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Forget Generation Y: 18- to 34-Year-Olds Are Now 'Generation C'

Forget Generation Y: 18- to 34-Year-Olds Are Now 'Generation C'
It's hardly news that young adults are the most digitally connected, but now Nielsen has come up with a new name for this group based on their common behaviors: "Generation C." The C stands for "connected," and the group comprises Americans between 18 and 34 — who are defined by their digital connectivity, Nielsen and NM Incite’s U.S. Digital Consumer Report says. They consume media, socialize and share experiences through devices more than other age groups. The most recent U.S. "Their ownership and use of connected devices makes them incredibly unique consumers, representing both a challenge and opportunity for marketers and content providers alike," Nielsen writes. The below graphic visualizes different Nielsen numbers on American media consumption. Are you a part of "Generation C?" Click the image to enlarge. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, izusek

Managing Social Media Crisis and Negative Feedback Every now and then someone might come along and post some negative feedback among your carefully planned marketing messages and upbeat dialog with your fans. I have listed some of the best practice guidelines below. But first, what can go wrong? Types of negative feedback Problem is the easiest to resolve. This is more of a support issue but you have to keep it from blowing up by acknowledging the problem and fixing it quickly. Criticism is a real feedback about what people feel is not working for them with your products and services. Crisis hits when someone is really pissed off and dedicated to beat you up. Here are some pointers on how to get through a social media crisis: Build your true fan base to help you when crisis arises. Monitor social media to discover potential problems as early as possible. Don’t ignore the negative feedback as neglect will create more negative emotions. Censorship. When you encounter negative feedback engage as early as possible. Hours not days. Don’t panic!

6 Ways to Acquire New Customers via Social Media We all know social media is an important tool for brand awareness and customer acquisition — but how exactly are you supposed to convert random Twitter and Facebook users into real-life customers? Well, that depends. Different brands have different challenges when it comes to customer acquisition: "If you’re our customer, you’ve signed up for a year-long service, unlike the Starbucks of the world, where you can be a customer by coming in for a cup of coffee one day," says Lisa D'Aromando, social media community manager at Equinox. Whether you're a clothing shop, a restaurant or a subscription service, you must tailor your strategy so that it makes sense for your brand. That said, there are a few universal ways to help your company attract new faces on the social web. "I'm a big believer in creating and sharing meaningful content," says Danni Snyder, co-founder and creative director at jewelry brand Dannijo. But what does it all entail? 1. The key is to be proactive. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Things to remember when marketing to Gen Y Semantics wise, many monikers have been given to the generation of people born during the mid-‘70s to the late ‘80s. You have Generation Y (having been preceded by Gen X), echo boomers (a majority of it being the children of the baby boomer generation), Facebook / Nintendo Generation (having grown up with technology as part of their lives), and the now the term often used in marketing: the Milliennials. Millennials are generally more computer savvy, arguably more perceptive, and easily accepts changes. They’re a special breed in that they are very diverse when it comes to background, beliefs and they make up a majority of Internet users today. However, just because they’re all online and a tad bit more accessible doesn’t mean they are actually easy to pull into your fold. They’re More Tech Savvy Well, not all of them are adept in technology themselves but most of them generally find it easier to understand, get used to, and adopt new technologies into their lives.

6 Ways to Bring Your Next Event to Life with Social Media Trevor Jonas is director of social media at Access Communications, where he develops digital communications strategies for clients spanning the financial services, consumer electronics, and food and beverage industries. Follow him @TrevR. Earlier this year, Microsoft brought in an acapella group to sing tweets from CES 2012 and last month Skype had a hilarious town crier reading tweets during South by Southwest Interactive.Social media has certainly changed event marketing for both organizers and attendees looking to get noticed. While splashy moves may get attention there are basics that, when overlooked, can make the social media component for any event fall flat. 1. Make sure there’s a single destination where attendees and interested parties can go to get all the information they need about the social media components for your event. Also, be sure to think about how to drive people to this page. 2. But creating the hashtags is only half the battle. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7 Essential Steps for a Successful Social Media Campaign Successful social media campaigns require careful strategy to generate the type of feedback, interaction & sales you're seeking. In other words, if your followers, friends & connections are just skimming what you post, that's not enough; that alone is certainly not doing your business any good. Actively engaging your network will help maximize conversions. Would you like to learn more? Check out these: 7 Essential Steps of A Successful Social Media Campaign STEP 1: Designate Who Works What NetworksAvoiding the annoyance of double contacting is worth the time it takes to organize who handles which branch of your business's successful social media campaigns. When several people reply to the same person or question, it's annoying & amounts to overkill. Be concise, consistent & know your niche. STEP 2: Narrow Down Which Networks Your Target Market Uses Most New social media networks are popping up all the time. STEP 4: Embrace LinkedIn Successful social media campaigns can be yours! Connect:

