20 Jul Social You Should Know: Google+ Gains Strength, The Science of Headlines, Tumblr
We’re putting this week’s focus on social networks that have been making strides recently to make sure they’re in contention with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Let’s get to it.
Google+ Turns Two, Continues to Iterate
I had a great meeting this week with the folks at Google talking about Google+ (where they are at their second anniversary) and where they’re going. I was impressed. It’s important to know that they think about G+ very differently than we all think of Facebook. G+ is really a layer aligning various Google products, which means it has opportunities that Facebook doesn’t. Yes, engagement continues to lag. No, you don’t have to switch everything from Facebook to Google+, but brands should keep an eye on it. They’re moving in the right direction pretty quickly.
There’s an Art to Headlines that Work
A new study found that headlines with a number in them (such as “30 ways to…”) are the most effective, while headlines framed as questions (such as “What are ways to….”) are far less effective. Women are more likely to react to question headlines than men, while men are more likely to respond to headlines that address the reader (such as “Ways you need to…) than women. One person on my team summed it up thusly, “So, Cosmo was right all along?” Yes, they were. And I believe these same tips help us understand what makes a status update or a tweet more clickable.
Tumblr: Opportunities and Shortcomings for Brands
On our blog this week, we’ve been focusing on Tumblr, the publishing platform/social network that Yahoo plunked down $1B for. They have 300 million unique monthly visitors and we’ve shared four tips for brand success on the platform. At the same time, we’ve also analyzed three things Tumblr could change to better compete with Facebook and Twitter. If you’re thinking about getting into the platform, both are worth reading.
As we head into the weekend, I want to give a quick shout out to my business partner and Ignite Social Media CFO Marcie Brogan, who next week is being inducted into the Adcraft of Detroit Hall of Fame. She was already named Ad Woman of the Decade for the Midwest in the 1990s and then helped start this whole social media marketing industry in 2007. Way to go, Marcie!
