Super Bowl Ads Gear Up for ‘Social Bowl’

If you’re like us, you tune into the Super Bowl for a few reasons… one of the biggest being the new Super Bowl commercials.

So, with the NFL’s biggest game of the year next Sunday, Chatter Media wants to bring our followers and friends the news about what will make this year’s ads even more important than in the past.

How often do you multi-task while watching sports?
Photo via Flickr Creative Commons

This year, more and more advertisers are plugging into social media like never before to help extend their ad from beyond the TV commercial. Hey, if you’re spending $3 million dollars for a 30-second spot, of course you’re going to pull out all the stops to make people listen and pass the word around!

Next Sunday, keep your eyes out for hashtags on your screen. Hashtags, the ‘#’ sign followed with a keyword to mark a conversation on Twitter, will be viewable in some ads so fans can follow the chatter related to the commercial. Besides, everyone is going to be talking about these ads, so you might as well join the conversation as soon as possible (and if you’re one of those companies getting talked about, well done!).

And having your brand present in social media is proven to work. Last year’s Super Bowl was the most watched in US History, with over 10 million viewers. Volkswagen was one brand who saw their social networks explode. Do you remember the “Punch” commercial?

It’s reported that with this ad, Volkswagen gained 50,000 Facebook fans immediately after the game, and then more than one million views were tallied for their commercial online. This year, the company bought the main banner ad on the YouTube homepage for the Monday after the game, says the Financial Times.

Some other surprises for our Super Bowl commercial breaks? No Pepsi ads will be aired. For the first time in 23-years Pepsi will not be buying Super Bowl time. But they are still exploring their social media potential. Taking the money they would have used on a Super Bowl ad, they are putting it toward the Pepsi Refresh Project. Competitors have been using social networks like Twitter and Facebook to get their friends and followers to support their ideas with 77 million votes coming in from Facebook alone, reports The New York Times. Note: The Pepsi Max brand is still teaming up with Doritos for their “Crash the Superbowl” contest which includes this funny:

What else will you see Sunday? Plenty of car commercials. The Financial Times is reporting one-third of all the commercials will be for the auto industry.

Still, only time, and you all on the Internet, will tell which car commercial is going to top last year’s Volkswagen ‘hit’ (pardon the pun).

If you want to see how social media can help you’re business boom, contact Chatter Media. We are on Facebook, Twitter, or go ahead and give us a phone call.

Girl Scouts Using Social Media to Boost Cookie Sales– And So Can You!

Even if you are not in the business of selling cookies, there is a lot to learn from the initiative some Girl Scouts are taking in the world of social media.

Take a bite of social media! Yum, tastes like mint!
Photo via Flickr user Amy Loves Yah.

By networking with people they might not have been able to reach before social media, Girl Scouts are able to remind people of when they will be selling cookies, facts about the famous cookies, and where they can order their own, all through the networks of Facebook and Twitter. See the news video below:

http://vp.mgnetwork.net/viewer.swf?u=7ed23c5877e7102ea6fd001ec92a4a0d&z=SPA&embed_player=1

All this cookie-talk gets Chatter Media thinking… what companies or organizations do you wish had a bigger social media presence? Would you benefit from getting reminders on your News Feed about Girl Scout Cookie Sales? Or would you prefer to wait until your neighborhood Girl Scout rang your doorbell?

Girl Scouts are not the only recognizable group building their social media presence, the Pew Internet & American Life Project recently released their findings about how being involved in social media means you are more involved in social and group activities in your everyday life.

Pew found some of the most innovative groups and their members involve social networking sites like Facebook (used by 62% of the internet users in our survey), Twitter (used by 12% of internet users), blogs, and texting (used by 74% of the cell phone owners in our survey) to bind themselves together.

And why shouldn’t they? Most social networking is free and easy and now very widely recognized. This is where Chatter Media can lend you the ideas and tools to help you reach your goals and navigate through all the chatter that doesn’t matter.

After all, if social media can boost sales for Girl Scouts, why shouldn’t it help boost your sales for your company? Time to take a bite! Contact Chatter Media via this blog, Facebook, Twitter, or our website has all our contact information.

