Facebook introduced Timeline for Pages and it’s the largest, most significant design changes for brands. From now till end of March, brands get to preview and curate their Timeline in a safe environment that is only visible to its Page admins. This curation period allows brands to get familiarized with the features and to understand what works best for them. Brands can publish their Timeline anytime until March 30^th 2012, after which it will automatically become visible to all.

Facebook Brands Timeline Video

So, why did Facebook introduced such radical changes for Brands? Well, there is a host of motivation driving this change – from creating a consistent design for personal profiles/brand to enhancing brand experience, to setting a more potent ground for its advertising revenue – we think the changes are a great step ahead for marketers to create richer brand experiences and deeper connections with its fans.

Overall Look and Feel

You will notice from the first glance of the Timeline that it is highly visual. The Page is no longer just a news feed providing timely updates. Rather, it’s a brand’s storybook – offering depth and richness in content that is visually driven. From the cover photo to larger posts, brands can truly create their own stamp of presence with clever and consistent use of imageries.

Summary of Changes

Here is a quick summary of the key features and the implications to your Facebook strategy.

Cover photo – As Facebook Product Director of Ads Gokul Rajaram says, “its goal is to symbolize what an organization is all about. For a restaurant it could be a popular menu item, a band could display album cover art, and a business could show a picture of their customers using their product.”There are specific guidelines on what should NOT be in the cover photo as recommended by Facebook.

· Landing Page – There is no default landing page when an user arrives at your Page. However, according to our partners at BuddyMedia, you can still “likegate” but moving forward it will be less of a strategy.

· Page Apps - Apps have been relocated from the left navigation sidebar to the right side of the About section. While they appear with thumbnail photos instead of as text links, they’re overshadowed by the massive cover above. Marketers need to figure out how attention can be drawn toward the apps as well as the content on the Timeline. That being said, apps will own a bigger space on their own page allowing marketers to fit in more than the previous constraint.

· Messages – This function enables users to send direct, private messages to the Page. This can be used as a new customer service channel where you can address users’ concerns without having to discuss issues publicly on your Page’s wall. Pages cannot proactively send messages, you can only respond to users that have already contacted you.

· Pinned Post – You can select any post (old or new) to be pinned at the top left spot of the Timeline feed for seven days at a time. Pinning can be used to direct users to an important promotional app, show off a special photo, or display a timely status update. The feature gives you significant control what visitors to a Page see first

· Friend Activity – Located at the top right of the Timeline, visitors will see the faces and number of their friends that have liked your Page along with one most recent Friend comment of your brand. Since the post is prominent and content relevant (friend’s opinion), you want to ensure that negative comments are addressed and controlled.

· Milestones – You can select to publish special Milestones stories such as founding date, product launch dates, or achievements such as getting your 1,000,000^th fan. According to TechCrunch, “these updates are likely favored by the EdgeRank news feed visibility algorithm, and may receive more impressions in the news feed and more prominence on Timeline than standard posts”

· Reach generator - Today, content posted to Facebook Pages reach only 16 percent of fans. It allows Brands to pay money to guarantee that your posts get to at least 75 percent of your fans each month, doubling average reach. This means that engagement will more than double as more fans are engaging and exposing these Posts to their friends (who are not fans of the Pages).

· Premium Ad platform – On top of the old Marketplace ads, brands have an extended menu to buy the attention of their users. The catch is – the ads pieces are based on the Page posts. This means that brands need to strike a balance with their content value of postings with a “ad friendly” copy. It works well for both brands and fans as the main focus is on fan engagement with the value of the content in these ad-post pieces.

To further deep dive into the details of each of these feature such as the mechanics, dimensions requirements and case study examples, download our Facebook Timeline Updates presentation.

I’m sure you’ve heard it, you might have even seen it- those gorgeous photos on themed boards which fuel the urge in you to suddenly desire to purchase everything which you have “liked” or “repined.” If you have not already guessed (or seen the title screaming at you), the topic for this entry will revolve around Pinterest, the niche social network which has caught the eye of marketers in the digital platform.

