Fastest Growing Facebook Pages

The fastest growing branded Facebook fan pages of January 2012, by percentage growth, are:

1. Nokia, which grew 39% and broke on the list at #50
2. Xbox, which grew 19% and moved up 3 spaces to #17
3. McDonalds, which grew 18% and moved up 1 space to #18
4. Google Chrome, which grew 15% and moved up 5 spots to #37
5. Mozilla Firefox, which grew 10% and moved up 1 spots to #46

Biggest Losers

As usual, those who lost ground in the chart did so despite adding fans. They just didn’t grow as fast as those around them on the chart. Those who fell the most this month include:

1. Monster Energy, which fell 3 slots to #20
2. Nike Football, which fell 3 slots to #35
3. Walmart, which fell 2 spots to #25
4. Reese’s, which fell 2 spots to #38; and
5. Taco Bell, which fell 2 spots to #42

Largest Branded Facebook Fan Pages, January 2012

Methodology

For more information on how we compile this list and which pages are included or not included, please see our main Top 50 page.

Greg gave some really good advice for companies looking to engage in YouTube marketing  in 2012. You can find Greg speaking at this year’s SES NY and hear him speaking specifically on the YouTube Next Gen panel.

1) Is YouTube moving in the direction of encouraging users to create new content rather than repurpose others’ content?

Yes, they are.  And let me give you three key reasons why YouTube is moving in the right direction.

First, YouTube is shelling out $100 million to 96 content creators, including Deepak Chopra (lifestyle), The Onion (pop culture), Pharrell Williams (music), The Wall Street Journal (news & education), and WWE (sports) to launch more original channels.  I’d call that “encouraging users to create new content.”

Second, if YouTube receives a copyright notification for one of your videos, you’re now required to attend “YouTube Copyright School,” which involves watching a copyright tutorial and passing a quiz to show that you’ve paid attention and understand the content before you “repurpose others’ content” again.

Third, Judge Louis L. Stanton granted Google’s motion for summary judgment in Viacom’s lawsuit with YouTube back on June 23, 2010.  So, the court decided 19 months ago that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act against claims of copyright infringement.

So, YouTube has continued moving in the direction of encouraging users to create new content rather than repurpose others’ content, even though online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online.

2) How has the new YouTube Cosmic Panda update affected brands’ KPIs? Are folks seeing better/worse success with increasing follower counts, video views, and other forms of measurement that can be attributed to the update?

I think that the redesign unveiled on Dec. 1, 2011, took some time for everyone to get used to, but the overall reaction was positive.  Fortunately, YouTube took its time, used Cosmic Panda to get user, partner, and advertiser feedback to figure out what they’d gotten it right and what needed further tweaks, and then incorporated that into their new homepage, new channel design, and fresh coat of digital paint.

It was smart to test changes before making them.

As for key performance indicators, the redesign didn’t slow down content creation.  YouTube announced on Jan. 23, 2012, that content creators were uploading one hour of video to YouTube every second.  That means 86,400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every day.  That’s the equivalent of Hollywood creating and releasing 302,400 full-length movies every week.  That’s the equivalent amount of content that 3,600 cable TV channels could broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

And YouTube visitors are watching more content as well.  YouTube also announced that it has now exceeded four billion video views globally every day.  That’s up 25 percent in the last eight months and the equivalent of more than half the world’s population watching a video every day, the same number as there are US $1 bills in circulation, the same as number of years since there was water on Mars.  It’s a big number, and it’s getting bigger every day.

3) Do you predict YouTube to continue ranking as high as they have in the SERPS in 2012 and going forward, as Google undergoes increased scrutiny by the FTC?

Yes, YouTube will continue ranking as high as they have in the SERPS because Google’s ranking algorithms are aimed at helping people find “high-quality” content.  And people consider news, images and videos of the Costa Concordia to be high-quality content.  People consider the YouTube video of the FedEx guy throwing a computer monitor to be high-quality content.  And people consider the YouTube video of police pepper spraying UC Davis students to be high-quality content.

Google’s ranking algorithms aren’t aimed at reducing scrutiny by the FTC, and they shouldn’t be.  But I don’t think the FTC would have a problem with the 23 questions that Google engineers ask themselves as they write algorithms that attempt to assess site quality.  Here are 10 of them:

• Would you trust the information presented in this article?
• Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
• Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
• Does the article describe both sides of a story?
• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
• For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
• Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?

