The Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League in North America recently made unconventional history when they became the first professional sports team to don jerseys displaying their Twitter handles on the back of them.

The bold move to allow its players to replace their last names on the back of their jerseys with their Twitter handles is just another way of making professional athletes more accessible to fans, and I for one think it’s a great idea.

Before this process was approved, management sat down with several players on the team and gave them a social media tutorial showing that it’s important to continue to think outside the box when it comes to social media and sports.

This initiative shown by the Wings highlights that sports teams continue to appreciate the benefits, such as increased interaction and loyalty that are being offered through social media channels like Twitter.

As social media continues to become more prevalent in sports marketing plans, this initiative from Wings has already influenced how other sports teams look at the use of the medium for their own teams and players. The NBA became one such example when they recently began selling official T-shirts that feature some of the league’s biggest stars’ Twitter handles above their jersey numbers, where surnames would normally go.

While this has been a bold move, I think you’re going to see other teams around the world take a wait and see attitude regarding the use of Twitter handles on jerseys.

I don’t think you’re going to see a “@bryceegibbs” on the back of a Sharkies jersey anytime soon but this could this be the sign of things to come as more sports teams look for ways to engage their fans through the use of social media.

Could Twitter handles on the back of jerseys be introduced into Australian sports? What other ways can professional sports teams take advantage of social media?

The number one and two superheros as seen  by kids under 13 are Batman and Superman respectively. The inclusion of Batman who has no ability other than those obtained by his technology and wealth has raised a serious question.

What makes a superhero? and does Batman count as one?

The results of this important debate could have serious implications for Batman or Iron Man brand.

Tell me, what do you think qualifies a superhero?

Everyone loves a good cartoon. They pop up everywhere from magazines to ad campaigns, even tweeted around the world. But have you ever considered the work that goes into creating one?

Check out this video of Anton Emdin (2011 Australian Cartoonist of the Year) scribbling at the Stanley Awards and you’ll see the talent and skill it takes to create something that so many of us take for granted.

Enjoy.

Social media specialists, TWO Social, have announced they’ll be working with Konica Minolta and Elastoplast on exciting new projects this year.

Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta has engaged TWO Social to develop the social media element of their new Office Hero campaign launching later this month.

TWO Social have worked with Konica Minolta on a number of pure social media projects, most recently on their Show Your Colours campaign during the 2011 Rugby World Cup. However, in a first for Konica Minolta, Office Hero will be integrated across all marketing channels with TWO Social charged with creating its YouTube, Facebook and Twitter components.
The cross-channel approach by Konica Minolta is testament to TWO Social’s mantra that brands are no longer relying upon traditional channels alone to communicate effectively with all audiences.

Elastoplast

TWO Social has begun working again with Beiersdorf’s Elastoplast brand, The Official Supplier of Tapes and Bandages to the Australian 2012 Olympic Team to generate exposure for the brand leading into the 2012 London Olympics.

The reappointment follows Elastoplast Sports highly successful Ultimate Netball Fan competition, developed by TWO Social leading into the Netball World Cup in Singapore last year.

TWO Social have been briefed to design and promote a similar ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity for Olympic fans. The campaign is expected to launch in April.

Facebook users spend an average of 7.5 hours each month on Facebook – so it’s now more important than ever to ensure you are using the social network effectively.

As the 30th March ticks down companies are (or should be) thinking how they are going to make the switch to Facebook timeline.

Here are the new features and updates to Facebook timeline:

In all examples I’ve used images from the Two Social Facebook page and the Coca-Cola Facebook page

Cover Photo

This is the prime piece of real estate for the new pages and the first image that everyone will see. The image size is 851 x 851 pixels. (At the end of this post I have included a link to common mistakes brands are likely to make with timeline.)

Also, the profile image has changed slightly too it’s now 180 x 180 pixels – it should compliment your cover photo.

About Section

The about section sits under the profile image and will highlight your core mission and/or a call to action. Clicking your about section will expand all the company profile information (see image below).

Apps

The Apps (previously known as tabs) sit on the right hand side below the cover photo – you can only show 4 of your apps. The rest of them will be hidden and only shown once the expand button is selected (see images below). You have the chance to create custom imagery for these apps – if you leave them they will default to the current app icon you have.

Normal view:

Expanded view:

Private messages:

This allows companies to interact with your audience through private messages. This can be utilised to take negative messages into a private forum, rather than all on your page. You can hide the message button (which sits below the cover photo next to the ‘like’ button) doing this will only allow your audience to interact with you on your wall.

Wall posts and the core of timeline:

The wall is now split into two columns with ‘people talking about’ the brand on the right hand side – this is in chronological order.

On the left hand side are the brand updates. Facebook determines what to feature based on the engagement levels. These updates can be edited by admins by selecting which posts to highlight. When a post is highlighted it doubles in width (see image below).

Milestones

Companies can add events (from the past) to feature historical milestones, product launches, significant employee changes, new premises, awards and achievements. To utilise milestone you can name your event, the locations, date, information and choose a photo. Here is a good example from Coca-Cola, utilising milestone to add their founding date.

Pin to top

This allows pages to promote a company event or piece of information; this is handy if you are looking to gain feedback or high engagement. This piece of information is pinned (and highlighted with an orange ribbon in the corner) to the top of the wall and will stay there for 7 days, unless removed earlier (see image below).

