Facebook’s recent announcement about their redesign of the news feed is based on the trend for visual content.  The percentage of posts that contain images has doubled in just over a year. Photos on Facebook get 53% more likes and 104% more comments than a text post.  Posts that include a photo get 120% more [...]

Each year more people are watching video online.  Predictions are that 1.5 billion (yes, with a B) people will watch at least one online video by 2016, says a recently released study by online video technology provider Ooyala. Viewership of branded videos grew 91 percent over the course of Q4 2012. Ooyala believes the study [...]

According to an article in Forbes, whether you’re just starting out, or you learned your Marketing skills years ago and need to get up to speed, these six skills are essential: How to build and nurture an online community. Researching new social media tools and platforms – the “next big thing.” Blogging – planning content, [...]

According to a 2012 study conducted by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Ipsos ASI and Bloomberg, there is a skills gap in business use of social media.  While the majority of businesses are using social media, only 6% say their social media skills and competencies are optimal.  A full 50% claim to be either below [...]

A recent study by the Chartered institute of Management in the UK polled 1500 businesses worldwide about the use and attitude towards social media.  They discovered that while businesses are investing in social media, managers’ lack of understanding means they are unsure of the returns.   It’s a skills gap that is preventing businesses from getting [...]

The answer is yes and no – depending which  part of the social media program you’re talking about. Mark Evans wrote this week in the Sysomos blog Here’s something that has surprised me in recent months: the number of companies that want their social media tactics to be handled by an external agency – public [...]

For three years or so savvy companies and organizations have been experimenting with how to become a social brand. They’ve experimented with social media campaigns and activities, mostly in the marketing and PR arena.  Some have been dragged into social CRM by their customers As we approach the end of 2010 and head into the [...]

While economists argue about whether we are now through the recession or whether we’re headed for a double dip, the Labor Market Outlook Report by the Society of Human Resource Management reports that 56% of their respondents expect job growth for the third quarter of 2010.  98% of U.S. companies say they plan to award [...]

On Wednesday morning a group of people interested enough in social media to brave the LA traffic gathered at the W in Westwood for the Visible Technologies Social Media Readiness breaskfast. The first speaker was Esteban Kolsky of ThinkJar. Kolsky was a Gartner analyst and now does work on social CRM and strategy. He spoke [...]

According to the CMO Club 81% of CMO’s plan to link their annual revenue to their social media investment! But other studies show that many CMO’s are still confused about how to effectively integrate social media with their marketing and PR programs. We often get asked whether a company should do it all in-house or [...]