At the moment, offers are available in beta to a limited number of local business Pages. Offers will launch more broadly soon.

What does this mean for Facebook users that ‘like’ businesses?

“Now, you can get discounts from businesses when they post an offer on their Facebook Page. To claim an offer, all you need to do is click Get Offer from the story anywhere you see it on Facebook.

You’ll start to see offers by Pages you like in your news feed. After you click Get Offer, Facebook will send you an email that you can print off or show on your mobile phone at the business to redeem your discount.”

Watch this short clip for further information on Offers:

At White Echo, we’re very excited to launch yet another exciting Facebook feature for our clients. So excited, you can expect them very soon.

But, just how much has social media changed the way Australians live? Based on this visual chart, we know that the amount of time spent on social networking sites is driven by the need to keep in touch with friends and family. 93 percent of Aussies in fact, claim this to be the main reason. But it is interesting to see just how many of us are plugged in, where we’re from, how old we are, and what other motivators keep us online.

It goes without saying that Facebook is the dominant social network of choice with 97 percent of Aussies logging onto it 16.5 times a week, and an average of 5 hours spent on it per week.

Another 9 percent are on LinkedIn – the social network for working professionals -  which hit three million Australian users recently, and is visited 7.7 times a week. In terms of connections, the popularity vote goes to the 14 to 19 year olds with an average of 343 friends. However, the highest proportion of people using group deal sites are aged between 40-49.

It seems that only 8 percent are in the Twitterverse, but the site still garners an whopping 23 visits a week per person. The most active users are aged between 14 and 19 at 7 percent and for those aged 65 and above, 69 percent do not use social media at all. Following this, women make up 36 percent of everyday social network users, while men make up 25 percent.

The state with the most online social butterflies is Tasmania, with 44 percent of Tasmanians accessing social network sites on an average of 14.8 times a week, whereas South Australians are the least plugged in, with only 23 percent of the population going onto social media 11 times a week.

Retail therapy is another reason many of us are on social media networks – reading an average of 6 review blogs before making a purchase, with 12 percent using social networks for product research. 36 percent would purchase a related product, with 70 percent eventually purchasing the products online.

Despite the growing number of Aussie businesses hopping onto social networking sites (20 percent of Queensland and ACT businesses to be exact), and given social media’s direct engagement with consumers, it is astounding to see that only 5 percent of marketing budgets are allocated to this space.

Based on these figures, the convenience and core features of social media has definitely sustained its popularity. There are only so many hours in a day to keep up with life, so by making it easier and more convenient for people to stay connected with each other, Australians definitely see the value in making time to use social media platforms, not for the sake of leisurely browsing, but, ultimately, to reach out to whoever’s on the other end.

Twitter and other social media platforms like Facebook have provided a fantastic avenue for fans of this great sport of ours to follow, communicate and interact with their favourite players like never before.

Over the past year Twitter has really exploded in membership. Not only do AFL clubs now deliver a constant flow of the latest news and happenings at each club, clubs have also offered assistance and training for their stars and players to join and interact.

So with this in mind I thought I would put together my own All-Australian Twitter Team.

The criteria for this was:

- Players I follow (@JeffWhite34)
- Active accounts, that interact with fans
- Current listed AFL player
- Use Twitter to an acceptable level (knows the basics)

In relation to the coaches I thought laterally with this.

As it stands, I don’t follow any current AFL coaches on Twitter but follow some of the official Twitter accounts of some AFL clubs.

So I decided to include a coach and an assistant coach who could help these players continue to improve in this space.

The coach I’ve decided has been the benchmark for most clubs; humorous at times, they use twitter extremely well and are very active.

The assistant coach is also very clever; great initiatives and one that is always willing to explore the boundaries.

Twitter has certainly provided a great opportunity for people to find out a little more behind the scenes information about their sporting stars.

It has also allowed players themselves to have a voice, interact with fans direct and support their club to the many fans that follow every tweet, @replies and RT’s they send out.

I hope you enjoy my little team and please follow these players throughout the 2012 season if you’re not already.

