Thread Marketing Group and Toledo’s Black Cloister Brewing Company have been creating can and tap handle labels for Black Cloister’s craft beers since March of 2016.

Toledo Region UX Conference

In my role as Digital Project Manager at Thread Marketing Group, I had the privilege of attending the Toledo Region UX Virtual Conference, “User Research for Everyone.” The virtual conference was hosted and broadcast by Rosenfeld Media, a well-known name in the realm of user experience expertise.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is a strategic method of bringing attention to your brand or product by harnessing respected voices in your industry. The use of blogging and social media are common in online marketing, and because of that the digital landscape is saturated with messaging. Influencer marketing can amplify your message and make your brand stand out from the crowd.

2016 has been a great year for social media and the ever evolving platforms and tools that we use.  As Thanksgiving approaches, we’re looking back at some of the biggest updates and social media releases that we’re thankful for and that have helped move our brand and clients forward.

The Thread team had the opportunity to travel to Chicago for the annual conference of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development--known as SHSMD.  Healthcare is at the intersection of two lines of dynamic change--healthcare delivery is changing and so is marketing.  Leaders in this field are adapting with an incredible amount of innovation and creativity.  For me, it boils down to the idea that you still need to make a connection with people, but in healthcare that increasingly means connecting with people when they aren't sick.  In other words, you need to be part of the "ecosystem" of a customer's life, as one presenter put it.

Ripl Mobile App

Ripl mobile app is a new social media app that makes it easy to animate your static images. Combining images, text, hashtags, links and animations into a shareable video to  your social media profiles has never been so easy.

Customer journey mapping is a valuable but frequently underestimated tool for marketing. As proven over and over by brands that create outstanding customer experiences, the joy is in the details. Take Disney, for example: whether it be the landscape, structures, or character interactions with guests, every element of a Disney park visit must exude wonder and magic. The process of journey mapping, then, enables brands to identify those make-or-break moments and change them for the better.

Good for your brand page? Good for engagement? Not necessarily both. Facebook's new News Feed algorithm puts more emphasis on livestreaming. Yes, sigh, Buzzfeed got 800,000 live viewers for exploding a watermelon with rubber bands during a Facebook Live session. What is a normal experience for most brands? 

A recent Poynter Institute experiment with Live posts and non-Live posts showed a vast difference in Reach and Engagement.

Poynter’s live video of Corey Lewandowski accepting a CNN position reached more than 6,000 users for every engagement. Another top article post on changes to the Associated Press Stylebook only reached 36.

Poynter then looked at the post clicks and engagements these two posts received. The post linking to the Stylebook article had 7,851 post clicks — almost 40 times more than the Lewandowski live video.

Best Practices for Facebook Live

We want to achieve both Reach and Engagement with our published posts on Facebook. So while the goal of this new feature is to increase brand awareness by having Facebook deliver Reach to a wider audience, engagement is not automatic. That’s on you to create a great experience and make the engagement happen.

Here are some best practices for a good Facebook Live experience:

• Pre-announcement for Facebook Live post: Let your audience know when and what is coming. Write a compelling description before going live, then broadcast for at least 8-10 minutes. You can go live for up to 90 minutes.
• Check your connection: Wait for a strong signal/WiFi. Create a seamless experience.
• Questions and comments during a session: Actively engagement with the audience during the session. Answer questions, affirm statements and ask follow up questions.
• Major events or product Q&A: Pick your spots. Align with an event or discuss a product or product launch during your Facebook Live session.
• Behind the scenes: Some news organizations broadcast during breaks and commercials. Show your fans unique “behind the scenes” content.
• Call out to your audience to tap the Follow button, and opt-in to get notifications of upcoming Facebook Live broadcasts

Great Example of Facebook Live

Facebook has come out with new features including filters and the ability to doodle while going live. This is clearly targeted at users who do these things on Snapchat. Facebook has also suggested the ability to add multiple users who can tag-team and share a live broadcast. This is supposed to roll out in August.

What’s a good example or case study of Facebook Live? Check out Gettysburg National Military Park, which did a great job with the recent anniversary of the 1863 battle. Remember that your session must be compelling, unique and informative.

On August 13, 2016, an estimated 40,000 people invaded downtown Toledo to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Jeep. It was Toledo’s biggest single-day festival in decades. The inaugural event gave Toledoans the opportunity to celebrate one of the community’s great passions – its love of the Jeep brand and vehicles.