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Check-in to the latest social media tactic

Torin Dinh — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:31:30 +0000

Location-based social networking is on the cutting edge of social media marketing. In case you’re not familiar, it’s a system or application that delivers content directly to your mobile device, depending on your location. One of the most popular and well-known applications that utilize this technology is Foursquare. The app allows its users to check-in to any location, whether it is a venue, restaurant, clothing store or even a gas station! Many places on Foursquare have Special Deals that are granted to the user if they check-in to their location either for the first time or a certain amount of times. This is one way location-based applications can be a great tool for companies to draw in consumers.

Location-based social networking can be overwhelming for national or global brands though, so if the bigger companies do take advantage of it, they would start off on a small scale, implementing them in geographic markets. This makes location-based marketing very ideal for small to moderately sized businesses that want to maintain their focus on their own geographic market.

Here are some larger companies that take advantage of not only Foursquare, but the other applications built around location-based social networking:

New York Public Library uses Foursquare to award badges for those who explore public libraries in New York City. A badge is a feature on Foursquare given when users reach certain milestones with their check-ins. For this badge, users are required to follow New York Public Library and check into three NYPL venues or the New York Public Library 5 times. NYPL badge holders get the opportunity to win free event tickets and participate in behind-the-scenes tours.

JetBlue uses Facebook Places, which is a similar application hosted through Facebook that people can use to check-in and check others in as well. JetBlue awards a certain amount of points for any user that checks-in to an official JetBlue airport location using Facebook Places. When the user accumulates 5000 points, they earn a free flight.

Reebok uses not only Foursquare but also the location-based gaming platform SCVNGR. Working with Dick’s Sporting Goods, whenever a SCVNGR user would check-in to the store and complete challenges, such as taking and uploading photos of Reebok products, they would receive a $10-off coupon for a pair of RealFlex.

Target uses shopkick, one of the first mass-discount retailers to implement the location-based retail experience app. By checking-in on shopkick, users can earn points called kickbucks and other rewards by entering specific areas of a store. The kickbucks can be redeemed for Target Gift Cards or charitable donations.

H&M used GoldRun (iPhone app), when customers would photograph an item that they were interested in, they would instantly receive a 10 percent discount on any H&M purchase. The app also makes it easy to upload the photos onto Facebook.

No matter the app you use, it appears checking in is here to stay, at least for now anyway. Which of these apps do you currently use or are interested in exploring?

The (Unintentional) Live Tweeting of Osama’s Death

jennacwelch — Mon, 02 May 2011 17:14:34 +0000

As most people worldwide found out last evening, the White House has announced that Osama Bin Laden is officially dead. According to President Obama’s speech, the White House received a lead on Osama’s whereabouts in August. This week, he authorized an operation to find and kill Osama. According to US Officials, Bin Laden was shot in the head after resisting.

At Serendipit, we couldn’t help but share the social media twist on the story. A man living in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Sohaib Athar, unintentionally live tweeted the US operation that ended in Osama’s death. When he noticed a helicopter hovering above his city at 1am, he couldn’t help but tweet his thoughts. As more rare events occurred, he continued to post the happenings. Shortly thereafter, the world learned that Athar was actually tweeting about Osama’s death. Below, see selected tweets straight from Athar (@ReallyVirtual), courtesy of the Washington Post – and read as he reports the attack on Osama.

Royal Wedding FEVER

jennacwelch — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:00:27 +0000

As some of you already know, many members of our lovely Serendipit team are coming up on first year anniversaries – meaning we’re still getting over bouts of serious wedding fever! That being said, we can’t help but gush over the marketing tactics surrounding the pending nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Of course, they’re lucky to have the whole Prince thing going on for them – so they don’t really need too much help as far as publicity goes. However, there are a ton of examples of how unrelated companies have used the Royal Wedding as a means to get publicity themselves.