Pinterest, as the title suggests, is a pinboard-styled photo sharing social website, allowing users to create specific themed boards and adding or repining images from other sources in different boards. To register and use Pinterest, new users are required to request an invitation directly from the Pinterest website or from friends who are already on Pinterest. Here’s an example of a brand on Pinterest; Travel Channel with 24 boards (categorized according to beaches, animals around the world etc.) and 483 pins (images).

To date, Pinterest has garnered 2,702.2% increase in unique visitors since May 2011, with an average of 1.36 million visitors daily. In addition, users spend an average of 15.8 minutes on the website, exceeding that of popular social network platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

You must be thinking, so what’s so special about Pinterest and how can it help my business? Isn’t it just another social network platform for sharing of photos similar to the likes of tumblr, instagram and flickr? Well, you are right, and wrong. Although Pinterest is indeed a platform for users to pin and repin photos to themed boards, marketers have started to colonize this to their advantage, adding an emotive appeal to their brand.

Showcasing brand personality through visuals

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” With Pinterest, brands can now convey their brand message and value propositions through a great array of images. Without a doubt, many brands would have already invested extensively in professional photography to promote their products. They can now leverage on this platform to further increase their engagement as an interesting, personable, visually appealing brand when customers are given the leeway to repin photos which they can associate themselves with. In addition, brands such as General Electric (GE) have been using Pinterest to pin images which inspire them as a business. Boards such as “The Archives” reveal GE’s progress and success through the years while “That’s Genius” showcases founder’s Thomas Edison’s words of wisdom. To increase consumer engagement, GE dedicated “#GEInspiredMe” to a series of well-taken photographs submitted during GE’s search for the next Instagrapher.

Crowdsource

Consumer engagement is brought to a whole new level when brands adopt the crowdsourcing strategy on Pinterest. By categorizing photos into various themed boards, brands like west elm and TODAY are able to provide a platform for their consumers to upload relevant photos and tag them. “TODAY’s Life Illustrated” highlights viewers’ precious moments in life while west elm’s “Smilebooth!” gives a shout out to fans and potential consumers that current fans really like the brand. Through crowdsourcing, viral marketing is effective in building brand loyalty and forging new relationships with new customers.

Referral Traffic

Users who browse the brand’s pinboards will be able to repin the photos on their pinboard. This is particularly useful for brands with online store so that traffic can be channelled to their website. Nordstrom is well aware of this feature and is leveraging on this to their advantage. Users can share their interest for particular products with like-minded people on Pinterest. For more information, users will be able to click on the particular image and they will be then directed to the original source that is the brand’s website.

Apart from a business perspective, Pinterest is gaining a foothold in other aspects as well. Top areas of interest include quotes and inspirations, infographics, recipes, fashion, places, interior design, animal adoption. Videos can even be pinned as a value-add! Do check out Marketing Businesses on Pinterest and Top Brands on Pinterest to find out more.

Go on, enter the beautiful world of Pinterest and start pinning!

Twitter's got shiny new buttons!

Over the Halloween weekend, while Earth’s population of ghosts, ghouls and Justin Bieber lookalikes skyrocketed before (thankfully) subsiding, the folks at Twitter were busy with a dress-up of their own. But instead of fake blood and mascara, they played around with the new Twitter trademark guidelines, an online document that has seen multiple revisions since Friday, as lawyers and marketers scramble to make sense of it.

WHAT IS IT
The guidelines are a list of do’s and don’ts on how to use various Twitter trademarks, such as the phrase “Follow me/us on Twitter”, the brand name, logos, buttons and icons. If you’re a fan of trivia, for instance, you’ll be delighted to know that the words Twitter and Tweet should be capitalised, even though “google” entered the English dictionary as a verb not too long ago, albeit with some objection.