4)  What is your one top tip you don’t see many brands utilizing? In particular, regarding brands trying to make a name for themselves via their channel by getting views and subscribers, soliciting comments and getting people to come back for more?

Read the 73-page YouTube Creator Playbook.  It compiles important tips, best practices, and strategies to build greater audiences on YouTube.  If there is one top tip that I don’t see many Brands utilizing, it would be “Tent-pole Programming.”  On Page 18, the playbook says this strategy aims to: “Create and release content around tent-pole events.”

What is a tent-pole event?  Page 19 of the playbook asks, “Why does Discovery channel have ‘Shark Week’ every year?  Why do a lot of sitcoms have a Halloween themed episode at the end of October?  Why does the Today Show have relationship experts on the week before Valentine’s Day? The answer to these questions is: ‘Tent-pole’ Programming.”

And the playbook adds: “Tent-pole events are the cultural events that promotion, sponsors/advertisers, and viewing trends orbit around throughout the year.  Big movie releases, sports, holidays and niche events should act as guides for the content you produce.  This strategy applies to any partners.  Any channel can create or participate in ‘tent-pole’ events (that are) relevant to their specific audience.  For example, a partner with a food show can create a video about football party snacks that is tied to a big sporting event and is still relevant to a food audience.”

This is great advice.  And there is a lot more where that came from.

5)  What was your favorite YouTube video of 2011 from a marketing perspective; a video that actually drove awareness for a product/company and built long term growth overall for the company?

My favorite YouTube of 2011 from a marketing perspective is “MBA CASE STUDY: How Orabrush got into Walmart.”  Orabrush is the first product to go from no sales online or offline, to nationwide retail distribution just using YouTube.

Guestpost Bio: Greg Jarboe is President of SEO-PR, which provides search engine optimization, online public relations, online video marketing, and social media marketing services. Jarboe is the author of YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. He is speaking at this year’s SES New York (March 19-23) on the Next Gen YouTube Marketing panel.

PowerVoice Pays Users To Post Ads On Twitter, Facebook

PowerVoice, a new social media marketing company, launched last week. The service compensates users for sharing brands’ messages on social networks in a somewhat similar fashion to Adly. However, unlike Adly, it’s not focused solely on enabling celebrities and other public figures to earn additional income through recommendations. Instead, anyone can sign up and get paid to promote brands’ ads. The company has been operating a private beta since Thanksgiving and now has a network of a couple thousand users who are sharing these advertisements on Facebook and Twitter.

Katie Price Promotes Snickers in Twitter prank

Snickers hired British reality TV star Katie Price to promote the brand through Twitter in an advertising stunt that made her followers momentarily think her account had been hacked. Price tweeted about the Eurozone debt problems and China’s GDP rating, two topics a bit uncharacteristic from her usual tweets. She then tweeted the Snickers tagline, “You’re not you when you’re hungry @snickersUK…” and a picture of her holding a Snickers bar. Despite the clever campaign, Price and Snickers are currently being investigated by the British Advertising Standards Authority as to whether they violated UK advertising rules by not being clear about their messaging.

Facebook Reports 320% Increase In Subscribers For Journalists

Last week, the Facebook + Journalists staff posted an update on how journalists are using the ‘Subscribe’ button. The note announced the results of a sample study of 25 journalists and revealed that “the average journalist has seen a 320% increase in subscribers since November 2011.” Some of the journalists included CNN’s Don Lemon who has over 144,000 subscribers and Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times with over 331,000. In addition to being a bit of self promotion by Facebook, this data shows how the social network is trying to take away from Twitter’s reputation as a place where news is broken.

Air China’s Facebook Check-Ins

In order to increase consumer awareness about the airline’s flight services to Sweden and throughout the extended Asian region, Air China launched a campaign around Facebook check-ins. The airline partnered with various Asian restaurants around Stockholm to act as ambassadors. At the restaurants, people were encouraged to check-in with Air China on Facebook. The Facebook page showed everyone who checked in and each week, whoever got the most votes would won two tickets to Asia. It’s interesting to note that the airline is state-owned and Facebook is one of the websites currently blocked by the Chinese government.