Many companies are using The Royal Wedding to brand new merchandise, such as mugs, picture frames, and other souvenirs. However, the Lord Chamberlain’s Office has released restrictions for certain items that may not be associated with the Royal Wedding, such as towels, aprons, and t-shirts, as these products are not “in good taste.”

Many restaurants and hotels are also offering Royal Wedding specials. Restaurants are offering Royal dishes, featuring the couple’s favorite meals, and many hotels are offering Royal getaway packages.

At Serendipit we love social media, and you’ve guessed it, the Royal Wedding is one step ahead of us. Facebook is offering a virtual wedding card for fans to sign, and iPad users can enjoy the Royal Wedding app, allowing them to gain access to over 20 hours of coverage on the day of the event. And be sure to follow it all on Twitter via @royalwedding!

Although many companies are taking advantage of the Royal Wedding brand, their PR department is paying special attention to social responsibility. Prince William and Kate Middleton have set up a charity gift website, where guests and fans are able to make a donation to charities that the couple feels are close to their heart.

With all the hype the Royal Wedding is attracting internationally, we’re confident April 29^th will not be the last we hear of this Royal couple! What are your plans for the big day? Will you be skipping work to watch the nuptials live? Let us know!

Advertising to a New Demographic

jennacwelch — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:51:23 +0000

Facebook has recently become the most visited site, surpassing even Google in traffic and rankings. With its ability to reach a wide range of demographics in an environment they understand, Facebook will quickly become one of the top online advertisers. Facebook marketing allows marketers to target not only by age, location or language, but more specifically by ‘Likes’, interests, and relationship connections. Here are some easy to follow steps to take advantage of free tools and advertise successfully via Facebook:

Set Goals- Beyond social media campaigns, reach further! Aim to improve direct sales or increase traffic towards your site.
Designing Ads- Always include a link to a non-Facebook page pertaining to your business, and remember, CTRs are MUCH higher for ads containing an image.
Targeting- Determine keywords based on ‘Likes’ and other pages your target demographic is viewing. Be sure to steer clear of generic or overused keywords.
‘Like’ it- Facebook ads can be ‘Liked’, Encourage family, friends, and customers to ‘Like’ your Facebook ads. More ‘Likes’ results in a more successful campaign for you!

While Facebook advertising is not new, it is never too late to start taking advantage of this great tool! The more you experiment and try different ads, the more successful your company will be. Have questions? Serendipit is here to help!

Practice Perfect Timing!

jennacwelch — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:25:55 +0000

Ever wonder how many times you should be tweeting each day? Which day of the week evokes the most Facebook comments? Or what about the ideal time of day to publish a blog? Serendipit recently had the opportunity to participate in a HubSpot Webinar, The Science of Timing, hosted by market researcher, Dan Zarrella, where we learned a ton of information that we are excited to experiment with and share with you! The webinar focused specifically on Twitter, Facebook, Blogging and Email lists. Here are some highlights we thought were the most valuable.

People who Tweet up to 20 times a day tend to have the most re-tweets. Remember, each tweet’s content should vary, as it violates Twitter policy to repeat a post. However, including the same link with different content multiple times a day proves to be the most effective way to go.
Blogs published at 11am ET receive the most attention. You are then able to catch people on their lunch break or down time. Blogs receive the least amount of attention on the weekends.
Facebook participation spikes on the weekends. Many employers block Facebook at work and people use the weekends to catch up on what they’ve missed. Continue to post on Saturdays and Sundays!

To experiment with your own timing, you may want to check out the new website, TweetWhen. By plugging in your information, TweetWhen will display your peak posting and response times. We will continue to test out these tricks and keep you posted on our progress!

Social Media for Good

jennacwelch — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 22:28:38 +0000

Leave it to Arizona Spa Girls‘ own Lisa Kasanicky to share with us a story that leaves us fully inspired and feeling lucky for all we have. Thanks to her, we can now share this touching story with you, in hopes that you’ll share it with your friends and family as well.

