Top Social Media Blogs + Resources

Mashable 

One of the most prolific blogs on the World Wide Web for reviews of everything digital and the latest updates about what’s new. Mashable’s also an excellent social media resource with a number of guides.  Visit Mashable 

ReadWriteWeb

Insightful analysis of web trends and timely information about social media (with an enterprise /e-comm bent).  Visit ReadWriteWeb 

Goodbuzz

A Facebook Page showcasing the top social and participatory media from around the world.  Case studies and a veritable agency who’s who of Facebook followers.  Visit Goodbuzz 

Social Media Examiner

How to guides and a plethora of information on Social Media and best practices. Less agency, more general application bent.  Visit Social Media Examiner 

180/360/720

Marketing meets social media optimization. Less agency, more enterprise brand manager bent.  Visit 180/360/720 

PR 2.0

A wealth of social media info here with a Public Relations + Social Influence Marketing  bent. Visit PR 2.0. 

Digital Buzz

Featuring the latest digital ad campaigns, hot new websites, interactive marketing ideas, virals, industry news, social media, insights, and other great digital trends from all over the world.  Visit Digital Buzz Blog 

The simple genius of Facebook Deals

Yesterday, Facebook announced a bunch of upgrades to its mobile platform (200 million+ users and growing quickly), but most notably, they launched “Deals”.  There are five different types of “deals” businesses can offer customers through Facebook Places.

• Individual deals for a discount,
• free merchandise or other reward;
• friend deals where you and your friends claim an offer together;
• loyalty deals for being a frequent visitor to a place; and
• charity deals where businesses pledge to donate to a cause when you check in.

Deals are free for any business with a Facebook Place Page. Customers "check-in" to your location from their mobile phones to activate a deal, and then share it with their friends. Facebook will monetize this by offering businesses the opportunity to further advertise their deals once you create them. But creating deals and having them spread organicly through the Facebook ecosystem is free, and quite plausible for organizations of all sizes.

Because of Facebook's half a billion users worldwide and more then 200 million mobile users, Facebook's Deals bring instant scale and credibility to the geo-location check-in rewards business introduced by Foursquare, Gowalla and others. Whether this new platform will hurt or help Foursquare and its several clones or even Groupon and its dozens of clones, remains to be seen. But there is no doubt that Facebook Deals will be a major force to be reckoned with.

Bottom line:  Facebook Deals allows brands to create a compelling offer, and have it spread quickly through Facebook's powerful social graph via the virality of the News Feed. Facebook Deals allows you, for the first time ever, to acquire new customers quickly through social networks.

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [NOV-10-GB_V14.0]

The NHL's Boston Bruins Brand Building Campaign - Apparently, no one messes with the bear!- YouTube + Website -  Bruins site.

GOOGLE’s “Demo Slam” recruits the general public into showing off various Google technologies. And it works - http://demoslam.com/ 

FACEBOOK IS THE NEW TV – Goodbuzz 

Umbro ran a targeted Facebook Ad campaign the day of England’s final World Cup qualifying match - Case Study 

IKEA's iPhone App takes shopping to a whole new level   

Walmart's "Crowdsaver" Group-Purchasing Facebook App Takes A Page From Groupon – Ad Age 

Delta Air, JetBlue, and Southwest are improving their customer service and flight experiences by listening to their customers using Twitter and Facebook.  -  The Wall Street Journal 

Scholastic's new social "You Are What You Read" site is letting fans reflect on their favorite childhood books and create unique "bookprints" to share with friends.  -  You Are What You Read 

ABC Family is sending collectible stickers of characters from its new show, "Pretty Little Liars," to fans each time they check-in to the show using the social network for entertainment, GetGlue.  -  DMNews 

AstraZeneca is providing tools and resources on Facebook and Twitter for individuals struggling with depression as a part of their "Take on Depression" social media campaign.  -  Cape Gazette 

  

Jeep is using Foursquare to engage with fans and offer guidelines about National Parks. Users can check-in and receive facts about local monuments and tips about nearby off-roading trails.  -  Truck Trend 

Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Foods top Mashable's list of most engaged brands.  -  Mashable 

NASA is participating in social media from space with up-to-date tweets from Space Shuttle Discovery and real-time astronaut check-ins on Foursquare.  -  Information Week 

UCSF is launching a social media fundraising campaign for Benioff Children's Hospital. The "UCSF Challenge for the Children" encourages users to create teams on Twitter and Facebook and compete against each other for the most individual donations.  -  PR Newswire 

The Human Rights Campaign, discusses why social media was an integral part of their award winning campaign that worked to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.  -  Market Watch 

Soldiers are telling their personal, uncensored stories using blog and video posts on U.S. Army's Army Strong digital network.  -  Army Strong Stories 

H&M extends Augmented Reality (AR) virtual window-shopping using GoldRun 

Brand Marketing Trends - The Luxury of Ethics