The following trends worth tracking were provided by the D.C. office of Fleishman Hillard:
- The District of Columbia’s DC 311 service, which enables D.C. residents to submit concerns about city maintenance issues, has recently integrated its services with such popular social networking tools as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr in an effort to help people track their requests and post them and their results to users’ news feeds. DC 311 uses citizens to help canvas the city to find problem areas for everything from potholes to graffiti. By using this ‘free workforce,’ the city says it is able to eliminate the cost of keeping paid employees out searching for problems instead of fixing them. As an example of how the new social media functionality works, District residents can use the new Facebook widget to submit issues to DC 311, track the results, and see problem areas on a D.C. map. Other features enable residents to request parking permits and report parking violations, one of the bigger concerns for city residents. The service also has developed an iPhone application for on-the-go residents. “These days people are mobile, and so are we,” the site announced.
Source: Inside Facebook
- A study from Penn State University has found that one in five (20%) Tweets posted on microblogging site Twitter contain some type of brand-related inquiry or information about a specific product or service. The research, which was undertaken to assess Twitter’s value as a word-of-mouth medium, involved the review of half a million Tweets, and discovered that brand-tweeters do so in order to connect with products. The study also revealed that this relatively high percentage of brand-related tweets is providing companies—which increasingly use Twitter for brand building, brand awareness and CRM—with a rich source of information about their wares. “People are using tweets to express their reaction, both positive and negative, as they engage with products and services,” said Jim Jansen, a professor at Penn State who led the study. “Tweets are about as close as one can get to the customer point of purchase for products and services.”
Source: MarketingCharts.
- A growing number of small-business entrepreneurs are filming, editing, and posting their own online video content—attracting advertisers, thousands of viewers, and increased visibility for their brands. The trend means $20-$30 billion in small business ad spending currently dedicated to business publications, the Yellow Pages, and cable TV – or 10% of overall ad spending in the U.S. – may be at risk as companies shift from traditional to new media options. This, according to Daniel Taylor of The Big Picture, a research firm covering digital media, technology, and communications. The popularity of online video has increased with the vast improvement of production quality and platform distribution, as well as the small investment required for video equipment. Andrew Lock, a marketing consultant and former U.K. television producer, launched a web show featuring entrepreneurial advice and interviews that now attracts 100,000 views and a variety of corporate sponsors. “I go to conferences where entrepreneurs line up and ask for my autograph,” Lock said. “And I’m just this little British guy living in Utah who started a show out of my garage!”
Source: BusinessWeek
- Ford is claiming that its social networking-driven Fiesta Movement campaign for its 2011 sub-compact Fiesta model has increased awareness levels of the upcoming car to those similar to models that have been in the market for two or three years. For the campaign, Ford used a relatively small marketing and advertising budget and relied on social media to drive the buzz. The initiative promotes the Fiesta through 100 socially vibrant “agents” who have been driving Euro-spec Fiestas and taking part in monthly themed “missions” such as volunteerism, adventure, and style and design. After each mission wraps, the agents relate their experiences via social media. So far, agents have driven more than 1 million miles, their efforts have received more than 4.3 million YouTube views, more than 540 Flickr views, more than 3 million Twitter impressions and nearly 1,800 fans on Facebook. “We tried something different, and it is working” said Connie Fontaine, Ford brand and content alliances manager. “We’re delighted with how Fiesta is gaining traction with consumers. It’s a whole new way of introducing a car to market.”
Source: Motor Trend.