Good luck to these players and every player and club for this upcoming season.

Every week White Echo will be providing an assessment on the digital presence of a company, sporting club, organisation etc – who we  have come across in the digital space.

The weekly pieces are designed to provide the recipient feedback on our first impression of their digital space whether thats through their social media platforms, people chatting via social media or their website.

In our very first piece we would like to cover Moonee Valley Racing Club.

The one thing that stood out in our assessment of their Social Media platforms – currently Twitter and Facebook – was their consistency on both platforms which is really good.

What a lot of companies tend to lack when creating a social media platform is consistency. We deliver full time service for 16 clients monthly on a range of different platforms and it’s time consuming but if you can put in place a structure that is engaging for your audience then the battle is half won.

Moonee Valley have a good frequency of posts – not too much – highlighting their upcoming events and entertainment at the track.

One thing we suggest is to separate the connection between Twitter and Facebook. Both have unique strengths and we see too often companies delivering the same content on both platforms which can look a little lazy.

When viewing their posts we noticed links to their website on a number of occasions but when we clicked on this link, the website was very hard to navigate via the smartphone.

With the ever growing use of smartphones these days it’s important that companies start adopting smartphone capabilities insuring convenience for viewers to your website.

Now compare their current view via to a smartphone demo we put together below:

It’s great to add links to your social media platforms but don’t see that as a job well done, the duration of that post is only half completed if you don’t have a mobile app in place.

Let’s now provide each platform some feedback.

Facebook

We think Moonee Valley Facebook page needs to provide more interaction for fans on Facebook, great amount of likes which is a huge bonus but offering rewards for people checking in via places as an example – currently 16,279 were here – is a great result, but maybe implement a strategy to encourage people to keep checking in, an incentive.

They might like to look into some advanced applications for their page like - a Facebook app that is a horse race, insert a little game, pick the winner and go in the draw to win XYZ – these types of things are becoming increasingly popular and they generate huge exposure.

They need to update their page to timeline. This will be rolled out come 31st of March so now is a good time to give their fans an opportunity to get use to it and also their staff controlling the page.

All in all, the page is going well, people are liking, commenting and interacting but we would like to see a few things implemented to drive this engagement.

Twitter

First thing we noticed there was the Twitter handle – @MVRC1

This need to be changed and changed quickly. It’s too confusing and no one is going to search for that name or even remember it.

May we suggest changing in settings to @MooneeValleyVRC that is currently available. They can also check out other URL names by going to NameChk

They have in place a Twitter background – Tick. Profile pic – Tick. Profile filled out – Tick. There seems to be a few Retweet’s but we suggest interacting a little more with the followers.

People often don’t have their notifications setup to see when people have rewtweeted their tweets but will always see Replies, so this is one way to engage and receive feedback and interaction from the followers.

Another thing that would be really cool to follow would be implementing an instagram account. This can also be implemented for their Facebook inserting an app into the page.

Glamor, fashion, fans, horses, entertainment bringing that all to life via pictures through instagram – hottest photo sharing application on the planet today – is a great way to present this for the fans.

Our last little tip would be to implement a keyword tracking platform to research the conversations occurring instantly via Twitter.

Twitter is a keyword platform offering unique ways to track conversation via hastags and keywords.

Moonee Valley should implement an online social media management platform such as Sprout Social.

This social media management tool will not only offer them fantastic reporting for Facebook and Twitter, but it will also allow them to track conversations instantly via a cool feature named “Discovery”.

This would provide that “element of surprise” for fans discussing Moonee Valley but more importantly provide Moonee Valley a great opportunity to track conversations and interact directly with fans instantly.

We hope Moonee Valley appreciates our feedback. Our first impression of their social media was really good. It was consistent, it was interesting and provided their fans many opportunities to engage with their brand.

We wish Moonee Valley all the best in the future with their social media.

White Echo gives Moonee Valley a Social Media rating of: 7/10

If you would like to have your company assessed by our team or have recently come across a company that either has no presence or would appreciate our feedback, then please send their website address to: socialmedia@whiteecho.com

The momentous support behind the iPad has been nothing short of astounding. With 15.4 million sold in last quarter alone, the revolutionary tablet has changed the way many of us work, play and brainstorm. It follows the success of a series of Apple products now synonymous to everyday life.

