If you’re big on social media, you know that being influential is the key to being successful. And if you care about being influential, you’re probably using Klout, the most popular platform for measuring social influence. And if you use Klout, you’re probably aware of the controversy surrounding it. The thing about Klout is that you either truly believe in the power of it or you think it is a complete farce.

Last week the company announced the app, previously exclusive to iPhone users, would now be available for download on Android. This news was not received well by iPhone users who felt the app lost its feeling of exclusivity. Shortly after that announcement, it was revealed that Instagram had been acquired by social media powerhouse, Facebook, for a whopping $1 billion. This deal also did not produce the warmest reception and even had users threatening to quit over the acquisition.

If you’re not familiar with Instagram, here’s a quick rundown of the app. Instagram is a photo sharing application for mobile phones. Users can create an account, take photos and share them tagged with key words for public or private viewing. It’s a whole social network based around images. The application offers several filters to help spruce up your photos a bit like Black and White, Sepia toned, blurring filters and more. It makes it super easy for people who may not be the most design savvy to make their photos look a little bit fancier.

So why is everybody up in arms about the recent changes to the company? Well in the case of the Android availability it seems to simply be a case of elitist iPhone users who want the app all to themselves. For those users upset about the Facebook acquisition, it gets a bit more complicated. There is a fear among users that Facebook will “ruin” Instagram. These are some of the biggest concerns surrounding the acquisition.

- User Privacy

Facebook has enough people on it’s back about its privacy policies as it stands. So what do they plan to do with all this new data coming in from users?

- Neglect

Will Instagram follow in the footsteps of Gowalla and Friendfeed? After Facebook acquired these companies, they essentially fell into obscurity. Facebook did nothing to improve or integrate these apps with their social network.

- Reduced quality

As if the inclusion of Androids lesser quality photos was enough to rile up Instagram users, imagine the backlash when users of all camera phones are able to upload their poor quality photos to the app.

What are your thoughts on the war on Instagram? Is Instagram doomed? Or will these new changes be a good thing? What do you think Facebook has in store for instagram? A custom Facebook app? New options for sharing and editing photos on Facebook? Let us know what you think below!

To answer this, we must think about what causes someone to ‘Like’ something in the first place. The answer seems kind of obvious doesn’t it. They ‘Like’ it because they, well, like it. They might agree with what you are saying. It may be an exciting piece of news that they like. Maybe it’s something they want to know more about. Thispost from WordPress Website Builder lists reasons such as Free Stuff, Contests, Humor, and Social Causes as other reasons why someone may like your Facebook post. For example, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon recently asked for the assistance of ConvoSpark’s Facebook application development team to develop their first ever Facebook presence. People “liked” their fun application and they surpassed 16,000 likes in its first month. In this case their fun application was a probable reason for liking the page, but whatever their reason was, we can be sure of one thing: They are paying attention!

But just like fans and Twitter followers it’s important not to get caught up in the numbers. Sure a ‘Like’ means they read your post, but it doesn’t mean they read all your posts. It doesn’t mean they are a loyal fan, it means they saw something attractive about your page and decided to acknowledge it. After all, a ‘Like’ is not a binding contract.

What we’re really looking for is continued engagement. Does that person leave a comment? Do they stay a fan after the contest or promotion is over? Do they purchase or express further interest in your product or service? Are you continuing to provide them with great content that they ‘Like?’

Don’t dash your hopes just yet. A ‘Like’ is not worthless. But it’s not about who ‘Likes’ your post. It’s about what they do with it that matters!

Now, Pinterest doesn’t just makes for hours of mindless entertainment and searching for cool things, it’s also a great marketing tool. Use it to promote your work, your portfolio, your inspirations, or just things you think are cool. You never know who might repin and spread the word about you and your brand!

So let us know, are you pinning yet? Share your profile in the comments and we’ll follow you! And be sure to follow us too!

http://pinterest.com/convospark/

Sure, Hangouts is great for keeping in touch with friends and family, but did you know it could help your business too? Here’s a couple ideas on how to use Hangouts to make your business THAT much cooler.

1) Get customer feedback

Launching a new product? Get feedback before the big release. See what your customers think before you release it to the public. Or simply get feedback on your current products and services. Ask a few fans to join you and tell you what they think. They will appreciate the enhanced interaction.

2) Do a demonstration

Give your customers a behind the scenes look at what you do. Show them your design process, show them how you fix your cars or build your bikes. Everyone likes to be let in on a few secrets. Let your customers get to know you better

3) Customer Service

Hangout online for a while. Let your fans know you’re available for questions and see what happens. You might meet some interesting people!

4) Have team meetings. Meet with your clients, your coworkers, your developers. Sure you can do this on Skype, but remember, Google Hangouts is totally free.

Share with us some ideas you have for using Google+ Hangouts! And don’t forget to add us to your Google+ circle!

Add ConvoSpark to YOUR circle! 

]]> http://www.convospark.com/blog/uncategorized/enhance-your-business-start-a-hangout/feed/ 0 http://www.convospark.com/blog/uncategorized/googles-new-way-to-search-love-it-or-hate-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=googles-new-way-to-search-love-it-or-hate-it http://www.convospark.com/blog/uncategorized/googles-new-way-to-search-love-it-or-hate-it/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:08:46 +0000 Brittany http://www.convospark.com/?p=1585 Yesterday, Google announced it’s new way to search: Google Search Plus Your World. With this new feature, a Google search brings up not only relevant content from the public web, but also relevant content from your personal circle of friends. … Continue reading →]]> Yesterday, Google announced it’s new way to search: Google Search Plus Your World. With this new feature, a Google search brings up not only relevant content from the public web, but also relevant content from your personal circle of friends. Type something into the search box. If you’re connected to Google+, Google will display which of your connections have talked about or produced content relating to your search term. So if I search for “peanut butter,” my search results show that peanut butter has been mentioned by my personal connections 40 times. 

