Introduction into The Social Second...

When it comes to Social Media there is nothing more important than brands announcing their take on live moments online in a way which generates more user interest and discussion. Jumping in on a relevant events or news stories at the right time with the right brand message and tonality will help a brand be a part of a topical trend at that point in time where everyone is talking about it. The Superbowl and Oreo 'You can still dunk in the dark' content is the best example out there, 4 minutes after the power cut they had already bid on 'Power outage' as a search term and gained almost 16'000 retweets on their creative. 

I found an interesting blog by Mike Mikho published on February 2013 stating 'Brands Please Stop Trying To Start Conversations On Twitter'. I beg to differ on the point he made about there being no point in adding a Facebook or Twitter logo at the end of a TV commercial with no page name or call to action as brands that do this are just reinforcing the fact that they are active on social platforms. So, if consumers ever need that one-to-one brand experience, if they have something to share or just need advice they know where to contact the brand. Repeatedly seeing a Facebook or Twitter logo at the end of the same advertisement will subconsciously stick this thought into the viewers mind, the same technique advertising uses for a particular product or service being advertised. Yes, consumers do generate the conversations online but saying that 'Social media is dictated entirely by consumers, not brands' is not true. If done effectively and timely, brands can fuel conversations online and if the content is share-able then consumers will seed out this information further and engage more with the interesting content especially when a brand catches news information first and jumps on the news bandwagon at the right time.

I find it exciting how brands can take advantage of social platforms such as Twitter to react to and deliver real-time responses to trends, news and conversations happening online. My blog aims to find out more about how brands can go about this as it is easy to say it will work but not many brands or agencies know how to tackle this and become an expert in this field.

In my blog I will be covering strategic ways and tools which brands can use to be a success on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and in the near future Linked-In, Instagram and more with a specific interest in what I like to call 'Social Seconds' where brands need to act now on social media and not let the world go by without them having their say too... I welcome any comments, thoughts or ideas... actually I encourage them.