Tag: social media - Page 14

One of my good friends is incredibly talented. She has worked for some of Australia's most successful fashion houses as a designer and a few years back decided that she wanted to start her own brand.

I am a big advocate for women that have a go. Her label and namesake Sophie Moran Inc is worn by celebrities, models and people throughout the world that fall in love with her simple designs, great fabric and the wearability of her product. The brand is fun, sexy and can be worn anywhere. It's also a great gift for your nearest and dearest.

Like many great designers, she started her business from her kitchen table and it is now seen in more than 70 stores around the world. Her marketing is simple. Facebook. She cannot make enough product to cater for the demand from the stores that stock her products and her friends. Facebook showcases her latest designs and who is wearing it with what.

All the models are friends who just so happen to be either famous (and fabulous) or incredibly good looking. You won't see any anorexia girls on this page. Just healthy, sporty stylish women that genuinely love the Sophie Moran brand.

This is one of her latest designs. Check out her Facebook page and let me know what you think! As an Australian fashion designer, she rocks - big time!

The past few years has seen us as marketeers witness the tip of a technological iceberg. 

In a world where the word ‘Facebook’ is now as internationally recognised as the ‘Coca-Cola’ and ‘OK’ of yesteryear, we can conclude that social media and with it, social media campaigns, are the order of the day.  Businesses won’t maximise business without an effective social media presence - it is essential to play in today’s extremely competitive business environment and create long-lasting communications to build brand image and trust.

I really don't want to mislead you, but there are some truths about social media that you need to be aware of.

Social media is powerful - undeniably so. It has the strength and depth to make or break a brand. It can cleverly make a company or person appear more successful than they really are. It can make you famous, rich and powerful.

Out of the wood work, names that were not known just five years ago, are now ranked in the top brands online in the world. 

But is this 'social media' thing all that its cranked up to be?

Canberra, ACT. The city is rarely, if ever, associated with tourism. Politics, public servants and pornography are usually what springs to mind when its name is mentioned.

But not for hundreds of guests last weekend, as Australian Capital Tourism hosted a second round of recruits who were shown the much-maligned city's hidden secrets in an attempt to overthrow its image problem. More than 30,000 everyday Australians applied for a free getaway to the nation's capital, with only 500 selected for the massive famil. The catch? We were all selected on the strength of our social media presences and had to share our experiences with friends and followers online.

It feels like the birth of the sweeping social media phenomenon occurred just five seconds ago, with Pinterest’s viral growth to dizzying heights, Facebook’s takeover of Instagram and Twitter launching the new network, Vine.

The new medium is continuing to grow and evolve, spawning a new phenomenon of its own: visual social media.

Like moths to a flame, humans are innately drawn to visual elements including images, photographs and sensational design. As more of us are increasingly mobile and engaging with social media on smartphones, viewing an image is far less tedious than squinting to read a few lines of tiny text on a moving train.

Four minutes. That’s how long it took for the first Twitter advertiser to bid on “power outage” as a search term after the lights went out at the New Orleans Superdome.

It also didn’t take long for cookie giant Oreo to respond to the now-infamous #superbowlblackout, spawning more than 13,000 re-tweets and nearly 5000 favourites.

Let’s start this blog with a simple exercise. Go to your Facebook page and look at the last 10 statuses you posted. What are they mostly about? You may want to think before posting if most of your statuses revolve around work complaints, drunken weekend antics or overstate political opinions.

A study by University of Scranton and UC San Diego researchers found that Facebook status updates stick in the minds of readers for longer than you think – one status alone is 1.5 times more memorable than sentences from books, and 2.5 times more memorable than faces of strangers, representing a remarkable difference in memory performance.

However, the work you put into it is extremely beneficial when it comes to your company’s branding, giving the world an insight into what’s behind the scenes. On top of that, writing a blog can grow your business as you position your company as a thought leader in its industry.

I am not sure you, but I work full time in marketing and even I find it hard to keep up with the latest in social media.

Fortunately, we are not alone. The world has gone "bonkers" over social media and just like the way taking a photograph on our mobile phone is now the norm, so too is checking in on social media and engaging with audiences for both business and pleasure.

1. The average users of social media each month is now a total of 850 million people. (Source: Jeff Bullas)

2. 23 percent of Facebook users check their account more than 5 times per day. (Source Socialnomics)

It is "unbeatable". The race that stops a nation.

The 152 Melbourne Cup Carnival promises to be even bigger and better than ever before. More than 100,000 people will go down to Flemington, rain, hail or shine, to watch a race that lasts only minutes. 

Swiss took the first prize in the celebrated Birdcage stakes attracting international movie star Nicole Kidman to town for just 24 hours to make an appearance. Lavazza came in a close second, although I do think their birdcage is by far the most fun, with Roberto Cavalli. Love their very "in" fluro accent on the cage this year. Looks very in vogue and no doubt will be part of bringing out the best party in town yet again. They always have a cool DJ playing and a bit of a sing along at the end of the day which draws in the karoake loving celebrities around town.

For Lavazza I think they do an amazing job of standing out from the crowd. It first started with having Rod Stewart's ex as a guest, Rachel Hunter and each year it has gotten bigger and better. I have seen the Madden boys in their a few times, lots of local celebrities and sporting stars. John Valmorbida is the ultimate host and is always as charming as ever.