Kirti Dwivedi is the founder of Diya Marketing, and is very internet and social media-savvy. Sadly her mother, Anuradha, has been suffering from symptoms of kidney disease for years, and was not diagnosed until 2002. At that point, her kidney function was less than 50%. Although the doctors had very little faith in her ability to live more than 7 years, she was not ready to accept the psychological and physical stress of dialysis. Instead, she did her best to control the disease through diet, medication, and other homeopathic methods.

Anuradha was placed on the transplant list in October 2010. With an estimated six year wait, Kirti worried that her mother may not live to see a new kidney. With that in mind, she took the traumatic situation to social media. She quickly started a Facebook page with information about organ donation, kidney disease, and health. While she didn’t have the highest of expectations, she hoped that she might be able to help her mom find a new kidney.

Three months later, Kirti moved her efforts to Twitter, where she posted a link to the page. That evening, Amy Donohue (@TheFabulousOne), who Kirti hardly knew outside of the Twitter realm, began inquiring about Anuradha’s health. She was interested in more information about being a donor.

Once again, Kirti tried to not get her hopes up too high, but it was now getting harder. During a phone call with Amy, they discovered that the two were the same blood type. As soon as this information came out, Amy kindly offered to do whatever it took, as she told Kirti, “I have two kidneys, but you only have one mom”. This extremely generous and emotional statement left Kirti finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel – and a possible kidney for her mom.

After over a month of rigorous tests, it was finally concluded that Amy was a perfect match for Anuradha. On March 15th, they picked a date for surgery, and assuming all goes well, Anuradha will have a new kidney on April 19th. Without Twitter, this whole process may never have happened.

We encourage you to help out this dire situation in any way you can. The family’s second fundraiser will take place tomorrow, March 26th, at Fez. However, we also encourage you to let this story sit in your mind for a minute or two. Imagine the amazingly positive consequences that came out of a simple Twitter relationship. Are you using social media the best you can? On the note of this story, let’s all commit to using social media for good as often as we can.

Congratulations, LinkedIn!

jennacwelch — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:08:40 +0000

While it is not quite time for a “Happy Birthday” to LinkedIn, like Twitter received yesterda y, it is definitely time for a congratulations. Early this morning, LinkedIn announced that they reached 100 million users – a huge milestone in the social networking world. If you happened to be one of the users to sign up for LinkedIn this morning, we have two things to say to you. First, great job! You helped LinkedIn reach a very important goal. Second, where have you been??

To help celebrate the important day, a LinkedIn employee delved through the hundreds of millions of profiles and developed a list of some cool statistics. Read on, and let us know which one is your favorite!

56,800 miles (90,900 km): length of the conga line formed by all of our members celebrating our latest milestone. That is equivalent to 9.76 round trips on the road between San Francisco and New York City!
74 profiles with Elvis impersonator listed as a position
1.3+ billion connections between our members
1,091 profiles with chocolatier listed as a position
79+ million job transitions/changes tracked
46 profiles with beatboxer listed as a position
428%: Year-over-year membership growth rate in Brazil, one of our fastest-growing countries
Lee, Smith and Kumar have alternated over the last 8 years as the most common last name of newly registered users
951 years: duration of back-to-back 5-minute phone calls made by 100 million professionals
50%: year-over-year growth in our iPhone skill index
4 profiles with dog or cat psychologist / psychiatrist listed as a position
Some industries with the fastest year-over-year new member growth rates: Education (175%), Facilities Services (121%), and Ranching (112%)
100% of Fortune 500 companies have executives on LinkedIn
1 profile has martini whisperer listed as a position

Have You Voted Yet?

jennacwelch — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:01:58 +0000

Alright, so we know that March isn’t typically thought of as voting season. However, here in Serendipit-land, voting is at the top of our minds! One of our (tastiest!) clients is coming to the end of a huge contest. The contest, a Jingle Challenge, urged musicians nationwide to put their creative caps on and write a catchy jingle all about Salsa Sensations. We received a ton of really great submissions, and narrowed it down to eight finalists. Now, the winner of $2,000 and studio time is in YOUR hands. Voting ends tomorrow for this contest, so make sure you head on over to the Salsa Sensations site to cast your vote. We’re positive that all of the bands will appreciate it! Interested in a sneak peak at a few of our favorite videos? Check out a few teasers below!