 

‘Cheezburger’ $30 mil. in Cheddar Signals New Generation on Internet

Cute and crazy cat pictures online are officially an internet money-maker. And we aren’t talking about a few extra bucks– how does $30 million sound? That’s some real cheese.

That’s right, The Cheezburger Network has raked in $30 million dollars in their first round of venture capital funding. You are probably familiar with LOLcats? Pictures of kittens paired with winning captions, what could be better?

The sites were created by a journalist-turned-CatCaptionMakerEntreprenuer, Ben Huh. Mashable reports that Huh says the site has been profitable since its birth in September 2007 through advertising, selling books and merchandise. But now, the real green is rolling in.

A Picture is Sometimes Worth a 30-Million Cheezburgers. Photo via Cheezburger Network Blog.

New employees and faster, better websites will be the general result from the $30 million. Overall, money helps the users experience improve. The Cheezburger Network averages 16.5 million visitors monthly, has about 2 million Twitter followers and 1 million Facebook fans according to PC Mag. Still, specifics are not exactly clear yet. In a blog post from Cheezburger themselves, Jen Nausin, marketing director, wrote:

“As it relates to specific features, this might sound crazy, but honestly, we’re not sure what’s coming yet. We’re a company that’s about testing ideas and understanding what our users want from us so keep your feedback coming!”

This new wave on the Internet marks a time where web surfers are extremely interested in creativity and self expression, moving away from just gathering news.

So what does this mean for social media marketing? Chatter Media sees this sign of the times as opportunity! With investors seeing the value in a whole array of new media, no matter what your business, be it selling news or ‘cawoot’ cat pictures, looks like you will have a chance at a paycheck. The American Dream is live and well, friends!

A funny tweet from Crystal Beasley who works at Cheezburger about the funding announcement (follow the link!):

Leaked footage of @benhuh from yesterday’s meeting at Cheezburger announcing the $30mil in funding. http://bit.ly/ePuAvG

So if you are looking to add some cheddar to your business through social media, contact us. You can find us chatting here on this blog, Facebook, Twitter, or our website. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Facebook Rumors Busted

What’s the saying about rumors? Rumors, rumors are no fun. Rumors, rumors hurt someone.

The latest and outrageous social media rumor: Facebook will be shutting down on March 15.

“No!”

“Say it isn’t so!”

“Oh the humanity!”

While no one has been hurt with this online rumor, once again we learn the hard way that it isn’t always easy to interpret sarcasm via the written word.

Why would Facebook close its windows now?
Photo via Rod Bailey

A blog was written by Weekly World News, complete with fake quotes from Mark Zuckerberg and the Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook, claimed that Facebook would be no more after March 15, without any hint about it being a parody.

So unless you were like the few who were already familiar with the satire of Weekly World News, you were likely among the many people believed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were on their way.

The story published:

“I personally don’t think it’s a big deal,” he [Zuckerberg] said in a private phone interview. “And to be honest, I think it’s for the better. Without Facebook, people will have to go outside and make real friends. That’s always a good thing.”

We at Chatter Media will be the first to admit, when we hear murmurings about Facebook paywalls or Facebook shutting down altogether (‘Facebookalypse’ seems to be the popular term), we try to get our hands on as much information as possible. After all, our business depends on it!

What a relief to learn Mashable tracked down Facebook Director of Corporate Communications Larry Yu to set the story straight:

“The answer is no, so please help us put an end to this silliness.” He added, “We didn’t get the memo about shutting down and there’s lots to do, so we’ll just keep cranking away like always.”

This morning, Google pulled up 450 news articles related to the Facebook rumor and there are still dozens of fan pages to ‘Save Facebook’ despite the entire headline being a prank.

Chatter Media interprets all this commotion as the passion people have for Facebook. In the same breath, we need to remind ourselves how with the great empowerment social media brings, we cannot leave our critical thinking under our bed.

Sure, one day Facebook will be dethroned just as MySpace was (MySpace, by the way, is cutting their staff by 60% as of tomorrow). But that day will not be March 15, 2011. For now, with an estimated worth of $50 billion, Facebook is still King.

Chatter Media wants to know, how would your life change if Facebook really did shut down on March 15 and erase the profile you’ve been building? Would you want to save all your photos, messages, and links to another platform? And what do you suspect you would spend your Facebook-less time on? Leave us your thoughts here on our blog (comment box is below!), on our Facebook, or on Twitter.

