The top five most used mobile apps are Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and LINE. Other apps like Twitter and WeChat round out the top 10. Mobile behavior is a behavior limited to a select group of apps, and they all have one unifying concept—the feed.
Read MoreThere was a time when a brand really wasn’t considered to be doing social media marketing unless Facebook was part of the mix (or at least that seemed to be the general consensus). Facebook’s an obvious choice. It’s the default. It’s the gateway drug to social media marketing. There usually isn’t a question as to whether or not a brand should or will have a Facebook presence. Instead, that’s where a brand starts to establish a social foothold and then expand from there.
That’s the way it has been and for good (mostly) reason. It’s where people are, and it’s where brands can create a presence fairly easily. Facebook isn’t getting weaker, but other platforms are getting stronger, giving reason for marketers to look beyond the default, the status quo, the Facebook.
Read MoreA reach mentality has focused marketers' attention and investment on the biggest social networks out there. More than 1 billion users makes Facebook a prime opportunity. Twitter is all over TV and has great awareness. And we're constantly reading about the power of Pinterest for driving users to retailer websites. These are all incredible platforms, but what about Untappd, Nextdoor or even ParentsConnect?
The social web is rich with countless niche networks like these that are devoted to a passion or single segment of the population. They don’t have massive numbers, but they offer significant benefits and reasons for marketers to pay attention.
Read MoreI'm a gamer. Sure, I don't get to play video games as much as I would like to, but I love being part of that world, staying in-the-know with what's been released, what just got announced and what I should be playing but am not. Very little of my gaming hobby actually involves playing the game. Frankly, I don't have time, but perhaps, the biggest reason is because there are so many other ways to enjoy video games. The game, the product publishers invest millions in creating and even more in marketing, is only the beginning of an ecosystem created by its users that extends far beyond the console.
Read MoreSocial media marketing’s easy to do but difficult to leverage. There’s nothing holding a marketer back from throwing up a Facebook Page, launching a Foursquare deal or posting thirty or more tweets per day. Anyone can do that. In fact, some businesses hire interns to do all of that, but none of that benefits the business.
By themselves, they’re all tactics with no direction and no reason for being other than they were easy, they were free and marketers “feel” like they need to be there.
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