Embeddable Tweets Packing More Punch | PCMag.com

good news from the makers of the embeddable tweet - it will now act like it does on twitter.com no matter where you stick it.
"Embedded Tweets display photos, videos, article summaries and other content shared in a Tweet, just like you see on twitter.com," Twitter said in a blog post. "You can also view retweet and favorite counts to better understand engagement, and we've made some tweaks to the design so that embedded Tweets are easier to read."
via pcmag.com click through for whole article

 

"secret" SEO tuning tips for geeks| search engine land

getting found. it's a searchable world, so businesses and organizations like to believe that when people are looking for something they provide, their name will pop up. here's a somewhat snide little post that dismisses "the obvious SEO signals" for some less wellknown but pretty easily accomplished tweaks to kick your findability up a notch.

#6 is highlighted here - go to the article for the rest

Images. This is more an addition to Facebook and Google +, but has massive impacts for image search. I personally was having an issue getting certain images to show up on Facebook from my blog, and couldn’t diagnose the issue. Rather than pulling in the images I uploaded for the post, it was pulling in the Social Sharing icons I had set. Bad user experience for anyone else sharing. I found a great plugin to fix the Facebook like thumbnail which brings the images you want to the top, and adds a tag to identify those as the preferred images for the post and for Open Graph.

Do yourself a favor and ensure that the images on your site are descriptive, and they are being picked up by social networks and Google image search.

via searchengineland.com (click through for whole article)

 

wsj says instagram leads twitter in race for ad moolah. I say they're wrong.

the wsj contends that comscore's numbers put instagram ahead of twitter in the race for advertisers' dollars:

Here’s why the “daily user” metric matters: It’s a measurement of how many users (roughly) check the app every single day. That’s important for selling advertisements, because the more engaged a user is, the more likely they are to click on an ad.

Basically, better engagement typically leads to better monetization.

via blogs.wsj.com click to read the full article

congrats to instagram on their impressive adoption growth. however, I question the implication that this means instagram is further along the road to monetization. the article actually throws up a red flag in stating the TOTAL number of twitter users is much higher due to desktop users and acknowledging that instagram is only on mobile. but the point is just left hanging. left in the editing room was the conclusion that if only 60% of twitter use is on mobile, the total count should be nearly 70% higher!

the other question relates to the nature of engagement on the two services. the findings show that instagram beat twitter out in the average amount of time spent using the app. first, I would eliminate the minority obsessive users of each by looking at median time. then, I would want to see the median time spent on each app per visit. - I use instagram mostly to check in and rarely browse others' pics. I would suggest that twitter has a much better shot at driving actual conversion for advertisers since the ads will be integrated in the use process (reading streams, participation in conversations) rather than an interruption of the use process.

5 Twitter Tools Boost Marketing Effectiveness | Social Media Examiner

You may have seen some of these tools - but not all!
I especially like #1

Are you looking for new and creative ways to use Twitter?

Here are 5 lesser-known Twitter tools that your business should be using.

Each of these tools has unique capabilities that may help your business get an edge over your competitors. Oh, and all of these tools are free.

#1: Commun.it—Manage Your Community Efficiently

Commun.it is probably one of the best relationship-management tools out there. It helps you to cultivate your followers on Twitter and make important connections to build your business.

My favorite function is that it will look into your most up-to-date feed and organize your followers into three groups:

  • Influencers
  • Top supporters
  • Engaged Twitter users
community groups

Cultivate your relationships on Twitter based on groups.

By grouping your users, you’re able to focus on not only influential users but people who have previously shared your content and have taken the time to engage with you.

Another advantage of this tool is the ability to sort your list according to “most recent” or “highest rating,” which shows your top influencers based on their algorithm.

The tool is also very user-friendly. You can grow and manage your community fully from its dashboard.

There is also a “Consider to Follow” feature that gives you a list of people to consider following based on previous conversations, retweets and the followers who have been engaging you.

Read the rest on social media examiner

Twitter Now Allows Geo-Targeting to MSA level w Promoted Tweets | ClickZ

In a blog post, product manager Kevin Weil said that global brands using Promoted Tweets can now send tailored messages at different times and customized for users in different countries. With election season in full gear, the capability will come in handy for political advertisers looking to target specific messages to voters in key states and cities.

britishairways-twitterBritish Airways, Coca Cola, the Washington Post and Wendy's have beta-tested the targeting for several weeks, according to the blog post, and the feature is now available to all Promoted Tweets customers. Advertisers can compose targeted Tweets using the newly enhanced Tweet box in ads.twitter.com.

excerpt; click on link to see whole article

Twitter Ads Beating Facebook After All | ClickZ

 

In the rush to compare advertising engagement levels between Twitter and Facebook last week, TBG Digital made a hasty and significant error. The social media marketing vendor originally reported that Facebook mobile ads outperformed Twitter by at least four times, but days later it reversed its finding, admitting that it was "not comparing like for like."

While the desire to juxtapose largely incomparable channels like Twitter and Facebook is understandable, the fact of the matter is that most brands already know that such guesswork is an effort in futility. In its report, TBG Digital compared the click-through rates of Promoted Accounts on Twitter with Newsfeed ads on Facebook. "A more comparable product for Twitter would have been Promoted Tweets," it later noted.

However, the end result still doesn't carry much weight for brands. If Promoted Accounts and Newsfeed ads are akin to comparing apples to elephants, Promoted Tweets and Newsfeed ads are like apples and oranges. Neither of those directly compare, so advertisers learn little in the process.

Based on those misleading comparisons, TBG Digital drew the wrong conclusions. Facebook isn't beating Twitter on mobile ad engagement. Indeed, it appears to be doing quite the opposite.

excerpt; click on link to see whole article

Twitter responds to missing RT’s saga (via thenextweb)

Twitter responds to missing RT’s saga.

Posted by Brad McCarty Follow Brad McCarty on twitter on May 20th, 2010

We’ve been watching this episode since yesterday.  Some Twitter users were noticing that anything with RT in it wasn’t being seen in certain search functions.  The community as a whole went into an uproar.

It seems that Twitter heard that message loud and clear.  We contacted Twitter, and were just given this response via email:

“We’ve been experimenting with ways to identify duplicate content, and recently implemented an approach that identifies retweets as duplicates. This only applied for logged-in searches on www.twitter.com, not to searches on search.twitter.com, search APIs, or the logged-out homepage.  However, this change has not had a positive impact on the user experience so we plan to revert it. Eliminating explicitly duplicative content from search results in a more intelligent way is something we plan to work on more in the long-term.”

It’s always great to see when a company listens to the user base, and even greater when they take an extended hand.  The RT function is important to many of us, and Twitter sees that fact.

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