The Vidicom Team and Christy Ferer Think Pinterest's New Tool Will Keep Users Engaged

In today’s technologically advanced society, social media platforms are always coming out with new features and updates. CEO of Vidicom, Christy Ferer, loves being one of the first to know when something new happens.  It was announced today that Pinterest is launching Interests, a tool that allows users to explore topics and find pins of their interest. According to Pinterest, each users Interest page will adjust based on your existing pins, in other words, the more you pin, the more changes you will see. This means that in addition to being able to explore more categories, you will also be receiving customized recommendations. By launching this new feature, the company hopes to make it easier for users to discover content they can engage with and as a result keep users coming back.

What are your thoughts on Pinterest adding Interest? Let Vidicom and Christy Ferer know.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/01/27/pinterest-launches-interests-tool-let-users-explore-topics-find-pins-like/#!tyQWo

Christy Ferer Helps Brands with Mobile Presence

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer , is an expert at linking brands and consumers. In today’s digital era, mobile presence is essential for brands to attract and interact with consumers. Since many brands have the question of whether to create a dedicated app or develop a website that is mobile friendly, Michael LaVista, CEO and founder of Web application and development firm, Caxy, shares steps to take when choosing which way to go:

1.     You don’t always need a mobile app unless the product uses a phone feature such as GPS, contacts, or push notifications.

2.     Businesses must consider its audience when designing a mobile app. Businesses that are on a budget might have to choose only one platform such as iOS, Android, Windows or Blackberry. This would require some market research on what device their customers typically own.

3.     If businesses decide they don’t need to create a mobile app, they can design a responsive site, which is a website that adjusts how it looks based on the device.

All of these steps can help brands when creating their mobile presence.

http://mashable.com/2014/01/20/business-mobile-app/

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer Thinks Trending on Facebook can Increase Consumer Interaction

Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, loves keeping up with social media. Most recently, Facebook added Trending to the News Feed.  Trending shows a list of topics that are currently popular or growing in popularity on the platform. The new section is located in the top right hand corner of the screen. Each topic has a keyword and a headline explaining why it should be of interest. Users are able to view more topics by selecting the ‘See More’ option.

Brands can use Trending to see what topics consumers are interested in and try to increase consumer interaction by addressing those topics.

http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2014/01/16/facebook-launches-trending-personalized-list-popular-topics-next-news-feed/?fromcat=all#!soPtL

Brands and Mobile Advertising in 2014

Increasing consumer engagement with brands is what we do here at Vidicom. Christy Ferer agrees that mobile advertising is proving to be a very effective strategy to link brands and consumers. According to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, companies nearly tripled the amount of money spent on mobile advertising, from $1.2 billion in 2012 to $3 billion in 2013. About 65% of both ad agencies and marketers plan to invest in native advertising, for an estimated total of $4.3 billion, in 2014. Since social and mobile marketing go hand in hand, analysts predict that mobile and social advertising will increase 64% and 47% respectively. It is clear that mobile advertising is working well for many brands, so, brands that aren’t using mobile advertising should definitely consider it for 2014!

http://mashable.com/2014/01/03/native-mobile-advertising/

Vidicom CEO Recommends Brands to Mix and Match Different Social Media Platforms to Interact More with Consumers

Here at Vidicom, Christy Ferer think the various social media platforms are great tools for brands to utilize to connect with consumers. Brands can grow their audiences and discover new content on social media by mixing and matching the different platforms. Here is a list of the platforms that mix well together:

1.     Instagram + Pinterest: A good way to interact with consumers and generate conversations is by pinning your Instagram pictures.

2.     Twitter + Pinterest: You can share your pins with a new audience by pulling content from your pin boards to Twitter.  Photos also help increase engagement with your followers.
      Facebook + Twitter: A good way to find content to post on Facebook is by using Twitter’s search engine.

http://mashable.com/2013/12/23/social-media-mixology/

Vidicom Helps Small Businesses with Social Media Marketing

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer thinks that utilizing social media is a great marketing strategy for brands. Since it can be a challenge for small businesses to engage an audience via social media, we have provided some tips for building and retaining an audience on social media:

1.     “Pay-to-Play”: Although most of the social media platforms are free, businesses should still allocate a marketing budget for social media.

2.     Pick your platforms wisely: Certain businesses will flourish on visually rich sites such as Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube, while others may have more success with Twitter’s 140 character format

3.     Create a community of insiders: Many people “like” a brand on Facebook so that they can be “in-the-know” about events, promotions, and special offers or discounts

4.     Social is 24/7: Since people are on social media at all hours of the day, including off-hours, the ideal social strategy does not shut off completely for hours or days on end.

http://mashable.com/2013/12/24/grow-social-audience/

Christy Ferer Shares a Mashable Article: Tips for Live Blogging

Christy Ferer says we are experts at linking brands with consumers here at Vidicom. A great way to do so is live blogging. Here are some tips for brands that want to start live blogging or are interested in stepping up their live blog game:

1.     Clarify the event/topic you are discussing: Since the range of topics you can blog about is so vast, you should always indicate what topic you are covering.

2.     Tag your live blog appropriately: It is important to tag your live blog correctly and not to add tags of other fandoms or shows in an attempt to get more notes and reblogs as that can annoy people.   

3.     Include reaction GIFs for full effect: You will make your post more eye-catching by using reaction GIFs.

4.      Be detailed but genuine: Be sure to include detailed information to fill readers in about the topic you are covering. However, keep in mind that live blogs are all about genuine reactions, so don’t don’t shy away from them.

5.     Avoid accidentally spamming your followers dash boards: A good way to avoid filling your followers’ dashboards with an excessive number of posts is to collect multiple ideas in one post and then publish it every few minutes. 

http://mashable.com/2013/12/22/tumblr-live-blogging/