SnapTags: Will they kill QR codes? I remember a time when truncating the UPC bar code on the cover of a magazine was a huge coup. Taking the huge, lumbering code, which took up too much real estate on the cover of a publication, was bothersome and affected the design space. Cutting the bar code by half, in height and width, was celebrated as a major advance in the much-needed item used for scanning the price by, at best, only half the retailers, seems so petty and foolish now. When printers discovered you didn’t need to place the codes on white boxes, we rejoiced at not having the little lines popping out on what were beautiful covers, interrupted by alien chunks of absurdity. When we discovered that we could play with the bar codes, making fun little designs and jokes; we wondered why something so simple had escaped us for so long. Not long ago The QR Code appeared and changed instant information access via a scanner. As always, technology marches on. Have you incorporated QR codes into your marketing yet?

6 Social Media Networks to Watch in 2012 plus Infographics Curiosity is a human trait that makes us want to discover what lies beyond the horizon, over the ocean or what can be seen and experienced from the top of a beckoning mountain. It makes humans take risks that are both life threatening and potentially rewarding and life changing. George Mallory, the English mountaineer and explorer who died in 1924 when attempting to be the first man to make the first ascent of Everest was famously quoted as replying to the question “Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” with the retort “Because it’s there” There is a sense of adventure and discovery that lies deep within all humanity, it is a burning passion that motivates and inspires us to strive and to leave our mark upon the world. Some people say that others have all the talent and pioneering spirit. Is making a difference only for the select few? The reality is that there is a genius within all of us just waiting to be unleashed. Social Media the Global Tribal Facilitator The Social Media Universe 1.

10 Ways to Humanize Your Brand on Social Media Joe Chernov is the VP of Content Marketing for Eloqua. He is responsible for creating, distributing and measuring content that increases awareness and drives demand. Marketers are suckers for a catch phrase, from “join the conversation” to “think like a publisher.” Now, thanks largely to Facebook Timeline for brand pages, the new marketing slogan has quickly become, “humanize the brand.” Humanizing a brand simply means trying to interact with each customer on a personal level. 1. I recently asked Alfredo Tan, Senior Director of Facebook Canada, if the company distinguishes between business and consumer brand pages. 2. In Smart Business, Social Business, author Michael Brito writes, "while many organizations are trying desperately to humanize their brand, they are failing to understand that they need to humanize their business first." Take Maya Grinberg, a social media manager with social commerce platform Wildfire Interactive. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Want to prove your brand is human? 8. 9. 10.

13 Cool Examples of Google+ Brand Pages It was only a few days ago when Google+ finally gave us access to brand pages – the moment we have been anticipating since summer. Now, anyone can create their own business page on Google Plus and it seems that within a few days a lot of businesses have decided to do so. The brand pages are still very limited though – for example it’s not possible for the brand page to have more than one admin at the moment. However, I still prefer Google+ over Twitter for following brands and keeping up with content from the thought leaders in social media and marketing. And surely Google+ will slowly roll out more features for brand pages. Here are some Google+ brand pages that I thought looked beautiful and here is our post RT@dreamgrow How to Create a Google+ Page for Your Brand. Adidas Originals five pictures make a cool sneaker. If you still haven’t created a Google+ brand page, please read our guide about how to create a Google+ brand page for your business.

