April Fool's Day Round Up 2016

I have been excitedly awaiting April 1st over the last few days. What gags would marketers hit us with, to fool and delight?  All morning, I was checking my phone rather impatiently. There was a slow start to the fooling this year. I wondered if maybe Easter had taken the shine off a bit. Perhaps our social media creatives had to choose between Easter content and getting a laugh.

The first April Fool's post to grab my attention was from our local Civil Defence page

Waikato CD is requesting submissions for the Joint Abandonment From Auckland ('JAFA') amendment to the Group Hazard Plan. Submissions and suggestions will be accepted up until 12:00pm 1 April 2016.
Posted by Civil Defence Waikato on Thursday, March 31, 2016

These guys do a brilliant job of keeping their page fun and relevant as it is.  This post got a hearty snort from myself and everyone I showed it to.  Man buns...Well done, team!

Next up in the April fooling was Pic's with this priceless job ad.  You'd be nuts to take it though!

An exciting opportunity at Pic's. Could you be working for the best peanut butter company in the world?
Posted by Pic's Really Good Peanut Butter on Thursday, March 31, 2016

Tip Top Ice Cream had a good many customers fooled with their doggy treats ice cream.  Mainly because the post was scheduled for 31st March at 6pm.  Cheeky!  Reading through the comments, you can't help but get the feeling that they have stumbled upon a possible new product range for the future though.

Pets deserve to feel Tip Top too, that’s why we’ve launched an all-new range of pet-friendly ice cream, Tip Top Happy Tails. It’s all-natural and has a creamy taste that four-legged friends love.
Posted by Tip Top Ice Cream on Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Brew bags, is what Boundary Road Brewery came up with.  A way for you to enjoy the delicious taste of beer for breakfast.  I guess that is one way, but I think I'd rather just crack a beer (within reason!).  An excellent fool to be sure:

Lindt chocolate is a favourite in our house, but I doubt that my children would touch this one.  Broccoli flavoured?  I was quite pleased when I saw this though.  A prank that can only be a prank!

Discover our latest masterpiece, new Lindor Broccoli balls - a more indulgent and chocolatey way to enjoy your greens!
Posted by Lindt Australia on Thursday, March 31, 2016

Hubbards made me so proud.  Is it muesli? Is it a body scrub? Why can't it be both?  Wash with it, drink it like a smoothie.  According to the comments section a few people were even taken in (at least briefly):

Here’s a nifty little time saver.Hubbards new Muesli Scrub doubles as an all-natural body scrub as well as breakfast....
Posted by Hubbards on Thursday, March 31, 2016

GrabOne wondered if we would eight this one.  Selling number 8 wire for $8.88 showed their kiwi prankster ingenuity. 

A GrabOne exclusive available today only... it's the solution to all of life's little (and large) problems! http://bit.ly/22ZR7pP
Posted by Grab One on Thursday, March 31, 2016

Did you see any good pranks on social media?  Just a head's up that April Fool's is ongoing for our overseas friends.  So be careful out there and don't be too quick to believe what you read!  At least not until Sunday.

Kmedia Ltd is headed by Kym Moore, a writer and Social Media Enthusiast. Visit www.kmedia.co.nz to see our offerings or contact us directly at info@kmedia.co.nz for pricing and more information. Follow us over at https://www.facebook.com/kmedialtdnz

Facebook Reactions

Facebook have launched Reactions and today the platform has been abuzz with people excited to see these new emotions linked to the “like” button.  I was excited as much as anyone, though like most people I’m still not sure what it will mean for businesses on Facebook.

The hope is these new Reactions will give people a chance to express more than just a “like” to posts from their friends and family; and businesses to a lesser extent.  Sometimes a big thumbs up just doesn’t seem appropriate, though we know people have also used the like function to say “I see you”, or “I stand with you”.  Reactions now give users a chance to express their sadness or anger about a situation that someone has posted about.   Or their pure love for that new baby chimpanzee (Hamilton Zoo shout out!).

At this stage it is likely that these reactions will work with your business page reach in much the same way as a “like”.  So, any reaction is an interaction that will drive some reach.  That said, I seemed to get more reach from posts reacted to with anger and love today!  

In the future, Facebook may look to create more complex algorithms around this.  Maybe if a business page seems to have sadder or angrier reactions to their posts; their posts will stop getting the same level of reach.  However, there are business pages that will always have those reactions, such as news sites.  There are even causes and charities that rely on their followers being filled with empathy and/or rage as part of their Call to Action.  For this reason, I’m not sure how quickly they could move towards that kind of goal or if it’s even on the radar at this stage.  Perhaps they will prioritise strong emotional reactions for reach.