In addition, if you search for a person, their profile will be the first thing displayed. This has sparked a big debate among users and some major complaints from Twitter. Now, Google is the biggest search engine on the web. It’s goal is to find the content most relevant to what you need. The question is, do your personal connections have the answers you’re looking for? Now if they do, then this personal customization is a good thing. But if, not the the information my friends provide is not going to be very helpful.

What do you think? Do you like Google’s new personalized search feature? Or do you think Google has gone too far. Share your opinion in the comments!

Doh! The top 10 tech ‘fails’ of 2011 via CNN

Netflix, Blackberry, tablets that aren’t the iPad. Bad years for all of them. But who had it the worst?

The Hottest New Technologies Of 2011 via Forbes

Who is your target audience? 

Who are you talking to? Is it kids? Adults? Athletes? Social Media Experts? Or total noobs? This is important. It will help you determine what networks you are on, what you need to say, and how you are going to say it? You probably shouldn’t focus most of your energy on Google+ if most of your audience is tweens. Most of them aren’t really there yet. Now if your target is techies and social media junkies, Google+ is probably a good place for you.

What are you trying to accomplish? 

Do you want to gain customers, or simply awareness. Are you trying to sell a specific product directly through your pages, or are you trying to create buzz about an overlying campaign.

How many times per day will you post? 

Post too much and people might think you’re spamming. Post too little and people might think you’re dead. Find the balance that is right for your business.

What will those posts be?

There is a general 80/20 rule of social media. 80% of your posts should be about other people, or things you find interesting. Only 20% should be about you. Kind of shocking isn’t it. That rule can be bent a little bit, but you still have to decide what it is you’ll be posting. What websites will you share from? How many will be replies to fans? Will they be promotions for your business? A lot of this has to do with what your objective is.

When will you post? 

You may be sleeping at 4am, but that doesn’t mean all your fans are. Services like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite allow you to preschedule Facebook and Twitter posts so you don’t have to be awake at all hours of the night to service your fans. Post consistently. Someone could miss your post by 30 seconds if your don’t post it at just the right time. Mix it up a bit to make sure you give everyone a chance to catch your posts before they fall off the front page of their timeline.

Who are you going to follow? 

Are you going to after your fans, or do you want them to come after you. Choose who you follow carefully. Don’t just follow random people hoping for a follow back. You’ll come off as a spammer. Especially if your following way more people than are following you.

Be prepared to share. Have a plan. What kinds of things do you ask yourself before posting to Facebook, Twitter, or Google+?

To take a peek at your Mentions and Retweets, simply click in the @Connect button at the top of the page. The @Connect page is essentially the same as the Activity Tab that rolled out a few weeks ago. In addition to your mentions and retweets, you can easily see who has followed you recently.

More Keyboard ShortcutsTwitter has made it even faster and easier to get around the site. You don’t even need a mouse. Check it out!

Image Courtesy of Mashable

You now have the option to “open” a tweet

This allows you to see the photo or image attached to the tweet. When you open a tweet, it is super easy to see how many times it has been retweeted AND favorited.

Discover New Things About Your Friends

The “Discover” tabs allows you to take a deeper look at what the people you are following are doing. Activity allows you see who your friends have followed recently, what they’ve favorited, and what they’re saying. It’s a nice way to track everything that’s going on in one place.

Browse Interests

One of the coolest new features allows you to find new and awesome people to follow by sifting through different interests you may have. So if you are looking for artists, musicians, or social media experts you can find them in second. You may even discover some new interests!

The new Twitter hasn’t quite rolled out to everyone yet, but if you’ve got it, let us know what you think in the comments!

Travelocity’s social media presence has exploded with the help of a little blue lawn gnome. Serving as the face of the brand the gnome has his own Facebook Page, Twitter and entire persona. His Facebook page hosts a number of hilarious photos and videos of the gnome in crazy situations like sunbathing, snowboarding, or hot tubbing.

What can we learn? 

Putting a face to the name does wonders. The gnome is personable, recognizable, and extremely memorable. People feel like they are interacting with an actual being rather than just a company logo.

2) Hipmunk

Here’s another travel company that knows how to make creative use of social media. In April, 2011 this start up launched a campaign using their own adorable Chipmunk mascot. The campaigned, entitled “Hipmunk Me” allowed Facebook users the chance to have their very own version of the chipmunk. All they had to do was write on Hipmunk’s Facebook wall with a request to “Hipmunk Me!” along with their favorite destination and activity. The first 500 fans got their own personal Hipmunk doing that activity in the location they requested. Here a a few examples:

What can we learn? 

Give your fans something personal. The personalized chipmunk is something simple you can give your fans that makes them feel special. It’s something they can call their own even if it is just a simple image that probably only took a few minutes to create. It also required users to like the page in order to participate. Doesn’t hurt that the giveaway involves an adorable Chipmunk.

3) Old Spice

In 2010 Old Spice launched an internet campaign centered around the catch phrase “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” The campaign features a series of YouTube videos starring Isaiah Mustafa, who would later become known as, “The Old Spice Guy.” To date, the original video (below) has over 30 million views on YouTube. Shortly after, the brand launched the “Old Spice Responses” campaign. The Old Spice Guy created personalized videos for bloggers who had written about him in the past and responded to fan questions and comments on Twitter.

What can we learn?

Pay attention to your fans and they will do the work for you. The Old Spice Responses campaign showed people that Old Spice was paying attention to its fans. They took the time to interact with fans and engage them with the brand. As a result, the fans talked. Not just back to the brand, but to their fans. They shared videos and tweets and from Old Spice, causing them to go viral and reach an entire new audience that might not have discovered them on their own.