According to ComScore, Pinterest has over 4 million users and is rapidly growing. Data from Google Ad Planner below shows nearly 1.5 million unique users are visiting Pinterest daily, and spending an astounding 14+ minutes on the site. While this is pocket change compared to behemoth Facebook’s ~500 million daily uniques and 23 minute visits (yes, I’ve heard other numbers, but need to compare apples to apples here…) this rapid growth , coupled with Pinterest’s focus on discovery suggests the growing network is not to be taken lightly by brands.

But before you dive in, let me remind you — we’ve written countless posts in the past detailing our approach to social media strategy, our process for developing a social media plan and our focus on the people when it comes to engaging on social networks – so I won’t bore you with a lecture on the importance of following the POST methodology. Instead, let’s look at when Pinterest might make sense as the T in your social media marketing plan based on the P’s who are using it.

Pinterest Demographics

Pinterest user demographics include women, ages 25-54.

Only 25% of Pinterest users have earned a bachelors or higher degree and the majority live off a household income of $25-75K.

Traffic and demographic data for Pinterest pulled from Google Ad Planner

Pinterest users in the US are more likely to live in mid-west states than your typical social networker

But understanding your audience is about more than just the demographics. Research shared by Experian Hitwise finds that Pinterest users skew towards the following Mosaic USA lifestyle segments, which gives us valuable insight into the psychographics of Pinterest users:

Boomers & Boomerangs

Boomers & Boomerangs in detail

Who are they?

• This two-group segment includes baby boomer adults and the teenage/young adult children who live in their home
• Both groups are heavy internet users and account for more than 10% of Pinterest.com visits

What would they pin?

• Online habits include domestic travel planning
• They also tend to live in houses ~15 years old which suggests to me they would be interested in discovering and sharing DIY, remodel and home improvement style projects

Their boards might look something like this:

As you can imaging, those in the travel industry (domestic) or craft and home improvement stores should see this as a potential opportunity should Boomers & Boomerangs fit within their target audience.

Babies & Bliss

Babies & Bliss in detail

Who are they?

• These are moms and dads of large families in their 30s and 40s – the majority of Babies & Bliss households have more than 5 people.
• The moms in the group work full-time jobs and pride themselves in being Internet literate. As you can imagine, they appreciate the convenience of online shopping.

What would they pin?

• These people are power shoppers with upscale tastes, however, they value deals on high-quality merchandise.
• Convenience is key for this group. We can tell it in their shopping habits and every working mom can attest to never having enough time in the day.

Their boards might look something like this:

As you can see, these ladies are looking for products that suit their life and that they can buy online. The perfect situation for online retailers? But not all retailers would fare well with them. Retailers that offer a high-fashion look at discount prices (think BlueFly.com or even Target) are the ones who have a chance of converting. Others, like Nordstrom, are likely to get the attention of window shoppers.

Additionally, brands who offer convenience have the chance to make an impact with these busy moms. Think Amazon.com (as a potential opportunity for their Amazon Mom program) or Kraft Foods.

Families Matter Most

Families Matter Most in detail

Who are they?

• This group includes young middle-class families with active lifestyles.
• They pride themselves in adopting attitudes and routines that help them effectively juggle work and parenting.
• They take their role as parents very seriously.
• As “informed consumers”, they shop at stores they can afford like Target, Kohl’s and Old Navy.

What would they pin?

• Looking to be the best parents they can be, this group might share parenting tips, kid-friendly activities and learning products.
• An active lifestyle suggest they’ll be on the hunt for healthy lifestyle choices for themselves and their families including both food and physical activity.
• Unlike the Babies & Bliss groups, these folks won’t even follow Nordstrom. They pride themselves on knowing better than to waste time window shopping.

Their boards might look something like this:

Brands that make learning toys might fare well in reaching this group on Pinterest – however, they’ll need to remember it’s about a lifestyle with this group. They’re not going to be interested in following a brand that shilling costly product all day long.

More importantly when it comes to this audience, content producers like Food Network or The Bump should revel in the opportunity to get their content syndicated through pins.

Now, we need more of those smart people. The kind that bring a passion to what they do and combine the confidence that comes with experience with the humble nature of someone who is always learning. If that’s you, you may fit in perfectly at Ignite Social Media.

I’m very excited to announce that our next phase of hiring is underway, because of the opportunity to make our team even better.

Need a Job?

We’ve got openings in both our Raleigh and Detroit offices in a number of areas, including

• Account Management
• Web Development
• Community Engagement
• Interactive Design
• Social Media Strategy
• Metrics and Monitoring
• Office Management

We’ve even got an internship on that list, so if you’re looking to break into the space check that out. We’ll have a few more internship opportunities posted in a few days.