The Serendipit Gals are Ready for Summer!

jennacwelch — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:23:53 +0000

While temperatures are admittedly ideal in the Valley at the moment, with the gradual rise in degrees we can’t help but anticipate those triple digits will soon be upon us. But you won’t hear the Serendipit team complaining about the arrival of summer. Why not? Summertime brings our favorite luxury events … smartwater presents Summer Spaaah Series.

This year the series features five local events and includes one special destination event giving us a much-needed escape to Sedona during the hottest part of summer! Check out this great line up and tell us you aren’t as excited as we are!

May 6, 2011: Agave, The Arizona Spa at Westin Kierland Resort, Scottsdale
June 3, 2011: Spa Avania at Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch
June 17, 2011: Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa at Wigwam Golf Resort, Litchfield Park
July 8, 2011: Revive Spa at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort, Phoenix
July 30-July 31, 2011: Mii amo, a destination spa at Enchantment Resort, Sedona
August 12, 2011: Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort

Tickets to the 2011 smartwater presents Summer Spaaah Series resort events start at $125. What do you get with your ticket? The five local events include a 3 hour spa party with cocktails and spa samplings and a luxe tote bag spilling with the best goodies in town. The best part? Each guest gets a certificate for a luxury spa treatment that can be used anytime up to 30 days after the event. Even better? Gratuities and full use of the spa amenities are included for your visit!

The destination weekend, starting at $295 each for a double occupancy room, adds a little more bang for your buck with one night’s accommodations at the Enchantment Resort, a welcome brunch, spa treatment including gratuity, planned activities such as a wine tasting and sunset yoga, the previously mentioned luxe gift bag, full use of the resort and spa amenities, taxes and resort fees.

You can bet you will see the Serendipit Team spa-ing it up all summer long! To get your tickets to the events go to www.summerspaseries.com.

Looking for a job?

jennacwelch — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:20:01 +0000

Looking for a job in this market can be anything but easy. With companies downsizing left and right, it may feel like there aren’t any openings you are eligible for. Some job-hunters go months without so much as a call back. While we can’t make any guarantees, we do have a little bit of faith in the aid of our expertise: social media.

LinkedIn has long been considered the king of networking in the social media realm. With complete resume visibility and the opportunity for unlimited connections, LinkedIn has time and time again made networking via social media a breeze. However, newcomer JIBE is offering an alternative, or perhaps complement to the social networking giant. Instead of simply providing social profiles of professionals worldwide, JIBE offers a fully interactive, Web 2.0 Job Board – and then gives you your in. Upon registration, JIBE users allow the site to access their Facebook and LinkedIn connections. JIBE reads through profiles, and sorts connections into companies. Then, once it knows exactly who you have a connection to, it shows you job listings complete with your connections. For instance, if my friend Jane Doe was previously employed at Wells Fargo, JIBE might tell me to consider an open marketing position there.

Similar to any other job board, users can then search through categories, companies, or zip codes to view appropriate jobs. The social connection though, is what makes the experience unique. According to the site’s traffic, that social connection is exactly what job-hunters have been looking for. The following chart (via compete.com) shows an estimate of the site’s traffic since its inception a few months ago:

Though compared to sites like Facebook and LinkedIn these numbers are minimal, the huge increase in two months is cause for notice. In the startup world, big traffic increases like this are definitely a good sign, and at Serendipit we love to find fun new startups, especially in the world of social media. While JIBE may not be taking over Facebook anytime soon, it definitely seems worthy of a glance for those on the hunt for a new job.

Happy job hunting!