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How McDonald's uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

In the latest instalment of our blog series looking at how brands make use of the four major social networks, I’ve decided to take a closer look at McDonald’s.

McDonald’s is one of the most recognisable brands in the world, yet also has to battle a fair amount of negative publicity, so one would assume that its social accounts would be extremely active.

This blog follows on from similar posts looking at the social strategies of ASOS, Walmart, Starbucks and Red Bull, among others.

And without further ado, here is a quick look at how McDonald’s uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+...

by David Moth 13 March 2013 10:39am 10 comments

Pinterest proves to be a fruitful network for Topman

Despite its reputation for having a predominately female audience, Pinterest is proving to be a successful hunting ground for menswear brands.

New research shows that Topman has more than double the follower count of any other UK retailer and is also adding to its community faster than its competitors.

The eDigitalResearch Social Media Benchmark found that Topman has 87,959 followers, compared to 26,594 for Net-A-Porter and 24,847 for ASOS.

Pinterest has developed from a niche social network into an important marketing tool in little more than 12 months, with its focus on striking visuals and imagery making it the perfect platform for retailers and lifestyle brands.

To help brands take advantage of this opportunity, Econsultancy has published a new Pinterest for Business Guide aimed at companies and individuals who are thinking of joining Pinterest and want to find out more about the social platform, as well as people who are currently using Pinterest and want a deeper understanding of best practice.

by David Moth 25 February 2013 09:45am 0 comments

How Red Bull uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

Red Bull is a great example of a brand built almost entirely on social media, with some mind-blowing PR stunts thrown in for good measure.

Therefore it’s a great case study for our series looking at how different brands use the big four social networks.

We’ve previously examined how Walmart, ASOS and John Lewis use social, with Google+ generally proving to be the weak relation compared to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

But does the same prove to be true for Red Bull?

by David Moth 21 February 2013 10:24am 3 comments

TD Bank bets on Google+ as a search play

For all of the time and money companies are investing in social media, marketers continue to grapple with basic questions about ROI. Is the investment worth it? Can the potential pay-off ever be measured accurately?

Progress in answering these questions varies from business to business, but at least one company has decided that its latest investment in social is really an investment in search.

by Patricio Robles 15 February 2013 15:29pm 1 comment

This week's top six infographics

Once again we round up six of the best infographics we've seen this week.

The topics include Google+, how women endorse brands, online video marketing, triple screening and mobile search stats from the UK and Eurozone.

by David Moth 15 February 2013 10:58am 0 comments

Can social identity improve ecommerce?

A recent Gartner press release suggested a major change in the way we might interact with ecommerce in within the next few years. Their prediction is that by 2015 fully half of retail customer identities will be based on social network identities. The report’s main thrust is on the impact of this shift on IT and security infrastructure, but what is much more interesting is the potential for a more direct connection between purchase and social identity.

The logic behind this potential growth is the frictionless “log-in with Facebook or twitter” option that allows customers to skip the laborious sign up or registration process. But the obvious question that arises is: What happens when social identity becomes purchaser identity? When you consider the potential meshing of purchase data with social data there appears to be a huge opportunity here for e-commerce sites to improve sales and build loyalty.

by Dan Weingrod 13 February 2013 15:58pm 2 comments

How John Lewis uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+

In recent weeks I’ve begun looking at the different ways in which some of the world’s biggest brands use social media.

Having already run the rule over ASOS, Walmart and Tesco, the next retailer under the spotlight is John Lewis.

John Lewis has had an excellent start to the year, announcing a 44% increase in online sales over Christmas. You can read more about it in our Q&A with the company’s head of online delivery and customer experience Sean O'Connor.

Unlike Walmart and Tesco, John Lewis doesn’t publish its own social media guidelines online, however in a previous interview its social community manager said that content is key, “with a tailored approach for each social media channel.”

So here’s a quick look at how it uses four of the main social networks...

by David Moth 13 February 2013 10:13am 8 comments

Top 100 brands see huge growth in Google+ and YouTube in 2012

It's not surprising that Google+ adoption has increased over the past year as Google has integrated the social platform with all its services and YouTube is on the rise as more brands are offering video as part of their content and marketing strategies. But what are the big brands doing?

This morning BrightEdge released their latest Social Share report focusing on social media adoption trends of the top 100 global brands. This quarter, they are focusing on Google with the latest on Google+ and YouTube.

by Heather Taylor 07 February 2013 15:32pm 3 comments

How ASOS uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

ASOS is streets ahead of the competition in many aspects of ecommerce, so it’s no surprise that it was quick to see the potential in social media marketing.

It has won numerous awards for its social strategy and clocked up millions of fans and followers in the process.

I’ve previously looked at how Walmart and Tesco use the major social networks, so thought it would be useful to shift the focus onto one of the world’s most innovative social brands.

So here is a quick look at how ASOS uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+...

by David Moth 05 February 2013 10:57am 6 comments

Did Twitter win the Super Bowl?

The Super Bowl is arguably the most important day in advertising, and every year, as much attention is focused on Super Bowl ads as the game itself.

With social media such a big part of brand advertising today, it's no surprise that many observers pay close attention to how social media is used by brands in conjunction with their multi-million dollar Super Bowl ads as outlined in our earlier Super Bowl post.

by Patricio Robles 04 February 2013 19:35pm 0 comments