to see what works best.  This may require asking consumers on the sites what they would like to see there.  Examples of sites to test would be facebook, twitter, blogs, YouTube, Linked In, and MySpace. There are also industry specific sites like ActiveRain for those in real estate and i-Meet for those in event and meeting planning.  Any interaction created with consumers is plus for the business.  Social media allows companies to create relationships with consumers and reach out to consumers to help create loyal customers.

Small businesses from the local bakery or restaurant down the street to large companies like Subway and Zappos.com have joined social media marketing to gain customers and allow their currents customers to help each other and help the businesses grow.  Zappos.com has over 1.6 million followers of their CEO’s twitter account and has used the large following to get feedback.

For help on not falling behind the mark on the social media marketing revolution contact us today!

When you think Super Bowl what comes to mind?  For most people would it would be football and great new commercials.  Some of that could be changing starting this year.  Pepsi Co will not be advertising in the Super Bowl this year for the first time in 23 years.  The company is going to a trend that is becoming more and more popular, cutting out TV commercials to spend the money on online advertising.

Super Bowl ads will take a big hit with the loss of Pepsi who was 2^nd in Super Bowl advertising dollars spent between 1999 and 2008 on, spending $142.8 million on commercials.  Anheuser-Busch, number 1 in Super Bowl advertising with $216 million spent, will be advertising during this year’s game.  Pepsi Co will be using the money saved from Super Bowl ads to fund thousands of projects.  Many of the projects will be part of the “Pepsi Refresh Project,” which will give money to people for projects that “refresh” communities.  Another major company you will not see during the Super Bowl this year is FedEx who for the 2^nd straight year has sited down revenue as their reason for pulling the plug on the big game.

Pepsi Co is not the first company to pull TV advertising dollars in favor of online marketing.  Century 21, national real estate company has pulled TV ads to focus their spending on search engine marketing and partnerships with real estate listing websites.  A main reason for Century 21’s move is the National Association of REALTORS found 84% of consumers are shopping online for a home.  Century 21 had previously spent approximately half of its yearly advertising budget on TV ads.

While some companies are pulling back on their TV dollars TV advertising can still be extremely successful especially when tied into online advertising.  For help setting up a successful marketing campaign on TV, online, print, radio, or a mix of them contact us at Interactivity Marketing (843) 492-6208!