Case studies

In order to understand what your company should be doing on social, it helps to benchmark yourself against the efforts of the competition.

Our senior reporter David Moth goes out of his way to dig up and analyse how big brands are using social channels, so almost all of the below are his.

How Cadbury uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

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

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

How Nike uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

How H&M uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

How Coca-Cola uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

How Walmart uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+

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

How Ikea uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+

How Microsoft uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+

How Standard Life uses LinkedIn and Twitter for B2B marketing

The links below follow a different format, but still provide excellent food for thought for marketers.

10 charities and how they use Pinterest

Seven great examples of engaging Pinterest competitions

Brands that use Vine: five great vs. five bad examples

Six fashion retailers that use Twitter’s Vine

After customer goes to jail, NYC restaurant learns that social media can be unfair

Are the top 20 UK online retailers bothered about Google+?

The Guardian suffers as user numbers for Facebook’s social readers nosedive

Boticca one of first retailers to add Pinterest to social sharing tools

Statistics

When trying to justify an investment in social to the board, statistics can be used to help cement the business case.

As well as compiling lots of third-party data into our social media statistics report, we frequently share what we find on the blog. Some of these are below.

Facebook drives most social B2B traffic, but Twitter is top for conversions

Facebook fans spend 24% more than non-fans

£3bn of retail sales will be influenced by social media

Topshop is still top retailer on Facebook and Twitter, but Topman is #1 for Pinterest

US and UK newspaper sites: who’s leading the way on Google +?

CTRs on Facebook ads increase 50% in the past 12 months

Pinterest stats: does it really drive more sales than Facebook?

Stats: Who uses Pinterest and why is it important for marketers?

These posts by Econsultancy’s Jake Hird may be older than the above, but are still great

20 + mind-blowing social media statistics

20+ mind-blowing social media statistics revisited

20+ more mind-blowing social media statistics

Opinion

Even when so much within digital is measurable, there is always a difference in opinion between what is the ‘right’ way to do things, versus the ‘wrong’.

It’s this discussion and debate that fuels so much of the innovation within the industry.

The following posts cover some of the most significant opinion pieces in recent times that cover social on our blog.

17 digital marketing and ecommerce trends for 2013 by Econsultancy CEO Ashley Friedlein

Social media: are you producing value, or promoting yourself?

Your social media initiatives might be pointless if…

Social lessons from the traditional loyalty program playbook

Facebook apps: there’s no such thing as a free audience

Marketers and businesses should fear Graph Search

Q&A: Jeff Dachis on the new Facebook APIs and big data

Amazon goes social, launches Pages, Posts and Analytics

How understanding social typology can help marketers

American Express syncs with Twitter. Gimmick or new social commerce platform?

Small businesses are not impressed by Twitter

What makes a good community manager?

Are brands overestimating the value of social data?

Why has the financial services sector been slow to adopt social?

Goodbye LinkedIn answers, hello more Group spam?

Infographics

While we now have started to use fewer infographics on the blog, sometimes they can be an exciting and stimulating way of presenting thoughts, idea and concepts. This hasn’t stopped us producing the odd sarcastic infographic though.

Some of the best ones covering social media are below.

14 of the best infographics we’ve seen in 2012

The ultimate social media image sizing cheat sheet

Key digital trends for 2013

Facebook Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

Turning likes into buys

How social websites are using your data 

Also of note, Mark McGee has published research on the effectiveness of infographics in decision making.

Best Practice

As well as knowing all the above statistics, case studies and opinion, execution is when the magic really starts to happen.

The posts below cover some of the ‘hows’ of social media, and provide useful tips to optimise your efforts on key channels.

How to prepare for the latest Facebook changes

Re-targeting and paid search coming to Facebook. Will you be ready?

Is CTR an irrelevant metric for Facebook ads?

Facebook apps: top tips from PhotoBox’s Lawrence Merritt

How to measure brand awareness on Twitter

The Twitter landscape of 2013: recommendations for brands

How to use content marketing and Twitter Cards to boost your app downloads

What do Pinterest business pages mean for brands?

How will Pinterest’s new analytics tool impact brands’ content strategies?

Five celebrity social search takeaways for your content strategy

The three types of social structured data and why you need them

Is Google’s AuthorRank just a myth?

Three content marketing tips from LinkedIn on reaching its audience

Six tips for optimising content to hit LinkedIn Today

SEO and social media get married

Reports

And of course, as well as the posts above, make sure you check out Econsultancy’s reports on the topic to give yourself the edge in your work.

Social Media Management Systems Buyer’s Guide

Social Media Statistics from the Internet Statistics Compendium

Pinterest for Business: A Best Practice Guide

Facebook Pages for Business Best Practice Guide

Facebook for Businesses in the Middle East and North Africa

Twitter for Business

Smart Pack: Influencer Channels: From Klout to Klouchebag

Customer Relationship Management in the Social Age: A Best Practice Guide

Have we missed anything out?

Now it’s your chance to show what a social media maven you are. What are your top posts, statistics and resources? What have you seen that is worthy of attention? What facts have blown your mind and caused more retweets than an out of control social media intern?

Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

Image credit: Ivanpw on Flickr

 

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