Coca Cola saw phenomenal results this week when they joined an online discussion using Twitter’s “promoted tweets”.

Where the usual number of visitors to click on a regular ad is around 0.02%, Coke saw impressive stats with an engagement rate of 6%.

Twitter first introduced the new advertising system in April, allowing companies such as Starbucks and Sony Pictures to pay to display their postings on pages of search results for popular topics. Disney Pixar became the first company to buy an ad within its “trending topic” section just last week.

Unlike search results, this form of sponsorship appears on the main page Twitter users see when they are logged into the service, at the bottom of the user-generated list of the 10 most popular talking points on the site.

Coke tweeted messages congratulating the England and US teams, linked to videos on YouTube and invited people to celebrate their teams’ success.

Naturally, many advertisers are now excited about the potential of social networks to promote word-of-mouth recommendations of their products.Using social networks as a business tool allows great opportunities to establish relationships with consumers that can’t be achieved through TV and press.

Twitter is quickly becoming a trend amongst individuals, businesses and brands worldwide. However although millions are signing up to the social networking phenomenon, a disappointing trend is the retention rate of users.   Many people sign up, test the waters for a few days, and quickly find it to be of no use or value, and promptly abandon their accounts.  As we always say, it's not the tools, it's how you use them. To remedy this, I've outlined the common mistakes of new users and some ways to help stop you becoming one of the Twitter quitter statistics...

Don't just follow celebrities and brands

This is one way traffic. Celebrity tweets are simply there to push messages your way - unless you're extremely lucky, they won't respond directly to you.  Follow relevant discussion groups and get involved. Comment on other people's tweets in order to increase your own visibility.

Have something interesting to say

Be creative. Not everyone is interested to know what people are having for dinner. The most interesting people are those who aren't openly trying to sell their products or striving for web fame. Talk about relevant subjects and consider what you want to get out of it. If you talk to interesting, relevant people, you will immediately add value to your business through building a strong network of quality contacts who will give credence to your knowledge.

Get Mobile 

Having Twitter on your mobile allows you to remain up to date and tweet more frequently.  Tweeting once or twice a day won't give you much value.  In order to build up a strong following and increase your credibility, you need to be dedicated to your tweets.

To get you started, check out Twitter Mobile for the iPhone... http://www.twittermobile.co.uk/nbsp;

Twitter isn't for everyone, but if you fancy giving it a try, do so with a little bit of knowledge - you never know, you may just get something out of it other than knowing everyone else's plans for the evening... 

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel’s Los Angeles studio fell into darkness as they lost power before recording their Monday’s episode.  We always love a guy that challenges the norm, and Jimmy did just this by whipping out his MacBook and used the Photo Booth to record the shows footage. He walked around the studio interviewing staff members whilst audience members watched the unconventional shooting spectacle. 

Check out the episode here!

This is a first class example of how TV is now merging with online media. Video has become the most engaging form of communication online, and will be even more prevelant in web design and a core component in online marketing going forward.  Web advertising already outdoes TV advertising which demonstrates the power of online.  People want immediacy, control and content on the move and we think that this is the shape of things to come...

The days of door to door salespeople might be drawing to a close, but that doesn’t mean that people have stopped selling things. The Internet is a great resource to get your goods into the right hands, but it can also be a confusing mess of options. How do you find the right people online?

How can you get your products to them?One of social media’s greatest benefits is how easy it is to get brand exposure. Your products aren’t limited by having to set up a physical shop or buy ads in the local newspaper. However, with so many online eCommerce websites available, it can be difficult to find your customers through all the noise.

For this same reason, cold calling is now falling by the wayside, and being replaced with generation Y marketing, which engages those who are already interested in the product or service, as opposed to the old ‘interruption marketing’. The benefit of this is the leverage of multiple contacts from one place, meaning businesses can work smarter, not harder with technology.

E-mail messages that include options to share content on social media sites drive significant increases in click-through rates according to a new study released today by email marketing firm GetResponse.

Of 500 million e-mails sent using the service found that e-mails that included options like share on Facebook or Twitter generated a 30% higher click-through rate than emails without them. Moreover, when e-mails included at least three different sharing options, publishers experienced a 55% higher CTR on average.

We’re seeing a quick move by e-mail marketers into the realm of social. We see the trend of e-mail marketing getting more social continuing, especially with more numbers pointing to the positive return on what’s a pretty simple investment.

From a perception point of view, brands are therefore engaging with new channels. Also, more and more people are choosing to use social media as a lifestyle choice and therefore are easier to engage with through this method. This is an example of understanding the target audience and making it easier to respond to marketing messages.