The Year of the Hand-held Tablets

Photo courtesy of xatech.net

We hope you’ve been enjoying your holidays because one thing’s for sure, the people behind the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad sure have.

Sales and interest remain strong for book readers and hand-held tablets like these this holiday season.

According to Mashable.com, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says the Amazon Kindle is the company’s best-selling product… ever. He also said people aren’t having trouble choosing between the Kindle and competing Apple product iPad. That’s because they’re just purchasing both.

Apple is stretching toward its own record with the iPad with sales expected to surpass 65 million units in the New Year. While iPad’s domination in the tablet market doesn’t seem to be putting a chink in Kindle’s armor, it may have potential negative effects on sister products, Mac and iPod.

Touch Reviews says 2010 was the “Year of the iPad.” The product crushed same-level products like the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Blackberry PlayBook, which each sold less that a million units.

Shipments from Amazon on the peak performance day this holiday season reached more than 178 countries, according to gadget.tmcnet.com.

Global domination seems to be the theme of new media gadgets in 2010. What do you think the New Year will bring?

Tell us your thoughts here, or leave us a comment on Facebook or Twitter!

TIME’s Person of the Year

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year last week.

TIME said Zuckerberg was chosen for “connecting more than half a billion people” through his social networking empire.

Photo courtesy of TIME Magazine

According to THS News, Zuckerberg battled Wikileaks owner, Julien Assange for the title this year. Assange, being the source of much controversy, won the popular vote. However, TIME overrode voting and made an executive decision to put Zuckerberg’s face on the front of the magazine.

Zuckerberg’s baby Facebook.com was launched in February 2004 and since then has gained more than 500 million users. The corporation, Facebook, Inc., is also said to employ more than 1,700 people.

The 26-year-old social media mogul was born in White Plains, NY., and attended Harvard, where the idea for Facebook was born. According to Forbes.com, Zuckerberg became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at age 23. Forbes also reported he is worth just under $7 billion in September.

To see the TIME Person of the Year article and more information about Mark Zuckerberg, click here.

Let us know what you think of TIME’s choice on our very own Facebook page or on Twitter!

What’s Your Take on the New FB Profile?

Facebook launched the new redesign of the profile page for users Monday — and we want to know what you think.

Photo courtesy of Facebook.com

Even after all of the buzz, Facebook didn’t make it easy to try out its new development. To get the new profile, users must visit the following website: http://www.facebook.com/about/profile/.

Here are the major changes you’ll see if you choose to update:

• Biographical information has moved to the top of the page
• Five of the most recently tagged pictures of you are displayed in a strip below your bio info.
• Your education, likes and interest are displayed with pictures on the info page.
• Friends are now shown in tiles instead of the scrolling-list format.
• You can also create list of your friends and family to be displayed in the left-hand sidebar.

To see a preview of the new profile, watch the video on the update page or check out some of your friends’ profiles that have already been updated. Once you update, you will be taken on a tour of your new profile page.

Once you’ve tested out the profile and other updates to Facebook, we want to know what you think. What works? What doesn’t work? What are your favorite new things? What still needs improvement?

Leave us a comment here or visit our Facebook and/or Twitter page!

Get your Groupon!

Have you heard about Groupon?

This deal-of-the-day site is based on interest from online consumers in a fashion similar to the ‘Like’ button on Facebook. Created by CEO Andrew Mason and launched in November 2008, Groupon.com allows businesses to post daily deals for the consideration of their target market.

Members of Groupon see one daily deal selected by Groupon to be displayed for each major city market.

Businesses can submit their deals at GrouponWorks.com, and potentially gain consumer interest in their products and services.

According to the website’s page on success stories, Groupon currently has more than 13 million subscribers or members in at least 29 countries. That’s a big market that you can (and should) tap into for your business!

To find out more visit Groupon.com and GrouponWorks.com! Then visit our Facebook and Twitter to let us know what you think!

Facebook’s taking over the world! In a good way.

Pinky and the Brain would be proud.

According to reports based on a study by information service company Experian Hitwise, Facebook is taking over the world. The World Wide Web, that is.

