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The trip to Social Media Marketing World in San Diego still has me buzzing with energy and excitement. As with any conference, there was a dizzying amount of information and insight. The best way I find to keep up with it all is to live tweet during the event, and then review my tweets for the top nuggets of information gleaned from the event – as judged by my peers’ RTs. I call these “twuggets”, of course. Here are my favorites ones from the conference (tweet them if you agree!):

1. #Social trigger #1: CONTRAST: What stands out is remembered, what blends in is ignored. #smmw13 @derekhalpernTweet
2. REDIRECT Don’t attack your customers by telling them they are frustrated, tell a story about someone else that is frustrated. #smmw13Tweet
3. #social trigger #4: SIGNALING: people share things to show people who they are #smmw13 @derekhalpernTweet
4. You have to connect #socialmedia to real revenue or you will lose funding. #smmw13 @nichole_kellyTweet
5. Make it STUPID EASY FOR PEOPLE TO CONVERT!! #smmw13 @nichole_kelly <–so true and yet so overlooked a lotTweet
6. Make sure you are adding custom URL parameters to any links shared in #social to tie back to Google Analytics Goals #smmw13 @nichole_kellyTweet
7. problem w/google analytics is it is based on last touch attribution. #SM usually affects the user higher in the sales funnel. #smmw13 @nichole_kellyTweet
8. #Social ROI convos should begin with showing your boss how #sm fits into the sales funnel. #smmw13 @nichole_kellyTweet
9. “Be a value creator, create connection currency, change your life” #smmw13 sage advice from @larrybenet!Tweet
10. smartphones: psychological shield giving introverts ability to go out to be “social”- but focusing on #instagram filter selection. #smmw13Tweet
11. What is the utility is your app offering? It better be super valuable, or people will delete it. #smmw13Tweet
12. stop mythologizing hustle. Are we overvaluing workaholism? #smmw13 @jaybaerTweet
13. resist the urge to follow everyone. Follow those that add value. #smmw13Tweet
14. The secret to success: “Therapy, drugs and buddhism” - @chrisbrogan #smmw13Tweet
15. once again at #smmw13 - #email mentioned mentioned as a core need, with impressive ROI. via @chrisbrogan <–agree!Tweet
16. Twitter tip: provide real-time, exclusive access to content your audience cares about and normally could not get. #smmw13 @iizlizTweet
17. 50% of Twitter users expect a response within 2 hours. 70% expect a response on FB within 48 hrs. #smmw13 @pisaroseTweet
18. People are 3x more likely to recommend a brand if they receive a response in #social. #smmw13 @pisaroseTweet
19. Community Mgr tips: be helpful, humble, fun, positive, creative. #smmw13Tweet
20. Twitter best practices via @bepkoboy from @wholefoods #smmw13 pic.twitter.com/4kwQSoqKuHTweet
21. the biggest ROI in #socialmedia is humanizing your brand. @ekaterina #smmw13Tweet
22. .@Sharpie #SM Strategy: inspire creative use, shine SM spotlight on our fans and the amazing things they are doing with our product #smmw13Tweet
23. How @sharpie made such amazing #SM traction: test and learn environment – push the envelope, test the waters. #smmw13Tweet
24. quick social test – when’s the last time you highlighted a fan? Take a note from @sharpie and make it your focus #smmw13Tweet
25. if you are a service-oriented company, you have no other choice than to be in social media. #smmw13 @fsaustinTweet
26. Visual content is currency today in the social space. Split btw UGC and brand-created content. #smmw13 @sharpieTweet
27. Keys for #HR: Social media policy, allowing social network access within company walls! #smmw13Tweet
28. .@Sharpie is producing all content they are posting on instagram #smmw13Tweet
29. Avg #socialmedia purchase $85, avg Pinterest user purchase $180 – @callanpaola #smmw13Tweet
30. Good #Pinterest strategy starts w/user research: what is being pinned about your brand or industry (type, look, boards) #smmw13 @callanpaolaTweet
31. Another #email plug from #smmw13 – key for building your #pinterest following as @sonyelectronics did!Tweet
32. It’s about the experiences surrounding your product – not the product itself. Share those photos on #instagram #smmw13 @sandiegozooTweet
33. Use #instagram to pull back the curtains, show the images behind your brand. #smmw13 @sandiegozooTweet
34. Nice #instagram tactic – asking people to caption your photos #smmw13 @sandiegozooTweet
35. Another tactic heard a few times at #smmw13: use internal company launches to get employees knowing and sharing your #SM campaignsTweet
36. Stop thinking as the biz owner/marketer. THINK AS THE USER to really succeed in Pinterest (and #SM)! #smmw13 @melanieduncan7Tweet
37. #Pinterest tutorial pins see 42% higher CTR. #smmw13 @melanieduncan7Tweet
38. 80% increase in engagement with adding a CTA “button” in your #Pinterest image. #smmw13 @melanieduncanTweet
39. Good #Pinterest strategy starts w/user research: what is being pinned about your brand or industry (type, look, boards) #smmw13 @callanpaolaTweet

Have any good twuggets from the conference? Share yours in the comments below!

Facebook announced last Thursday that they will be rolling out updates to their interface over the coming weeks.

