A report from the 9th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM), Oxford, Spring 2015
Over four days in Oxford, the 9th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM) took place, at the Mathematical Institute. The event sponsors include Facebook and Yahoo and it’s not a huge conference, just over 250 researchers in computer science and social science who gather to “share knowledge, discuss ideas, exchange information, and learn about cutting-edge research in diverse fields with the common theme of online social media.”
I’d stumbled upon the conference whilst reading articles for my PhD. The conference is often in far flung locations (2016 it’s Cologne, 2017 it could be Montreal, Doha or Seattle) and discovered it was taking place in the UK. I managed to attend just one day and sat through 20 presentations. Here’s what I discovered.
Beware of trolls
Justin Cheng of Stanford University and others are researching ‘Antisocial…
Day 1 round-up from Social Media World Forum, June 2015, London
I had the pleasure of attending Day 1 of the Social Media World Forum in London on the 8th June. As you'd expect from an event like this, there was a lot of great stories, insights and new information from the world of social media on topics ranging from humanising your brand and content through to UGC, CGC and online reviews.
Instead of producing a round-up of the individual sessions I attended at #SMWF, I thought it better instead to highlight some of the key themes and trends I took from the event. From day 1 alone I picked up on a number of recurring topics, with the top five including:
Paid amplification vs. organic growth
Reviews, user-generated content (UGC) and community
Rational vs. emotional thinking
Disrupted business models
The power of brand storytelling
1. Paid amplification vs. organic growth
It's been long documented that organic reach on…
A reference for designers and social media managers to check their social presence
Prohibition HQ's cheat sheet can save you valuable time if you are looking to optimise your videos and pictures/headers across your social media platforms and not sure on the format and the dimensions for each one. With so many different social streams it can be hard to keep them all optimised to look as good as possible. However it is important to make sure all your accounts do have images with the correct images. If you don't they can look blurred and unprofessional. So this infographic can really help you keep track of what sized images you need for each site.
Have the specifications handy
Like content, it should never stay static on social media, so it's a great infographic to pin on your wall to remind you of the specifications. It covers all formats across 12 social media…
5 ways to connect on a more personal level across your social media platforms
Establishing a successful social media strategy involves more than just posting the right types of updates about a new product or a service, sharing a piece of relevant information, or accumulating followers. Essentially, it all boils down to human connections, the one thing that most marketers overlook when they plan and execute social media strategies.
If you want to achieve an effective social media strategy with your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or LinkedIn accounts, make sure that you are able to engage and interact with your target audience. Operative word: target audience. In social media marketing, it is not about the quantity, but the quality. You want your followers to be comprised of people who are actually interested in you, your brand, your product or service, or your business.
Being liked or followed by your target niche allows your message…
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February 9, 2015
Social media in 2015: The tech and trends to watch
You will have noticed that in the world of social media new tools and techniques change happens constantly. While we may now mercifully have a core of six key social networks, new social networks spring up while existing social platforms regularly introduce new functionality. All of this means that businesses need to keep their eye on the ball. If a new network or service emerges, or a social platform launches a new advertising tool, it could provide a valuable opportunity to improve engagement or provide new insight into customers and their opinions.
Last year was no exception, and there were several big stories from the world of social media that would have been of interest to businesses. For instance, 2014 was the year when social video – video content created by users with their smartphones – really hit the…
We ask is social media marketing "Mostly a waste of time"?
Are some marketers so obsessed by social media that they are not investing enough budget and attention on traditional advertising and marketing? This is what is increasingly being suggested by some commentators. For example, in this recent talk, Mark Ritson, Associate Professor of Marketing and Branding and Columnist on 'Marketing Week' acknowledges that 'social media is an amazing tool' but states that it is 'mostly a waste of time' and suggests that our focus is wrong when he says:
'Marketers are putting too much emphasis on social media due to the hype in the media, and are forgetting how powerful traditional advertising and marketing can be'.
http://youtu.be/S2NUayn2vP0
Some marketers and PR professionals like Nicola Swankie from Society felt the need to respond to his video on behalf of Social Media Practitioners. She responded in a …
Are you tapping into the potential of niche social media communities?
Social media marketing still represents a key opportunity for most of us, despite the hype that's only been intensifying since 2012.
You might feel you've missed the boat, that you should be doing more. Depending on your progress, your market and your competitors, this will hold true to varying degrees.
Like the Digital Marketing Radar, which we featured yesterday in our update reviewing all the Smart Insights 'mindtool' infographics to review the opportunity of digital marketing, the Social Media Marketing Radar infographic helps show you the types of social sites you can consider. You can also download our full set of 10 infographics.
The radar helps focuses attention and resources on the sites appearing towards its centre, as these sites are generally agreed on as the most important within a business.
In this post I'll also explain why it's important to look beyond…
The 7 traits of an effective Social Media Marketing Manager
The Social Media Marketing Manager role is now an established role in many large businesses. It's featured as one of the main digital marketing roles in the Smart Insights top 12 digital job descriptions template.
In smaller businesses, social media will be one marketing approach of many that a digital marketing manager will be working on, or social media may be a combined responsibility with SEO and content marketing. But in all cases, as social media continues to evolve, so does the role of the Social Media Manager.
Whilst the first Social Media Managers were mainly responsible for setting up and running a Facebook presence or answering customer service queries on Twitter, their roles now encompass many more skills and attributes. Of course, a Social Media Manager's scope of responsibility will be influenced by…
6 mistakes that will doom your social media strategy
Sure, you can be active in social media without a plan, but a company that uses social media marketing without a clear idea of what they want to achieve, and the steps they need to take to get there, is usually going to waste a lot of time and money, without seeing a return.
I think that a written strategy document is crucial for online success. But of course, not all social media strategies are created equal! Many times, the factors that make the difference between success and failure do not just concern what is in the document. Equally important are the steps companies take before and after compiling it. Here are some of the mistakes I've seen with social media planning which I look to make businesses aware…
10 steps for managing social media marketing leading to sales transactions
How social media interactions can lead to sale has been the focus of many a discussion in recent years as social media has grown to become a major customer touchpoint. Since the VP of Coke recently made the claim that Social did not lead to any significant direct sales for them, this has had the knock on effect of some questioning the power of social marketing.
What I aim to cover in this post is how a focused, stepped approach to social media marketing should be directed towards sales and how you should plan this into your marketing strategy.
What most people assume is that social is not is a direct sales tool. The reason for this is because if you think about a classic sales funnel from Reach, interest, evaluation, conversion, referral…
