By Nicole Fletcher

It looks like Twitter is getting an updated look! Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says the goal of this redesign is to have “Twitter [be] more accessible for all 7 billion people on the planet”. Beyond that, Twitter wants the site to be “simpler not just for people already engaged but easier for new people to discover it and find value in it. It’s the best place to represent yourself on the Internet.”

They’re introducing 3 new buttons on the home page: Home, which will appear similar to the Twitter we all know and love, Connect and Discover. Home will appear in a slightly smaller view than vintage Twitter but will also incorporate a cleaner display of embedded content with respect to images and videos. Connect shows you who has mentioned you and who you might want to follow while Discover shows whats trending and directs you to stories you might care about.

Beyond that, Twitter is launching new, Facebook-esque brand pages! Brands will be able to customize the headers at the top of each page and the ability to select which tweets stay at the top of their feed.

It’s pretty clear that in doing this major re haul, Twitter is trying to discourage the use of third party aps and attract tweeters back to home base. We’ll see how this change takes flight in the months to come.

By Nicole Fletcher

At the heart of any company’s social media strategy lies content, fresh, engaging, inquisitive and pertinent content. Pretty simple right? You’d think so, but I can’t tell you how many people and brands are involved in social media just for the sake of being in with the in crowd, and not because they’re actually committing to engaging in a marketing strategy capable of achieving staggering results.

1/12 of the world’s population is on Facebook. Take a second to realize the insanity that lies within that fact. 1/12 of the entire world’s population is connected by one network on the World Wide Web when the web itself didn’t exist only a few decades ago. Those billions of people update, comment and like daily, engaging with their friends and family on the book of faces, projecting their voices into the cyber-sphere. Those people don’t disguise their voices online so why should your business? Those people are selective with what they post, as to not overwhelm, annoy or offend their friends and family, and your business should be the same way.

Social Media is a two way street in that while you certainly want to promote your brand, you also want to give your fans/followers what they want to ensure their  loyalty. There are a number of brands that do a great job with this and I’ll use them to illustrate the right way to create and share content.

1. Know the voice of your brand - Skittles kills it in this area posting witty, funny, recognizable, bro-ish posts both pertinent to the Skittles brand and totally random ones as well. For example:  “Oh wow. I just made something awesome in my garage. And I’m sending it out to one lucky Rainbro” and “Just got a fortune cookie fortune telling me to stop taking advice from strange cookies”. Before stumbling upon this fan page, I wasn’t even aware of this SoCal strong vibe…but I dig it and clearly the fans do too seeing as each post gets ~10,000 likes. Party on Skittles

2. Know your target market – Thrillist does a great job with finding and creating market specific content. Their people like to know about weird cool things going on in specific cities and nationwide so they promote Thrillist specific interesting, engaging content AND non-affiliated awesome stuff, thereby keeping their fans and followers happy and loyal.

3. Solve problems - Your people are hanging out on social networks in real time so why not help them while they’re there? They’ll appreciate the effort and be loyal for life as a result. J&P Cycles is the perfect example both for this point and the next. They seamlessly fuse punctuality with expert problem solving skill and that is the key to customer service success in social media.

4. Time is of the essence -Online conversations have a short shelf-life, meaning that businesses really need to be on their A game with respect to response time. If a client or customer has a question, get back to them as soon as possible. Work social media monitoring into your daily routine so that you’re aware of the chatter going on about your brand. And guess what? There’s an app for that – tweetdeck, hootsuite or even facebook and twitter for iphone/Droid are a few  of the many free apps out there and available for you to use. Happy downloading,

5. Use your head - No one wants to visit a fan page/twitter account with identical posts back to back or numerous updates scheduled and posted at the exact same time. Make an excel spread sheet if you’re scheduling out your posts. Keep track of what you post/schedule at what time each day and make sure you have an appropriate balance of self promotion and other awesome content. Throw in fun information you think your target market will enjoy and if you’re scheduling, that’s great, but if something in real time happens, make sure to include it. Fresh current content is always the best.

Social Media, as a rule, makes sense. Find your voice and run with it. Be creative. Think outside the box. Bloom. Blossom. Grow. Create – success will soon follow.

By Nicole Fletcher

In case you didn’t take my word for it before, social media is a big deal. America’s favorite pink drink Pepto Bismol has jumped on the glorious band wagon along with the rest of the world and has shifted their marketing budget from nearly 100% traditional, to a mere 10%, leaving the other ~90% for the world wide web. Remember when I talked about finding your target market, no matter your industry and that every demographic has a presence online? Well, antacids just found theirs.

Brand managers looked into the existent chatter around the brand and found that the most common references related to overeating and the color Pepto Bismol pink. And so, they went with it. Pepto revamped their look with a new facebook and twitter page in addition to a fabulously low budget but admittedly laughable youtube video starring Ken Jeong of The Hangover. The company saw a 7% increase in sales in July, August and November, the biggest growth the pink liquid makers have seen in years.

So, social media skeptics if you still question your industry’s place online, think again because if Pepto Bismol can find its niche, so can you. Watch the commercial.

By Nicole Fletcher
I’m not totally in the holiday spirit and I’ve been kind of upset about it. It’s December 15th and I’ve yet to bake a cookie, set foot in a mall or drink a warm alcoholic beverage. I’ve been busy and excitedly working on a million things not related to the Christmas season…and then I came across this. This video demonstrates perfectly the synergy between my work and my holiday spirit, or lack thereof. My world is consumed by social media and I love it, but it took this video to put the twinkle in my tweets and the flurry in my facebook updates. In honor of the holiday season, I’d like to share this video with you. Sit back, relax and enjoy the story of Christmas with a fabulously modern media spin.