With the launch of the new iPad, Apple purists will be happy to know that the company is sticking to its tried and true formula of success, underlined with the steadfast commitment to being harder, better, faster and stronger. The onslaught of speculations and reviews has been spreading throughout the Internet like wildfire, fanning the anticipation of Apple fans worldwide.

Now with the official launch and what has been referred to as Tim Cook’s real test as Apple’s CEO, consumers will have the chance to judge for themselves whether things have taken a turn for better or for worse. Equipped with high-definition graphics, connection to 4G networks and an even faster processor, the new iPad is a seamless changeover from the iPad 2, implementing effective improvements while retaining its best features. However, Australians would have to wait a bit longer to experience the new iPad at its fullest capacity in terms of speed, due to frequency differences with Telstra’s 4G networks, until reconfigurations can be made. Despite the incompatibility, it is set to go on sale in Australia on March 16th.

But with the launch of this particular product, it leaves many wondering whether these changes are truly remarkable, or whether Apple has, at the moment, peaked with its revolutionary status, hence the clever ‘resolutionary’ tagline focusing on the clarity of its display.

What is your take on Apple’s marketing for the new iPad? Will it retain its status, as Tim Cook states, as the poster-child of the post PC world?

Every few days, traditional media outlets – TV, radio and newspapers – are full of reasons, opinions and case studies as to why social media is a scourge. I’m not being dramatic either – every couple of days, guaranteed, something negative is bandied about relating to social media.

I found an example within minutes this morning – in today’s Herald Sun, Andrew Bolt writes, “The internet bombardments … give power to the lazy, punitive, vicious and unrepresentative.” If I kept searching, I’d keep discovering them.

Let’s be clear; there are complex issues associated with the Internet and social media.

What’s frustrating, however, is that not often enough are the benefits and the good associated with social media given attention. Not often enough are the majority of social media users – responsible, positive, active people – given the respect they deserve.

Yesterday, this video on Joseph Kony went viral. The video goes for half an hour. I suggest watching it, when you have a moment.

It’s a heartbreaking and inspiring short documentary on a horrific man and the crimes he has committed – and why he needs to be brought to justice.

It’s also an amazing example of something good, with a message and purpose, given legs solely by social media. Twitter and Facebook erupted yesterday with people sharing and retweeting this video. Celebrities, athletes, public figures, businesspeople and social media users spread the message. They are the reason why morning television and breakfast radio were alight with discussion this morning, and why, in about a day and a half, when newspapers catch up, they too will be sharing the story.

Already, the validity of this clip has come into question. What’s laughable is that if it were played on the ABC or BBC, so many people would be lapping it up. Already, I have been accused of being someone who jumps on a bandwagon – because I chose to share and promote the video, and its message. Already, opinions, articles and responses are being formed as to why it’s wrong, misleading, and why we’re all a herd of sheep for getting involved.

To those people I say this; I’d rather spread a positive, empowering message through social media, than a negative one. Whilst I like to post Instagram photos of my meals and talk about where I’m having coffee, social media has given me a voice and I’ll use it – and if you don’t like it, you can click the unfollow button.

Sure, there’s no doubt that a lot needs to be learned about the issues presented in the video, but I’ve never been more sure of one thing;

People can make a difference. And everyone has a voice.

Social media is the most powerful tool in the world.

Following the #KONY2012 hashtag last night was like watching a bushfire rage out of control – it just kept spreading and spreading and spreading.

It swept me away.

I know what naysayers are like and I know they don’t like the idea of joining the flock or spreading a message that means very little to them, and places very little impact on their lives. But people should stop being afraid to get swept away. In the 1960s, people used their feet and placards to protest and storm streets and used their voice to demand change. In 2012, we use social media – to organise the same kind of events and to spread a message.