But it’s not just seemingly trivial stuff. A rule that disallows the word “Tweet” from being used in other application names affects apps like Tweetdeck, a third-party Twitter client. We’ll have to wait to see how this particular story plays out.

WHY THE NEW GUIDELINES?
Simply put, Twitter’s growing up. As this GigaOm article puts it, “[W]hen you have 175 million users and over $150 million in venture financing (and a $1-billion market value), you have to start getting serious.”

A sleeker logo may not increase your market value, but trying to wrangle back control over your scattered–and in some instances, bastardised–brand identity over the interwebs does suggest that Twitter is actively seeking to get its house in order.

Going on the basis of credibility, Twitter says: “It’s important for users to be able to trust Twitter and not be confused about our relationship with the many people and organisations who use our marks.” Um… okay, if you say so, Twitter.

HOW THIS IMPACTS BRANDS
Web designers, agencies and marketers should take some time to go through the new guidelines. Although they don’t explicitly say that anyone will be sued for misuse of Twitter’s trademarks, brands should, as much as possible, respect the new rules–some of which we may have taken for granted previously.

Read › Twitter’s new trademark guidelines

I’ve noticed that the iconic small letter “t” isn’t available in the official button set anymore. I’m not sure if this will change or be updated in time. I’ve seen sites use the small “t” icon interchangeably for sharing and following (which I’ve found confusing), so I personally hope that now, sites will clearly distinguish between both actions by using the correct buttons.

Such as the one below ›

When it comes to discussing elements to boost car engine performance, engine oil will never be top of mind in any discussions. Though critical to engine performance, engine oil is a low consideration product and has little or no relevance to lifestyle passion points like racing. In an attempt to bridge the relevancy of the category to consumers, and to evoke the desire to learn, share and discuss, we were tasked to create an activation programme for Exxon Mobil 1. Leveraging on Mobil 1’s sponsorship with Formula 1 and its association with “winning” and “racing”, the programme concept rallies for competitive spirits to participate in a digital race to win an all expense-paid, money-cannot-buy-experience in Zhuhai and be trained in a real formula racecar. All you have to do is register, spread the word to earn points, and get engaged in a weekly Pitstop quiz that tests your knowledge on how Mobil 1 can improve your car performance, and the winner who score the most number of points in each participating country gets to race.

In 2006, Mark Skaife drove around Australia and broke a World Record with Mobil 1. In 2007, Scott Brady roared across Arctic with Mobil 1 defying the -40degC conditions. In 2008 and 2009, F1 winners Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button sped to championship with Mobil 1. In 2010, will you be the one to make your mark with Mobil 1?

Register now at http://www.mobil1.sg/willyoubetheone/index.aspx

See the case study here:http://www.agency-showcase.com/xm-internal/thegloveliveson/index.html

Fiji, blessed with 333 magnificent islands, some inhabited, most not. Set in the tropical South Pacific, Fiji is surely the essence of a tropical island paradise. White sandy beaches, swaying coconut trees, pristine oceans and waterways and a range of things to do and see that will appeal to the most discerning traveler.

A decent stay in Fiji will cost around SGD$6-8k. But you can now stroll on its glimmering white beaches hand-in-hand at sunset, snorkel, dive, surf or kayak our pristine oceans, whitewater raft its clear and clean waterways, and cruise the ocean around the mainland and outer islands, all for just $2782 (all taxes in, starting-from price) for a 12 night Fiji-Fly Cruise. Return flight from Singapore, accommodation, food, etc everything in!

More details on the Fiji Fly Cruise Package here: http://www.royalcaribbean-asia.com/getfile/1dfd7087-69b9-49c8-8d7d-07410d70420b/fiji-promo-%281%29.aspx

Alternatively, upgrade to a world of luxury and save up to SGD$1610 when you upgrade from interior stateroom to ocean view, balcony to junior suite. Wake up to the songs of the ocean and views of the magnificent sunrise. Just top up SGD$3!