With Reactions you will have more options for engaging your customers.  So instead of asking people to like, or comment a number based on their response to an image, you could assign each option an appropriate Reaction.  You can ask people to vote on a new product idea and get immediate and more rounded feedback on whether you are on the right track.  Below is a great example from NZ's Cookie Time cookies - love it! So innovative and they worked quickly to get this out and working for their brand:

The original CookieTime post can be found here.

Reactions will give you a chance to quantitatively measure the emotion of your audience.  But it won’t tell you the why and it won’t tell you to what degree.  After all, we can all feel angry – but why am I angry about your post and how angry am I?  Did you post about your shop being broken into? Or did you tell all your followers that you are taking all their pre-paid money for a trip to the Bahamas?  

Likewise what if I express surprise? Did I win something? Did you bring out a new product?  Or did you post something less positively shocking?  No, for a more qualitative view of your followers’ reaction you are better off looking in the comments section.  

Still, for those of us who have been dreaming of a dislike button since the day we signed up, Reactions offers the excitement of wishes becoming reality.  Let the reacting commence!    

Kmedia Ltd is headed by Kym Moore, a writer and Social Media Enthusiast. Visit www.kmedia.co.nz to see our offerings or contact us directly at info@kmedia.co.nz for pricing and more information. Follow us over at https://www.facebook.com/kmedialtdnz

The Importance of Subscribers on YouTube

YouTube can be an excellent resource for your business, if you aren't big on blogging but have something to say and you aren't too shy about recording yourself.   You can edit your vlog and upload it.  You can also share vlog links across your other social media assets to encourage views.

YouTube can be an excellent resource for your business, if you aren't big on blogging but have something to say and you aren't too shy about recording yourself.   You can edit your vlog and upload it.  You can also share vlog links across your other social media assets to encourage views.

For any YouTuber, subscribers are the key.  Subscribers get notification of your videos being uploaded.  They are the first to view your videos and therefore help you get those all important views and video rankings.  The number of subscribers you have also affects a couple of things - like your ability to get a custom URL for your channel (you need at least 100 subscribers), and the possibility of using it to generate sales and sponsorship.

So it's safe to say, you should be aiming for channel growth. The first thing you should do is watch some YouTubers.  Watch people in your industry as well as people who aren't.  In order to stand out on YouTube, your channel has to offer something a little different to your peers.  However, you can also learn a lot from other channels and how to present yourself. 

• When they are talking what do they do with their bodies, how do they engage the viewer?
• When they are wrapping up their video, how do they encourage you to subscribe or like the video?
• What is their gimmick? What will yours be? 
• Do they have a channel thumbnail, cover art and custom video thumbnails in place?

Over at canva.com you can create all your channel images.  There are even custom templates for your thumbnails.  Having a custom thumbnail uploaded for each video allows you to carry your branding through.  Consistent branding makes your videos stand out from the crowd.

Another thing I noticed other vloggers doing, was custom subscribe buttons.  These seemed like an easy Call to Action to put in place.  Plus you only have to upload the image once for them to appear on all your videos.  Magic!

You can set up your own custom button fairly easily.  I made one for a channel I look after.  I used canva.com and created this one which I saved as a png file:

Then over at YouTube I went to My Channel in the top left hand menu:

I clicked on the Video Manager link that is over the Channel's cover art:

Then I clicked on Channel in the left hand side menu.  The next Click was to Branding - this is where you upload your custom image as a Branding 'watermark':

The next thing for us to work on, is BOLDLY asking for people to like, share and subscribe to the vlog channel.  This is another way to give your Call to Action, and it should be delivered with confidence.  After all, you have something to say and it's worth the watch!

Kmedia Ltd is headed by Kym Moore, a writer and Social Media Enthusiast. Visit www.kmedia.co.nz to see our offerings or contact us directly at info@kmedia.co.nz for pricing and more information. Follow us over at https://www.facebook.com/kmedialtdnz

Meme of the moment - Be Like Bill

Unless you have been living under a rock without your  smartphone clawed in your hand, you will have seen at least one Be Like Bill mention on Social Media. Be Like Bill is a passive aggressive stick man doling out internet etiquette one meme at a time.

#BelikeBill pic.twitter.com/NxGhVqgqxl

— Be like Bill (@belikebilI) January 16, 2016

Bill is highly relatable and therefore shareable.  There are things people do on social media, which sometimes irks us.   Bill allows us to say what we want without the blame - see, totes passive aggressive!  "oh, that wasn't about you...you food posting crazy person".....(Seriously though, post your food people, if it makes you happy).