Apply Today

Check out the job listings below. We have a strong, collaborative culture, competitive salary and strong benefits. We hope you’re the next person to join our growing team.

Last week, YouTube continued its efforts to become a more serious media platform announcing the Your Film Festival, a competition for aspiring film makers. The festival is a collaboration between Youtube, famed director and producer Ridley Scott, Scott Free London, the Venice Film Festival, and Emirates. Applicants from all over the world will be able to submit their 15 minute videos of any genre to the Your Film Festival channel starting February 2nd. After the videos are wittled down by the Scott Free Production company and YouTube users, ten finalists will have their films screened at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. One winner will then be crowned by a jury headed by Ridley Scott and receive a production grant to work with Scott’s team for the value of $500,000.

XFINITY Hosts Social Media Job Contest

XFINITY recently launched a nationwide contest to find their next social media voice at this year’s biggest sporting events. The contest is called “XFINITY Presents: The Ultimate Sports Social Media Job” and runs through March 25th. Contestants submit a :30-2:00 video on the Ultimate Sports Social Media Job contest Facebook tab demonstrating their sports knowledge, social media expertise, personality, and passion. The five entrants who get the most votes will compete by covering one of five premier sporting events. The winner receives a one-year salary, enough electronics to create the ultimate sports pad, and the opportunity to share thoughts, insights, and content with fans nationwide via the @XFINITYSports Twitter handle.

McDonald’s Not Lovin’ Out of Control Hashtag Campaign

When McDonald’s began promoting the #McDStories hashtag Wednesday on Twitter, the idea was to get people talking about their experiences with the fast-food giant. The phrase exploded in popularity as Twitter users across the country shared stories of their visits to McDonald’s. Unfortunately, McDonald’s learned a harsh lesson in social media marketing: When you encourage people to talk about your company, they’re not always going to say nice things. Among the numerous remarks bashing the fast food chain was a heavily-retweeted comment from an animal rights activist criticizing McDonald’s cooking practices.

Samuel Adams “Crowd Craft Project” Taps Drinkers Via Social Media

The Samuel Adams brewers are teaming up with Guy Kawasaki to create a crowd-sourced beer in the first ever Samuel Adams Crowd Craft Project. Through February 5, drinkers can visit the Samuel Adams Facebook page to weigh in on all aspects of the beer, including color, clarity, body, malt, hops, and yeast. This crowd crafted beer will make its debut at Guy Kawasaki’s Girl + Guy party in Austin during SXSW. The beer will be on tap in select bars throughout Austin and at the Samuel Adams Boston Brewery. Samuel Adams’ Facebook fans will be the first to know when this beer will hit new markets.

Yesterday, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon posted a link on reddit entitled I’m Senator Ron Wyden and wanted to say thank you to Reddit and the rest of the Internet. The link sent reddit users to his website where they could read a thank you letter detailing the importance of Internet freedom and his appreciation for all of the people who spoke out against the bills.

Nowadays, a government official using social media really isn’t very newsworthy. Mayors, congressmen, and all forms of government officials have Twitter handles, Facebook pages, and YouTube accounts. However, reddit is a different beast altogether. It quite often tends to be extremely cynical so it’s rather noteworthy the senator made the front page and, for a brief moment, had the #1 post.

Senator Wyden and his social media team had two very important characteristics that helped this post become successful:

1. Transparency – Someone on Senator Wyden’s staff could have posted a link saying something like “Look how much this senator appreciates what Reddit did yesterday!” and it may have worked. However (and this is a very important “However”), if Redditors ever found out the user worked for the senator, he would likely have been torn apart. Reddit hates deception. It was much more effective to create an account with the senatorwyden username and for the wording to explicitly state his intentions. Transparency is part of what makes social media so great, so embracing it was a very smart choice.
2. Savvy – Posting is an art unto itself and choosing the correct subreddit (i.e. the reddit equivalent of a niche) is key. A link that fails miserably in one may shoot to the top in another. Not only did senator Wyden’s team post in the appropriate r/politics, they also made sure to post in the middle of the day on east coast time (a time with very high traffic). In one of his comments, he also indicated that he is hoping to do an IAmA post (essentially a Q&A session) in the future. The execution points to the fact that they are extremely familiar with the site and how it works.