Admin panel

The new admin panel allows administrators of the page to see notifications, insights, settings and private messages in one location – this is located at the top of timeline pages.

Finally…

One of the most important changes to Facebook pages is that companies are able to highlight updates through visualisation. Photos, images and links can make the best content and have a 50% higher engagement rate then just text.

Further reading: The Social Media Explorer have done a great job at distilling the mistakes many companies are likely to make with the new Facebook timeline – and definitely worth checking out.

Is the Guardian TVC the best ever?

The Guardian (a national newspaper in the UK) has returned to TV for the first time in several decades.

The Guardian has a history of creating ground breaking creative, which it has done under the positioning of ‘the whole picture’ for some time.

The paper aired this TVC for the first time on Wednesday:

Open Journalism

For me it is engaging, it is thought provoking, it creates conversation by illustrating conversation and is sure to win gongs.

More than that, if this isn’t the best TVC you have ever seen what is?

After exploring the many opportunities of Social Media last year, we kicked off 2012 by examining the dangers and ‘do-nots’ of different social media platforms.

Throughout the seminar, we took a look at how some of the world’s largest brands stumbled and fumbled their way in the online space and learnt how you can rise where others have fallen.

For those after an online copy of yesterday’s presentation click here.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended and we hope to see you throughout 2012 as our seminars continue to explore the social space.

What did you learn from mistakes that other organisations have already made in the social space?

Pinterest is the fastest growing website of all time, having over 10 million users in 9 months. It’s an extremely viral community with 80% of images being ‘repined’ – which is like re-tweeting on Twitter.

The visual sharing capabilities on social networks are becoming more important as Facebook introduces timeline for users (and eventually for pages), Google+ uses a larger canvas for high definition photos and Twitter allows you to view a photo from your feed - Facebook alone has 250 million photo uploads per day.

So with the increase of  uploading and sharing images it should be no surprise how well Pinterest is doing. The value lies in social bookmarking and creating custom bulletin boards.

However, before an organisations dives into another social channel, you should know why the channel is important and how it can be incorporated into your social media strategy.

Here are some ways you can use this explosive network:

• Add Pin it button to your website/blog
• Create ‘how to’ and ‘tutorials’ boards
• Pin videos from YouTube on to boards
• Humanise your brand – create a company history board
• Visual portfolio – great work the company has done
• Behind the scenes/meet the faces of the company – another great way to humanise your brand
• Customer service – respond to any negative comments
• Customer and/or employee testimonials – highlight your success
• Upload of events and conferences – you can link images to your website for registration details
• Re-purpose content – link imagery to blog posts – this creates a new angle and a new audience.

It’s also good to know that there is more referral traffic from Pinterest than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

If you are wanting to know what it looks like here are 10 Pinterest ‘Pinboards’ Business Insider says you absolutely need to follow.

Follow Daemon Within on Twitter @daemonwithin

Follow me on Twitter @lu_cy_lu

Update: AddThis reported that sharing to Pinterest increased 150% during the red carpet show (at the Oscars).

Socialbakers have recently released new statistics on the top ten Facebook pages in Australia.

Quiksilver tops the ‘top 10 brands by number of fans’, followed closely by Bubble O’Bill Ice Creams, UGG Australia and Coca-Cola Australia and rounding out the top five is BONDS.

Engagement is a different story though – the companies topping the engagement rate are Huggies Australia followed by Volkswagen Australia, OMO Australia, Intrepid Travel and Continental Cup-a-Soup. Socialbakers works out the engagement rate by the number of likes/comments divided by the fan numbers. Huggies has an engagement rate of 1.0635% which is really great considering the others in the top ten sit well below 0.80%.

You can check out more of the most recent statistics on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn and YouTube at http://www.socialbakers.com/

Creating a successful brand in today’s information-overloaded social media landscape takes time, work, and believe it or not – courage.

Brands that achieve success within the social space go beyond the boundaries of your typical online marketing strategies.

Here are some tips on how to save your brand from becoming another face in the crowd.

Be Provocative: Some of the most discussed, shared, and re-tweeted content across the social space are about subjects that organisations wouldn’t dare talk about.

Being provocative on social media is not the same as being offensive. It means being unique and discussing content that your target audience won’t see anywhere else.

Leak Information Slowly: You want to create anticipation. A key ingredient to creating buzz is not sharing everything you have right away.

A consistent stream of information over a set period of time leading up to a big announcement can keep people engaged with your brand.

Think of your social media strategy in terms of how a new movie trailer works. Before a movie is due to be released the studios release highlights without giving the entire story away; hence, creating conversation and building excitement.

Engage With Your Audience: If your brand is trying to make a name for itself on social media platforms it is important to create awareness. Major brands have an easier time conversing with people because they are already well-known. You might not have the same luxury; therefore, a considerable amount of time must be spent building relationships.

Let people know you’re now in the social space, let them know what you’re all about and let them ask you questions.

Follow Your Competitors: The concept of out-performing your competition is a constant challenge. It’s in your brand’s best interest to monitor all competitors as well as your own brand within the social space. Too many brands focus too much attention on ‘numbers’ when the ultimate goal should be quality rather than quantity. I mean, if you are offering a quality service to the consumer, you could expect natural growth from word of mouth, sharing of content etc. Branded ads should only be used to support natural growth.

What do you think? How do you use social media to stand out from the crowd with your business or brand? We’d love to know.

@TWoSocial