So now if you think of any other Cs please feel free to leave a comment; all of them will published – apart from the ones with not very good meanings

Or perhaps would like to introduce your very own collection from A – Z; that would be good to have them published too – as sharing means caring!

There are more and more outdoor advertising campaigns have Twitter and Facebook icons printed right at the bottom of ads, but not many have the handle or the page name next to them; simply because of ignoring user experience. Anyway, it is difficult to see and remember the social elements while driving or travelling by public transport; unless one is in a traffic jam. It seems advertisers just do this for the sake of calling their campaign social integration.

Needless to say, such level of integration can work for some types of outdoor campaigns, such as ads in buses and tubes; but not billboards in high roads and bridges or even train stations. It is also important to remember the age restriction on certain social channels as well as advertising regulations in certain countries.

One prime example of not so strategically use of social elements in outdoor advertising campaign is Budweiser in the UK; they cited “over 18s only” next to the Facebook logo (which presumably is their brand Facebook page). In a glance, their effort can be seen as responsible, but it is rather irresponsible in other ways. For instance, we all know there are many under 18s on Facebook pretending to be over 18; they can easily take part in any competitions or promotions by the brand (with no real control on who is really over 18!). Or does Budweiser hired a team to manually check age of every single individual liked their Facebook page?

It is appreciated that some may suggest people should be responsible and act responsibly and some would question Budweiser’s sense of responsibility and their consideration of ethics. Budweiser however, would argue that they did their little bit; which would possibly let them get away with the law – but not social responsibility and ethics.

Obviously change is inevitable in some organisations to really master BSP.

Drink Aware, a charity based in the UK whose aim is to change the UK’s drinking habit for better, is innovatively looking for different ways to disseminate critical information via traditional medium.

Drinking culture in the UK is worrying the whole nation as it can change the image of the whole country in a global level. Drink Aware seems committed to challenge this culture by providing facts about the consequences of drinking alcohol.

Drink Aware is also using Social Media to help individuals have access to honest information about alcohol consumption. With over 19,600 likes on My Drink Aware Facebook page, there are surely helpful tips from experts and thought provoking stories from people to pick on your way to bars and night clubs. It would be worthwhile following the charity on Twitter to have a look at their tweets when in the dance floor fancy another alcohol drink; they may have an interesting fact about the third drink.

But the cool way Twitter announced it this time made it easier for folk to wait. Having Twitter down just few hours before the New Year is probably because the microblogging site considering additional support from cloud servers to better handle traffic and content without sudden crashes after the New Year – but what would be the point of that when already millions are disappointed?

People just lost one effective mode of communications, as well as hundreds of depended apps, just few hours before the most exciting moments, 2012 New Year.

Social Media has given the opportunity to everyone to write and talk freely from wherever, as long as the Internet connection is available. Of course some know how to use the medium and share inspiring content with the world; and some other choose to just have a chat with their neighbours in the social space.

One may also say that some wouldn’t use the medium appropriately and just cause inconvenience for the responsible citizens of Social Media; this is unfortunately the case but there’s no clear cut fix to it and it requires a lot of education as well as cooperation.

What happens on Social Media won’t stay on Social Media and it wouldn’t be even possible to undo, at least the effect is somehow permanent. If you choose to take part in conversations in Social Media channels, you may wish to remember the secrete to Social Media success; something I called ‘Special Ks’:

• Keep it short
• Keep it simple
• Keep it safe

And of course try to make sense and listen as well, simple!

Just until a few months ago marketers were planning their search engine marketing budget on PPC and or SEO; but today Google made it more diverse. Social Media is added to the mix and the entire search experience changed; from both brands and consumers perspective.  Here is something that some brands may find it challenging for which they need strategy and plan in place; for example type of information which may appear in Twitter may not be the one the brand is really keen on for their potential consumers see right above their ad displayed on Google. In that sense Google is once again revolutionising the search experience, like what they did in 90s; but this time with a stronger approach – word of mouth!

Google in the recent months did enormous changes to the website, from tweaks in the interface design to functionality and products integration.

Today when we search for something in Google we have the ability to define it by region and timing; keywords alone aren’t the only parameters for what we are looking for.

There are now three types of ads appearing on Google when one searches for products or services:

a) Buzzdock ads
b) Comparison ads
c) Usual PPC ads

Of course it is worthwhile to mention that Comparison ads aren’t in the search results for all kind of search we do on Google; but it is still one of the new categories introduced by the search engine company. It is also interesting to see how Google is trying to maximise their ad revenue by displaying PPC ads right at the bottom of page one in some circumstances.

We are definitely living in one of the most exciting moments of history, full of creativity and innovations from all over the world.

Generally speaking, number of Facebook users are going north, more and more UGC based platforms are coming to life; Affiliate Marketing is popular more than ever and more brands are talking about collaboration and partnership these days. Businesses are increasingly using Google Ads as a revenue stream; in which ads eliminating competitors’ websites is not easily viable.

Although the ultimate purpose for business is to sell and boost profitability, they also need to engage and interact with their both customers and prospects; this is due to shifts in consumer behaviour and culture of communications. Interactive TV, game consoles, text messaging and Bluetooth are some of the channels brands considering or have considered to engage with their audience. For example, Kinect and its interactive TV capability attracted attention of major brands like Honda, Emirates and O2. CBS Outdoor deployed Bluetooth technology to maximise engagement in a more traditional advertising environment – buses.

The way businesses have been practising business for years is now changed and is changing rapidly; thanks to viral communications techniques, gaming and text messaging; but among all aforementioned techniques, mobile messaging seems to be a very lucrative market and indeed a popular communication technique among businesses. According to the report, it is estimated global mobile messaging market exceed US $200bn by the end of 2011; this market in 2010 was worth US $179.2bn. On a global level, SMS alone generated US $114.6bn for mobile networks in 2010.

Gaming, also, shouldn’t be forgotten as an effective communications technique; in almost every social network site we go to, there are many games available for free or apps for smartphone available to download on Apple, Android and Windows marketplaces. Social network sites like Facebook even encourage users to use their mobile numbers to verify their accounts; something Google is also encouraging their Gmail users to do too.

picture by: goojet.com

If brands and or their consultants consider others, they will enjoy success and sustainability throughout; but unfortunately we often witness individuals who put their very own personal interests first and forget others; that is not very helpful for brands.

Very recently, I came across a tweet, which is rather selfish and against the transparent principles of Social Media and in general, communications.

A profile may be seen as dormant on Twitter, but only from the interested trademarked brand’s point of view, but not necessarily from the point of view of the person who setup the profile. Such aggressive intention to take over someone else’s Twitter account can cause crisis in the future for the brand; and the cause of the crisis is then obvious.

It is critical to make sure right individuals with right approach are appointed in Social Media, in order to maximise the impact of communication and drive success and business sustainability.

Unfortunately, there are still some individuals in business who have very little understanding of others and think of themselves as the total authority and the one who must decide for how others should act.

This is rather inappropriate in the modern days, in which we live in, especially when we can share our thoughts and feelings about each others’ behaviour on Social Media.