You may have used Shazam in a restaurant or a mall to identify a catchy tune that left you humming along or dancing in a dressing room. But after this weekend (and a $32 million push into the TV and movie industry), Shazam may become the go-to app for second screen digital rewards.
The answer is not yet, but the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” applies arguably now more than ever. With smart phone adoption allowing consumers to document their lives visually (according to Nielsen, 44% of US consumers own smartphones, extending to 64% of 25-34 year olds) and social platforms fostering the sharing of pictures and videos, communication is increasingly becoming more visual. As evidence of this growing trend, we’re getting more pickup and commentary in our influencer outreach efforts, and higher engagement rates on Facebook and Twitter when we include pictures or video.
The NMS team is proud to announce that several of our campaigns have been selected as finalists in PR Newswire’s Earnie Awards. Please vote for NMS’ Jeep campaign as “Best Use of Video in Social Media.”
There’s a new dance craze going around the @NMSosphere this week, and in true NMS style…we don’t even have to leave our computers to get into the groove. That’s because this dance is virtual and comes in the form of Dance Mom-Me, the recently launched application on MyLifetime.com that’s inspired by the network’s hit reality show, Dance Moms.
Although the National Football League continues to boast the unofficial title as America’s Pastime (sorry, MLB) and the league’s television ratings are off the charts, NFL execs still haven’t figured out how to get fans excited about the Pro Bowl. The league is on the right track as they strive to make their all-star game more accessible to fans.
I’m a man of many lists. Whether they are to prioritize my work day, go grocery shopping or plan for a trip, I like to make sure whatever is important is not forgotten. A list, however, doesn’t need to be limited to the practical. If you watch as much TV as I do, you know you see your favorite characters wining and dining in New York or living it up in Las Vegas and think to yourself “I’m definitely going there next time I’m in the city!” Inevitably though, once you make it to “the city” you end up wandering the streets without a clue of what that place was called, just that they had a really cool fountain at the entrance.
It’s always an exciting time of year here at New Media Strategies with the holidays, year-end wrap up and a ton of NMS Yuletide traditions. This time of year always seems to be the best time for celebration and for reflection to take some measure of what you’ve accomplished and where you are heading next. In that spirit, over the past few weeks with the help of my wife Burson, I’ve been doing some serious reflecting and in the days ahead I hope to do some serious celebrating.
That is why I want to share with you that for me, twelve years after creating New Media Strategies, the world's first social media marketing agency, and five years after selling the company to Meredith Corporation, I've decided it's time to start the next chapter.
Since the F8 Developers Conference in September, where Mark Zuckerberg announced major design updates to the Facebook platform, the way I participate on the popular social network has changed. While the main headlines coming out of F8 focused on a significant overhaul for the profile format called Timeline, the most significant improvement involved the Facebook News Feed. These changes to the News Feed have slowly caused me to leave my Facebook friends behind. And I don’t really miss them.