Here’s what’s changing:

Newsfeed updates:
—More prominent media display in newsfeeds (larger images, videos, link thumbnails, apps, etc.)
—New sub-feeds that users can toggle to via the left-hand menu bar:

All Friends: a feed that shows you everything your friends are sharing
Photos: a feed with nothing but photos from your friends and the Pages you like
Music: a feed with posts about the music you listen to
Following:  a feed with the latest news from the Pages you like and the people you follow.

The Big Game, or El Plato Supremo as we are calling it here at Moose, had some winners and losers as always. It was encouraging to see that so many more brands understood that people were using a second screen and likely tweeting from it, so they included a hashtag or some form of social media marketing into their campaign. A few stood out from the pack and one came about as close as the 9ers did to #winning, but lost the ring in the end. Here are our thoughts and a list of the commercials with links so you can check them out yourself, in case the party you were at was a little too loud. Tell us what you thought of the commercials this year in the comments!

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A particularly engaging day on America’s Pet Debate Facebook Page

The votes are in: cats win America’s Pet Debate! For 8 weeks, America went online to vote cat or vote dog in the social and digital campaign we created for Purina. While the debate, like all debates, became heated at times – the real winners were pets, their owners and future owners, as they were the focus of the conversation we helped shape through a precise social media and digital strategy.
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You may have noticed the buzz this week around Facebook’s Head of Measurement and Insights, Brad Smallwood, announcing that impressions were more valuable than clicks in driving sales, as seen with a recent study they performed with Datalogix. Specifically, their conclusion from the study was:

99 percent of sales generated from online branding ad campaigns were from people that saw, but did not interact with, ads— proof that it is the delivery of the marketing message to the right consumer, not the click, that creates real value for brand advertisers…The study revealed that for online brand campaigns, if you reallocated high frequency impressions to people seeing too few impressions, you would see a 40 percent increase in ROI with the same budget. What this means is that for every online campaign there is a “sweetspot” of effective frequency that maximizes return on investment, and that the DataLogix tool can help marketers empirically isolate that sweetspot for each brand and campaign.

So what do we think about these findings? 

Aaron Stevens, Director of Search and Analytics:

As far as impressions being the end-all Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for Facebook Ads, which this study implies, I’m very skeptical. Impressions are incredibly important, frequency too, but the study seems to imply that if an ad creates some engagement, it is no more helpful than just the impression alone. Bottomline is, if you are not focusing on clicks, CTR (Click Through Rate) and how your ad spend affects new fan acquisition, then I think you might be missing out. And, if you don’t get the Page Likes, then you don’t get any more potential for organic impression growth or lasting connection to the audience. To me, this sounds like an excuse for the low CTRs we see with Facebook Ads.

Also, the size of the ads aren’t very big. I would argue that the impression after a click might be a much more effective impression if the messaging/creative is strong.

Lisa Keller, Director of Social Media:

I’m a bit skeptical of this study, as it is coming from Facebook trying to sell more ads by saying that Click Through Rate (CTR) doesn’t matter, which conveniently excuses their notoriously low average CTR for Facebook ads. If marketers only focus on reach and impressions, we have to buy a lot more ads and just hope they are working. But more ads sold makes Facebook stockholders happy.

I would love to see more about the study details from Datalogix — specifically what types of ads were considered and how exactly they tied the impression to purchase. They say that the study was done based off of loyalty program data, which would mean that users were already customers, so I’m not really seeing how they are making the causation to ad impressions exactly.

That being said, Impressions and Reach are still important metrics to measure for generating brand awareness with social media advertising, but CTR is still a relevant and cost-effective ad solution.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Did you tune into Apple’s big announcement Wednesday? If you missed it, they revealed the long-awaited iPhone 5, among other things. Were you impressed with the news? Here at Moose, we have some Apple fans and Android fans that were hotly debating the features as they were released, so of course that’s the perfect reason to share their views via blog post. Check out the pros and cons as told by two web developers on the Moose team below. (more…)

This is post is part of our summer blog series, “So You Want a Job in Advertising?” Check back for more intern insights or sign up for our RSS feed to be the first to know.

Project management is part juggling act, part strategy and part charm school. As an Interactive Strategist and Project Manager for a Moosylvania, I never find myself bored. The variety in both projects and clients keeps every day both busy and exciting. Are you an intern thinking about getting a job with an interactive marketing company and project management has caught your eye? Here’s a few things to ask yourself to see if you’d like the role: (more…)

Put a QR on it! Heard this lately? When I hear this, I first think of this clip from Portlandia. Then, I think about how great QR can be, but sadly, how easy it is to screw up your QR campaign. QR code usage increased 9,840% YOY through Q2 2011. Make sure your QR campaign is working for your interactive marketing plan, not against it. You can start by making sure you avoid the following QR FAILS: (more…)

I just got back from BlogHer ’11 in San Diego. What a great conference! With over 3,600 attendees, dozens of sponsors, and 2.5 days of speakers, parties and panels, it was a whirlwind of interesting insights, new connections and brand encounters. Needless to say, I came home Sunday afternoon and went to bed immediately for a three hour nap. But, I got the most out of the conference by having a strategy and goals for the conference. I’d like to share a few with you, since they may be helpful for any upcoming conferences you may be attending. (more…)