So if you’re looking to further your cause on reddit, take note of Senator Wyden’s example and be sure to do plenty of research lest your efforts blow up in your face.

An interesting nugget or two about Google+, how many people are using it and how long they stick around was hidden in a recent eMarketer newsletter on niche social networks growing in popularity.  While most of the data was around fastest growing social networks and which networks worldwide were attracting the most time spent, another chart grabbed my attention.

Google Plus’ 15m Users Spend Only 5 Minutes Per Month

While some are claiming that Google+ has skyrocketed to 150 million users (up from 50 million a few months ago), well-regarded comScore Media Metrix found only 15.2 million unique visitors in November 11. That’s about 9% of Facebook’s 166 million unique visitors. Not a bad start, to be sure, but a little less dramatic than the other reports.

But what struck me most is how little time users spends on Google+ when they go. Google+ users spend only 5 minutes per month on the site. That compares to:

• 12 minutes on MySpace (ouch);
• 16 minutes on LinkedIn,
• 24 minutes on Twitter;
• 88 minutes on Pinterest;
• 142 minutes on Tumblr; and
• 394 minutes on Facebook.

So a decent number of users are coming to Google+ (about the same number as Tumblr, but not as many as MySpace), but they’re not seeing much reason to stick around.

Don’t Count Out Google+ Just Yet

While these numbers aren’t exactly encouraging (the near term future looks brighter for Pinterest, whose users are clearly loving it), don’t count out Google+ just yet. With the changes they are making to integrate Google+ into search, they are a major player making a major move.

Plus, I remember how slowly other very successful networks started. I was on LinkedIn for about 4 years before I saw much activity from my friends. And I first saw friends using Pinterest about a year or so ago. Suddenly that is what everyone is talking about. So between improvements to the site and the natural growth pattern of social networks, Google+ remains one to watch.

Having said that, if I were working on this network at Google, I’d spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make folks stick around longer.

Your thoughts?

What do you think? Are you using Google+ and loving it? Did you sign up and then only rarely go back? Are you completely over it or have you abandoned Facebook for it? Let us know in the comments.

PlayStation Default Landing Tab: Find the Ring

To start with, the default landing tab for PlayStation is, “Find the Ring”, a previously held social media campaign to promote the game Uncharted 3.  Although it is always good to see marketer’s consider a post-campaign plan for a tab, I am a little disappointed that PlayStation chose this particular tab as its default landing tab. I would suggest that PlayStation consider a default welcome tab that could introduce non-fans to the PlayStation brand, and use current promotions around specific games to convert those users to Liking the page.

The Last of Us Tab

In  a tab called “The Last of Us”, users are prompted to Like the PlayStation Facebook page, watch the trailer for “The Last of Us”, and click “Submit” to receive a PS3 theme.  While I love that the brand used an exclusive angle to try to obtain new fans, I found it unfortunate that the tab allowed me to get a theme code without ever having to Like or watch the trailer.

Everybody Dance Contest

The  ”Everybody Dance Contest” is a  tab where Facebook fans can upload videos of their “Everybody Dance” moves for a chance to win a VIP trip to the PlayStation studios in London.  Sounds engaging at first glance, but the tab requires all users to connect and register before they can view entries or begin uploading their video.

With the high barrier to entry involved in video contests, I would suggest re-working the user flow so users can view videos and enter a video before asking for registration.  This quick fix is likely to help the contest receive more engagement from users who are willing to upload a video, as well as users who are more likely to watch and rate.

PlayStation Wall Engagement

On its wall, PlayStation consistently updates fans on the latest game releases, and does a good job cross promoting PlayStation blog content.  While these posts generate an acceptable number of likes and comments, I noticed that very few of the posts produce “Shares”.

For instance, only two of the last ten posts from PlayStation were shared, compared to 9 out of 10 Xbox posts being shared.  The difference?  Xbox seems to be varying content types on the wall and creating custom images to entice fans to share with their networks.  My recommendation would be that PlayStation should experiment with creating custom images and more open ended questions and see if the shares increase.

My overall takeaway?  PlayStation needs to focus its efforts on Facebook and consider tactics that help the brand stay consistent.  By creating a PlayStation branded Welcome tab, the brand could still promote different games and promotions but appear more consistent to the end consumer.  By testing and learning new forms of content, the brand may also increase social sharing.

What are your reactions to what PlayStation is doing?  Please share in the comments below.