Where The Ladies At? Pinterest. 2 Million Daily Facebook Users, 97% Of Fans Are Women OMG. Pinterest now has over 10.4 million registered users, 9 million monthly Facebook-connected users, and 2 million daily Facebook users, according to Inside Network’s AppData tracking service. With gorgeous photography, and links to shopping sites, Pinterest is becoming an obsession for flocks of women. And they’re not afraid to show it, I mean, Like it. AppData and Facebook’s advertising tool show that over 97% of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women. The stunningly feminine fan base could be a telling proxy for Pinterest’s actual user base, which totals over 10.4 million considering that’s how many users follow the official “Pinterest” account. Even though it was co-founded by three men, the site’s not shy about courting women. Sure, dudes can do all those things too, but they’re probably not addicted to pinning tuxedos and power tools like women pin brides dresses and bundt cakes. Over 1/5 of its fast-growing Facebook-connected monthly user count use Pinterest each day.

Six Definitions of Successful Social Media Engagement Defining successful social media engagement can be incredibly difficult. We all want to see some kind of return on our time, energy and efforts online, although many of us have different definitions of what constitutes a beneficial result from social media marketing. For me, there are six key definitions of successful social media engagement – all are affordable, achievable and available. Seeing as the best social media marketing is experiential, I’m going to highlight the six definitions from real-life examples to demonstrate how, why, and where successful social media engagement can occur: * Financial The first – and for some, most important – definition of success on social media is a financial return on their social media marketing. * Emotional The second definition of successful social media engagement is more intangible. * Literal The third definition centres upon pure experience – on what is seen to be delivered through social media marketing. * Measurable * Repeatable * Enjoyable

Spotify Details Strategic Partnership with Coca-Cola Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced on Wednesday during an Ad Age Digital conference in New York City that it is partnering with companies such Coca-Cola and will build branded apps for them within the music platform. The music-streaming service held its own press event hours later to further discuss the partnership with Coca-Cola. "We are taking the music agenda to the next level with Coca-Cola," Ek told attendees. "This is a huge milestone for us. Although some expected a Spotify iPad app launch at the press event, Ek said it wouldn't debut today. "It's in the works," Ek said. Coca-Cola will not only use Spotify as the key underlying technology to support its music strategy, it will integrate the service into its Facebook presence and Timeline. Emmanuel Seuge, head of global sports and entertainment marketing at Coca-Cola, noted that the move is a strategic partnership more than an advertising deal. He also discussed how music has always been a part of the Coca-Cola brand.

Interactive Infographic: Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi The Coke VS. Pepsi: The Cola Wars infographic from cnntees.com. Which side are you on? For over a century Coke and Pepsi have been at each other’s throats in a constant struggle for a bigger piece of the billion-dollar soda market. Along the way the companies have picked up a slew of loyalists and fans, adamant that their cola reigns supreme. This is a really fascinating experiment with infographic design. The interactivity is so subtle though, most people will probably miss it without me spelling it out in the title and here in the commentary. The financial stats section is a really poor use of pie charts in the bottle caps. At the bottom, it’s missing a URL to the original blog post (so readers that find this on the Internet can find the original high-resolution infographic), a copyright statement, a trademark statement and a credit to the designer. Thanks to Ron for sending in the link! Update on Monday, April 2, 2012 at 10:14AM by Randy

10 Excellent Examples of Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns [VIDEOS] Guerrilla marketing "works because it's simple to understand, easy to implement and outrageously inexpensive," says Jay Conrad Levinson, the man who coined the phrase. Consumers have grown immune to big budget advertising, but marketers that expend a bit of time and effort — rather than piles of money — can generate effective results with inexpensive, small-scale stunts. Take a look through our gallery of guerrilla and street marketing examples, where promotions costing no more than a few dollars can have a big impact on the consumers. Let us know which you think are the most effective in the comments below. More Marketing Resources from Mashable: - Following the Money in the Social Media Advertising Boom- How Social Media Marketers Can Convert Attention Into Action- The Future of Ad Agencies and Social Media- How Small Businesses Will Use Social Media in the Future- How Coca-Cola Created Its “Happiness Machine” [INTERVIEW]

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