What We Are Reading

Sports and Social Media, Puzzles, Link Building, and a Funny Viral Video

February 2, 2012 | Posted by FSC Interactive

It’s Thursday and that means it’s What We’re Reading Day! This week on the FSC Interactive reading list are articles on social media efforts surrounding this weekend’s Superbowl as well as some fun infographics and videos. What are you waiting for? Get your read on!

Ashley: When you’re in the online marketing industry, there are things you love and people you idolize that others just might not understand. Sure, everyone’s excited when they see that Brad Pitt is coming to New Orleans for his Make It Right Foundation Gala or when celebrities line the first row at the Hornets games, but what about the tech heroes that shape our everyday world with their inventions? These are the ones us techies swoon over! That’s why I can’t wait until Sunday’s Superbowl Game. Not for the game of course, since the Saints aren’t playing, but for Best Buy’s Superbowl Commercial that pays homage to the creators of Instagram, Square and the camera phone.

Sally: The marketing masters who have the most successful brand page on Facebook will no doubt hit it out of the park again with their Superbowl campaign. Coca Cola’s highly interactive and integrated campaign covers all major social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Mobile and YouTube. Besides creating commercials with their beloved mascots, the Coke Polar Bears, that will run during and after the game on ESPN, they’ve developed a live stream of two bears reacting in real time to plays in the game, one a fan of the Packers and one a fan of the Giants. The bears can be seen watching the game on Coke’s Facebook app, YouTube channel, Twitter stream and their Web site will redirect to the Facebook App. Coke’s done it again.

Brooke: My read this week is short, sweet and easy on the eyes. Check out this awesome Infographic: If You Printed Facebook. The UK’s largest cartridge retailer, Cartridge Save released new figures revealing the cost it would be to print out all of the statuses on Facebook, you won’t believe these numbers!

Sadie: For those of you feeling particularly savvy at the sport of Internet research on the playground of the World Wide Web – here’s a challenge for you.  The Google A Day puzzle requires you to bring all of your online exploration skills to the table. Google has actually cloned a version of itself before the daily puzzle is announced, so that searching for the answer won’t result in previously searched content by other users.  This replica of the search engine is cleverly titled Deja Google.  Are you current on the latest search features that Google has launched?  Check out their inside search page for tips and tricks.

Kristin: Social Media Sites Hire Editors to Document All the Free Content- and Market it to Users – A new strategy for both Facebook and Tumblr is to create new ways to document the activity of users on each site.  These newly hired editors will be charged with creating new content pulled from users from celebrities and news makers to  innovators.  This new in-house content can increase the amount of time that users are on the site, adding value for advertisers.

Tiffany: I can’t stop laughing at this silly video of Kristin Bell freaking out over meeting a sloth for her birthday. It’s been making the rounds on the Internet, but if you haven’t seen it, enjoy! (P.S. In addition to being super funny, it’s also an example of how compelling content can garner over 5 million views in 3 days!)

Burke: The 10 Golden Rules to Attracting Authority Links -  According to SEOMOZ, getting links to your site is still an important factor in SEO although it is slightly less  important  than it was in 2009.  Here, Niel Patel discusses ways of getting authoritative links to your website.  What I find very interesting is that the first steps he mentions do not relate for asking people to link to you but instead to create content, articles and photo galleries that people will naturally want to link to. It is important to get links from sites that have their own authority, and it is important to make sure that the sites that link to you are not spammy.