Walgreens launches new Foursquare and Twitter campaign

Walgreens recently started a new social media campaign with New York-based startup, LocalResponse.

When someone checks into Foursquare and tweets about it, Walgreens tweets some of them back with an offer from Halls that can be redeemed in store if they like them on Facebook.

But is this automated campaign the right approach?

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Posted 08 February 2012 23:50pm by Heather Taylor with 0 comments

Social media for the healthcare industry: examples from MENA

Are you a medical practitioner? Are you wondering how to harness the power of social media for your organization? Do you have a Twitter and Facebook account that has remained dormant because you lack a proper engagement strategy?

Hospitals, clinics and pharmaceutical companies need effective social media strategies to thrive in this age.

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Posted 08 February 2012 08:34am by Husam Jandal with 2 comments

The future of customer service and social media: infographic

According to Zendesk's new infographic, 62% of customers are looking for more support through social media. Compare that to research by MarketTools at the end of 2011 which shows only 23% of US companies provide customer service via Facebook and 12% provide support via Twitter.

This highlights the continued divide between what customers are expecting and companies are giving.

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Posted 06 February 2012 19:08pm by Heather Taylor with 3 comments

Snickers, LAFitness and O2 on Twitter: ask the experts

We've seen a fresh batch of Twitter 'storms' erupt over the past few weeks that are destined to feature in the presentations of many a social media speaker for the next year.

O2 held it's head high following a data leak, Snickers is being investigated by the ASA and @LAFitness has come out of the week fairly bruised. A good, bad, and ugly you might say. 

While many of these, like so many other examples, pass by without long-term damage - some survive and cause reputational problems that could easily have been avoided.

We've gathered together four experts to ask their opinion of the three cases, and provide input on best practice for responding to such situations.

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Posted 06 February 2012 16:12pm by Vikki Chowney with 0 comments

Super Bowl fail: Toyota spams Twitter

The Super Bowl is an exciting time for the brands that shelled out big bucks to reach millions of consumers on one of the biggest days in the world of sport.

That was certainly true for Toyota. The carmaker had high hopes for its Camry Effect campaign, which it described as one of the "most ambitious social media campaigns we've ever implemented." But did it get a little too excited?

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Posted 06 February 2012 09:55am by Patricio Robles with 5 comments

MENA Stats: Social media and sharing trends

It has been a year since social media helped spark demonstrations, protest and social-political revolution across the Middle East and North Africa.

The Arab Spring of 2011 saw communication via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube garner a degree of popularity which had yet to be seen in the region – and proved dangerous enough that efforts were made by some governments to shut social services down.

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Posted 06 February 2012 09:00am by Luke Richards with 0 comments

BBC Sport website gets mixed reviews

The BBC today unveiled its new look sports website, which follows the redesign of its homepage in September. 

The new look includes replacing the side with top navigation, wider page layouts, and a new colour scheme, which is great if you like yellow and blue.

As always when the BBC makes any changes to its website, opinion is divided...

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Posted 02 February 2012 11:11am by Graham Charlton with 7 comments

Facebook vs Twitter: where will you be talking about Super Bowl ads?

Facebook has announced it's partnership with US Today to create the Super Bowl Ad Meter app.

Facebook users can rate Super Bowl ads as they watch the game and then share and discuss the commercials with their friends. This will take what US Today have been doing since 1989 with a select panel of viewers and move it into social networks.

But this type of ad tracking in social media isn't a new one. It's been going on over on Twitter since 2009 with Brandbowl.

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Posted 31 January 2012 16:00pm by Heather Taylor with 0 comments

How visible are universities on social networks?

With UK universities allowed to charge up to £9,000 for fees from this autumn, many institutions are likely to have ramped up their marketing in order to engage and attract students.

So how successful have they been in creating a presence on the main social networks?

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Posted 31 January 2012 11:17am by Horst Joepen with 3 comments

Twitter set to roll out enhanced brand pages

In the world of social media, many brands are doubling down on their investments. And when it comes to those investments, much is being focused on a few popular services.

One of those popular services: Twitter.

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Posted 29 January 2012 12:56pm by Patricio Robles with 1 comment