And it’s more powerful. It reaches more people. You can be Ellen or Oprah or John Citizen and make an impact. One tweet can have an effect. I’ve seen it when someone complains to a telecommunications company, or a restaurant. I’ve seen campaigns go wrong and businesses lose thousands of dollars in advertising money.

So why is it so hard to believe that social media can spread good?

We may have come a long way with the Internet and social media, but as a society we’re far quicker to believe that if it’s on TV or published in a newspaper, it’s more credible than something on YouTube or published online. I deal with that attitude every single day.

The assumptions made about social media are generally from people that have very little idea about how it operates and usually from people that haven’t engaged with social media platforms in a consistent or meaningful way.

The actual truth is that the media, marketing and advertising world is changing – and fast. And there are a lot of people out there that can’t accept it. And don’t like it.

People vote with their feet. Their money. Their mouth. People are the very beings that drive social media.

And I understand why that can scare businesses and marketers and traditional media – the way things have been, for a very long time, is not the way things are anymore. They are never going to be that way again. You can run from it, you can beat it down and you can use your ignorance as an excuse to keep criticising it or you can accept it, you can embrace it and you can use it to benefit you, your business, or a cause.

This is not the last you will hear about Joseph Kony, or the campaign to bring justice to those that have suffered in the past from his actions.

You will, of course, hear all sorts of arguments as to why this campaign is ridiculous. Why you should address (insert 1000 issues here within your own country) first, why this is just a mission to further spread the work of the organisation behind the clip, Invisible Children. You’ll also be told to have a mind of your own, and that you’re following the crowd, following a plight you knew nothing about until a day or so ago.

For me, it’s not about when I found out about it. Or how much I know about it. The only thing that concerns me is what I’m going to do about it.

@SandiSieger for @WhiteEcho

One that clearly stood out was a Twitter competition by David Jones to win a t-shirt autographed by Miranda Kerr.

This tweet was tweeted by Miranda herself, hitting close to 700k people, instantly.

Correct my if I’m wrong, but I’m not sure if David Jones would have implemented this type of marketing 12 months ago.

I worked at a radio station for 2 years. Great experience, treasured every minute of it. One of the key focuses for a commercial radio station is giveaways. It’s entertaining, clients love it and your listening audience no doubt increases. Delivering a high listening audience is a wonderful sales tool but is it, along with newspaper and TV, the future for running competitions? Is the Australian public leaning more towards this new form of media – social media – because it’s easier to enter and you can share your experience with friends with a click of a button? Well I believe so and businesses are certainly taking full advantage.

In a recent interview with Mashable.com Dorothy Dowling, Best Western’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales said, “More than ever, Best Western’s customers are integrating social media into every part of their personal and professional lives. It’s important that Best Western is delivering every service available via our Facebook page because, in short, that’s where all our customers are.”

It’s not only the competition angle that businesses are slowly starting to realise is a powerful way to attract new fans and engage with your current customers directly, but businesses are now more than ever understanding that a tool like a Facebook Page can deliver so much information in one place. And for the ones who are using it properly – like the direct booking feature Facebook application Best Western has inserted - Facebook apps are providing wonderful convenience for the customer.

In a big display of the turning circle with the traditional advertising, eleven days ago Nike announced its new Marketing approach for 2012; a 40% reduction in TV & Print Advertising.

Two days later, Nike then launched an exciting product that allows its customers to receive information directly from their Nike shoes to their iPhone app allowing them to – you guessed it – share instantly with their friends via social media.

Do you think Nike can use this to provide competitions on their social media platforms? Most definitely. Would they have considered running radio/print/TV ads to promote a competition for this 3 years ago? Possibly, but that has now shifted and shifted in a huge way.

In an interview on the Piers Morgan show late last year, Gary Vaynerchuk (Twitter) – entrepreneur and along with Amy Jo Martin (Twitter), the leaders in social media strategies – said, “everything is going old school, social media is allowing businesses to interact with customers direct like they did many decades ago, because they actually cared about their customers,” Gary said. “Consumers don’t want to be talked to anymore, their pounded with commercials, print, newspaper articles and billboards they’re actually looking to shop with brands that care about them.” Gary, spot on.