InformationWeek and Hitwise said traffic has increased by more than 60 percent since November 2009 and is currently generating about 25 percent of all page views across more than a million pages on the Internet.

Facebook currently reports over 500 million users and is battling with Twitter in the race to reach a billion.

Technology new site Digital Trends also reported more than 100 million Facebook application or “app” downloads through an independent app store, GetJar.

Hitwise’s report also showed that Facebook holds more than 10 percent of overall visits to the Internet visits.

The Internet giant knocked Google out of the top spot at the “top online destination” in September, according to InformationWeek.

Experian Hitwise is a global company that provides data and analytics for more than 100,000 clients in 65 different countries. Hitwise’s sample of Internet users encompasses 25 million worldwide and approximately 10 million in the U.S.

So the bottom line is: Facebook remains the best way for businesses and individuals to communicate on the Internet. That means, whether you’re a small business owner or the CEO of a giant corporation, you would probably benefit from the use of Facebook to reach current and potential clients. If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, what’s stopping you?

Tell us your thoughts about Internet giant Facebook and other infectious social media sites by commenting here, on our very own Facebook page or replying to us on Twitter!

And while we’re reminiscing, check out this video of Pinky and the Brain trying to “take over the world!” Ahh. The good ol’ days.

 

Top 5 Celebs Using Social Media

Our friends at Mashable.com create some pretty insightful lists like “Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week” and “5 Lessons From Business Leaders Who Get It.”

Following in their footsteps, we have compiled a list of the Top 5 Celebs Using Social Media. Crazy, crafty, comical and somewhat outlandish describes the following celebs and their self-marketing strategies.

And that’s why we love them.

5. 50 Cent

According to his website, 50 is everywhere. His website still promotes his 2009 album release, “Before I Self-Destruct,” but he and his dog, Oprah, are avid tweeters. They have some intense, and some explicit, exchanges on Twitter.

Mr. Curtis James Jackson III (50 Cent) uses all of the important social media tools to keep his biggest fans up to date.

OprahTheDogs’s latest tweet: “Today was a good day had fun running around and everyone catering to me #GUnitPrincess”

Website: http://www.50cent.com/

4. Chelsea Handler

OK, so if we include 50, we have to give props to his rumored squeeze, Chelsea Handler, who also happens to be a social media master. The comedian, famed author and star of her own show “Chelsea Lately” has a clean yet glamorous website with all the necessary channels: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Ping and even a link to the website for her drink of choice – Belvedere Vodka.

Website: http://www.chelseahandler.com/

Her latest tweet: “Chuy Blog: Airport Insecurity http://eonli.ne/aCgQGf”

3. Pete Carroll

A surprise in this category is Seattle Seahawks head football coach, Pete Carroll. Now, we’re not sure why Coach Carroll necessarily needs a website, but we are happy to see him embracing his online following! He even hosts his own video channel on Youtube. You can join the coach on Facebook or subscribe to his feeds on his website.

Website: http://www.petecarroll.com/

His latest tweet: “What a nice win by our guys! Huge effort by matt & big mike battling thru injuries. Gotta hang tough & keep moving forward!”

2. Lady Gaga

Keeping with her themes of shock and awe, Gaga’s website and social media tactics are calculated and dramatic. With all of the necessities including buttons linking to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, the musical mogul also features two other websites for fans to explore: GagaDaily.com and LadyGagaOnline.net. Her tweets are mostly lyrical.

Website: http://www.ladygaga.com/news/

Her latest tweet: “Endless melodies, hooks, + poetry sledge-hammering my skull. It won’t be much longer, its almost perfect. But I (we) don’t want almost.”

1. Jim Carrey

Now for the craziest of them all: the man behind “The Mask” and “Bruce Almighty.” Jim Carrey’s website is absolutely outrageous, but should we expect any less? The site is impossible to explain unless you’ve seen it. It contains a great amount of detail and Flash pages that are, at their simplest form, a collage of all of his work. He is also another of our beloved Tweeps.

Website: http://www.jimcarrey.com/

Latest tweet: “Check out www.JimCarrey.com. Sss’awesome! ?;^J “

Go see all of these sites for yourself and then head to our Facebook and Twitter pages to tell about your favorite celebs who use social media!