More details on the SGD$3 Upgrade Promo here: “http://www.royalcaribbean-asia.com/3rdanniversary/

Last but not least, fancy doing some yoga with KungFu Panda or riding the waves with Shrek? It’s now possible on-board the biggest ship in the world with our latest partnership with Dreamworks!

DKNY JEANS FALL 2010
“CHELSEA HOTEL”
CLASSISM VS REBELLION

FALL 2010 takes inspiration from the CHELSEA HOTEL in New York City. The Chelsea hotel is a place inhabited by artists, musicians and writers in the neighbourhood of Chelsea in Manhattan. For many decades it has been a center for artistic creativity with a good dose of rock & roll. The aura is one of faded decadence where anything goes and both individuality and eccentricity is celebrated. NYC subculture.
We translated this concept throughout our collection, drawing reference from the architecture of the hotel, the artworks that are housed there, & the various personalities that have passed through.

Visit http://dknyjeansintl.com

1. Strategic - Online content has to connect to your business goals and brand. Hire writers that understand marketing strategy, and how to deliver copy that integrates across web, search, social and public relations strategies.

2. Brand Centric - Your brand is a sum of experiences and perceptions. Words, images and actions define your brand everyday, and with inbound marketing, your website and content may often serve as the first (and possibly only) opportunity to make an impression. Business copywriting must convey core brand messages, tell your organization’s story and create positive perceptions that motivate action.

3. Buyer Persona Focused - Great copywriting makes personal connections with readers. Copy needs to speak directly to buyer personas, address their pain points and bring value. Therefore, your copywriters — whether internal or outsourced — must have a clear understanding of your organization’s target audiences, and know how to engage them.

4. Optimized for Search Engines - Online content must be crafted for visitors, but optimized for search engines. Ideally, business copywriters will have core SEO knowledge and capabilities.

5. Technically Sound - Technically sound copy is concise and powerful. It uses proper grammar and is written at the appropriate reading level. It is also consistent in person, voice, tone and format. Copywriters need strong technical writing skills, and the ability to apply these skills whatever the task, medium or subject matter.

6. Creative - Never underestimate the value of quality creative writing. While many of the other elements we’ve discussed can be learned, business-savvy creative writers are in high demand and scarce supply, and can be an invaluable asset to your organization.

7. Results Driven - Copywriting needs to be tied to your organization’s objectives, and should play a key role in delivering results (e.g. generating leads, educating key audiences, positioning as an industry leader, etc.).

Copywriters should be invested in tracking the content’s success through metrics such as: pageviews, content downloads, leads and social media reach. This enables future content to be strategized based on past performance, and can encourage the incorporation of new ideas and topics, to drive traffic and capture audiences

Courtesy of Hubspot

As most brands sit up and watch Foursquare attempting to shift the FMCG paradigm with its location-based rewards and incentivization potential to encourage consumptions/conversions, Pepsi has did it a little differently by extending brand experience on its existing products and distribution through an existing piece of technology.

What if, a barcode can tell a story?

What if, a building can be made social?

How about, we let a product sell itself?

And lastly, why don’t more traditional media celebrate and embrace technologies to extend their experiential offerings?

On 25 June 2009, the world lost a legend. His name is Michael Joseph Jackson, the King of Pop.

A group of enthusiasts want to keep him in memory. By making his presence felt in the World Wide Web.

To mark his 1-year death anniversary, they’re transforming the mouse cursor into his trademark sequinned glove onto webpages. They hope you could do the same and join them in remembering Michael.

WHY THE GLOVE?
The glove was a symbol of his artistry, genius and magic. Their tribute is a beautiful and simple gesture to honour his music and contributions that made the world a better place.

WEAR THE GLOVE ON YOUR WEBSITE
If you have a website, portal or blog, we would love for you to join us in this movement.

Read more at http://www.thegloveliveson.com/