It’s certainly an interesting point Gary raises. Are customers leaning more towards the brands that will spend that extra time to reply to a tweet or a comment they have made on their Facebook wall? I think so. And are those consumers more inclined to tell their friends they received a response to a Facebook message they posted on a business wall as opposed to a newspaper ad they noticed? I think so. Why? Because it’s direct marketing and it’s care, not the traditional pounding of messages we’re so used to but are slowly tuning away from.

Question: When was the last time you entered a radio/print/TV competition? To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever entered one. It’s not convenient. I’m not going to cut out an ad from newspaper and send my entry off or ring up a radio station because I’ve been listening for 4 hours to hear the secret codeword or text a number listed on a TV screen because I know I’ll receive texts after texts, it’s all inconvenient.

It’s messages after messages after messages that consumers are slowly starting to tune out from and the lifecycle of consumer care is slowly starting to shift towards that key brand to customer ingredient; care.

Here’s another interesting stat, this from Eric Schmidt – former CEO at Google – “More content is being produced in 48 hours now, than was produced from the beginning of mankind to 2003.” This is another example of why consumers are being pounded with all this information and they are now learning to tune all these messages out.

The last 18-20 months has seen an unstable financial economy. People have reserved themselves from spending and when they have, it’s been treated with care.

When making that purchase it has come down to one thing; care from the company to make sure the customer gets what they paid for. No short cuts, complete care for the customer.

When implementing a social media strategy for our clients, it’s all about 24/7 customer support. What I mean by that is providing our clients every opportunity to respond to their customers when needed. To support those customers and not to hide anything. With social media, you can’t hide and that’s what customers want; honesty, openness and transparency.

Businesses more than ever before have a unique opportunity to engage directly with their customers, something that they can’t do via traditional media.

I like the way some businesses are using traditional media to promote that they are available via Twitter and Facebook.  This to me once again confirms what I believe is occurring; companies are using social media to run competitions, engage with their customers because the ROI – reach on influence – is more measurable than print, TV and radio.

If you would like to find out various ways on how your company can benefit from implementing certain social media platforms, please feel free to contact us: socialmedia@whiteecho.com

@JeffWhite34 for @WhiteEcho

Opray has been hailed as an innovator by local real estate agencies. Following his success, it is undeniable that his methods will be copied. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if this form of marketing floats more and more into real estate marketing strategies because the same strategies have been delivered for far too long, and the power of word-of-mouth has been strongly underestimated.

We often talk about the accessibility of social media that draws customers, but it also goes to show that authentic engagement and communication allow for that connection to continue. Opray, for an example, has made it a point to update information on a weekly basis, making it convenient for potential homebuyers to view the house without leaving the comforts of their home.

For a combination of marketing channels, real estate agencies should really look into heightening customer convenience, by using innovative methods like applying QR codes, allowing them to view properties online through newspaper articles. After all, far too much money and time has been spent on traditional forms of marketing media, like print and television – when it is evident that consumers are flocking to the Internet.

More importantly, using social media has broadened Opray’s market reach, casting a web that, when effectively used, extends on a voluminous scale. Social media allows audiences to proactively communicate in a free and open manner, on an interactive basis – something that customers can now actively explore rather than just reactively consume. Especially when it comes to making big decisions like purchasing a property, people can now find comfort in going directly to the source. Despite the word that the property market is going under, Kurt Opray has managed to succeed due to his efficient choice in marketing tools.

If you wish to see your business flourish through the effective use of social media tools, please feel free to contact us.  We are more than happy to discuss with you where and how the use of social media tools would be able to uniquely assist your business. 

@Gwendoot for @WhiteEcho

The “this looks great” part is the new media, digital media, the “we’ll get back to you” is the common mistake.

Too often we’re seeing companies continuing to delay their decision to enter the digital space for their company.

Digital space can relate to a number of things; mobile apps for your website, social media (Twitter, Facebook etc.), Google adwords and one of the most important parts to any company, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

In a recent email from a friend, who is nowhere near tech savy, she informed me that because of the change in their mobile website – White Echo put in place a mobile app for their website – she is now receiving more hits via the smartphone then ever before, including more traffic and hits than the Yellow Pages provides them with.

The company realised that Google traffic was extremely high via the smartphone but because they had their website still visible as a desktop setup for the smartphone, visitors were finding it extremely difficult to navigate, hence the reason for no hits.

The same can be said when it comes to Social Media with platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and things like QR Codes.

Basic line of digital space; it bridges the gap between your brand and your customers. So why are companies delaying the opportunity to take advantage of the customer to company relationship?

A key part to this delay rests with the owners and in some cases, the baby boomer generation – born between the years 1946 and 1959.

It’s now the responsiblity of these baby boomers to start opening their minds to the digital space, the future of their business and to keep reminding themselves, “the internet is only 17 years old, is my business prepared for the online?”

What may have been successful in the past 20 years is now being overlooked by the ever changing online media, EVERYDAY.

It certainly is going to take time for Australian companies to realise how powerful the digital space is and the ones who delay it will be the ones who keep delaying the future advantages to their company.

Whether you’re a small, medium or large company, start preparing the future of your business with the future advantage of networking; online.

When next discussing your budget for advertising, think of the digital space even if it’s a small percentage of your budget. Ignore this opportunity for another year and you could in fact miss the boat all together.

The digital space is evolving everyday, it’s creating powerful customer relationships for brands all over the world and it’s developing trust in your brand that takes months and thousands and thousands of dollars to build with other forms of advertising.

If you would like to find out more about the digital space and how your company can benefit, feel free to contact White Echo for a FREE no obligation discussion.

@JeffWhite34 for @WhiteEcho

I first came across Instagram on a trip to the Whitsundays in October 2010. I remember showing my wife, taking pictures and enhancing them to show off to our friends.

The problem with Instagram back then was that when sharing with a platform like Facebook, it was a link that sent you away from Facebook itself, a no no in the social media circles.

I decided to park the app for a while until I noticed someone I’m quite the fan of, Jack Dorsey – Co-Founder of Twitter – had joined.

Instagram, a photo sharing application allows you to add filters and effects to your pictures, share them on various platforms like Twitter and Facebook, follow other Instagram users and add hashtags – similar to Twitter, a form of tagging your pictures – allowing people to discover your images.

Instagram allows you to configure your picture with 16 cool filters. You can brighten it up, you can make it darker, add filters that give it a grainy or old-school polaroid look and the coolest part, make the foreground stand out and the background blurry, and vice versa.

Being involved in the digital space, researching night and day, I don’t think I’ve seen a bigger explosion in membership to a platform since Twitter, with Instagram now sitting at over 15 million users.

The biggest change Instagram has made, and one I feel has helped with its explosion, is the link to Facebook.

When sharing with Twitter, it’s a simple link, a strength of Facebook is the visual content and now uploaded images go straight into an ‘Instagram Photos’ album.

Instagram late last year made a huge upgrade in providing the visual look of the pictures (see above) when you share on Facebook; no link, no thumbnail, and a huge image.

A key to sharing your pictures and gaining huge exposure is adding hashtags to your uploads.

The thing we’re noticing is the amount of people searching for photos via keywords.

When you open up Instagram, go to your profile, search Instagram and click on tags. When you type in a word say, Spotify, the hashtag automatically appears in front of your keyword search. If you love Instagram and love people to like your pictures then I suggest adding hashtags to your pictures.

Even though it’s designed for the mobile device, you can also manage your Instagram account via this link called Statigram. The great thing about this application is the statistics you can receive from people visiting, liking and commenting on your pictures.

I now use Instagram more then ever. My library of pictures whether it’s Twitter or Facebook is now via Instagram.

If you haven’t signed up to Instagram, do yourself a favor and go and try. It’s a free app for the iPhone, an Android app is in the pipeline.

@JeffWhite34 for @WhiteEcho

If you want to follow Jeff on Instagram, search for JeffWhite34 on Instagram.

Check out the little demo below on how to use Instagram…