Bill isn't infallible, as these next two show. Which is it Bill? Are you the grammar police or no?

#BeLikeBill pic.twitter.com/Osdj1N7O7g

— Be like Bill (@belikebilI) January 22, 2016

#BeLikeBill pic.twitter.com/dZOffv8V8c

— Be like Bill (@belikebilI) January 28, 2016

If Bill isn't your style, there is also his gal pal Jill and both have their own social media pages.

“@BeLikeJill: #belikejill pic.twitter.com/bQTAnWm3Wy”@kev_rawding

— Jill rawding (@jrawding19) January 20, 2016

I do get a little twitchy whenever I read what a real woman or a real man is supposed to be like.  However, I do like wine.  So rock on Jill.

Because of the format of the stick man and font it is easy to manipulate for anyone's use.  Here, the Police have embraced the meme to share some safety messages:

#BeLikeBill #AustraliaDay have a great one guys 👍🏻🚔🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/xoFjMLFWdN

— WA Police (@WA_Police) January 26, 2016

Rain is forecast for the next few days - if you're out on the roads please #BeLikeBill pic.twitter.com/AK551STcMf

— Police Scotland (@policescotland) January 21, 2016

Then there have been a few companies using Bill to promote their products:

Be smart like Bill,switch to @sprint @marceloclaure @ch117622 #BeLikeBill @Kpalet5 @sprintNEarea @kunletel @b_rez1 pic.twitter.com/eH9m4xeaQu

— SprintBowie (@sprintbowie) January 24, 2016

Lease your next car. Be smart. Be like Bill. #BelikeBill @belikebilI #carlesing https://t.co/s3zygA79lb pic.twitter.com/BD8pDMYsf4

— ContractHire&Leasing (@ContractHire) January 19, 2016

The absolutely best one I have seen though, has to be from Streets Ice Cream!  #winningatcontent

Check out the video on their Facebook at the below link:

Be Like Buffalo Bill

There are also apps and quizzes available online to allow you to create your own version of the meme (though be careful with these as some do pose a security threat to your computer - you can read about that here). 

Ultimately though, the tide has already turned on Bill, so you might see a bit more of this going forward (I swear, stick people just make us mad!):

Be like Uma. Kill Bill. pic.twitter.com/TlMysHLsUi

— Bo_JAH (@mcbojah) January 21, 2016

Be like Uma .. don't be bill .. #BelikeBill pic.twitter.com/2oRj9PYfMU

— Verified ;) (@nattym1979) January 19, 2016

And best of all, this Batman meme (that gets around too), when Bill or Robin just needs a high five to the face:

Be like Batman. ;-) #BeLikeBill pic.twitter.com/Z4lBrvXey1

— Ken Kaminesky (@KenKaminesky) January 28, 2016

Kmedia Ltd is headed by Kym Moore, a writer and Social Media Enthusiast. Visit www.kmedia.co.nz to see our offerings or contact us directly at info@kmedia.co.nz for pricing and more information. Follow us over at https://www.facebook.com/kmedialtdnz

New Zealand Social Media's April Fool Day Darlings

That's a real pie blended up!

It's April 1st today, and all over the country New Zealand Marketing peeps rejoiced as their carefully crafted April Fool's content was scheduled to hit our newsfeeds.  All those hours of work released for us to see and hopefully have a good laugh at.

Tonight I'm compiling a list of the ones I liked the most from the morning madness.

First up in the food category has to be I Love Pies and their awful looking mince and cheese smoothie.  I mean, I guess if you heated it and ate it as soup, it wouldn't be too bad...but still nicely done to them!  You can see the whole post here

Tip Top's Foraging Range

Second up is Tip Top Ice Cream, who's new Fruju ice blocks looked like they would hit the pavement faster than hitting the spot.  Kale and Coconut was not too far away from believable but the Cauliflower and Walnut one sounded and looked revolting.  You can see the posts here and here

Pic's Really Good Peanut Butter offered up a double lidded glass jar, so you can always get to the last of the Pic's.  Genius!  You can read more here

And while we are on breakfast spreads - Boundary Road Brewery came up with their own answer to Marmite - a Pilsener Lager Yeast Spread.  That might have been a bit of a winner methinks.


While we are on breweries Mac's beer came up with a bottle you open from the bottom, so it has a more "wine glass" feel.  I can't see how that would go wrong.  Meanwhile Good George came up with a drone for local beer delivery - where do we sign up fellas?

Pak n Save Supermarket got in the spirit of April Fool's as well.  Introducing a new Pak n Shave service where you can buy food and get a hair cut too.  I must admit though, that when I read "Get the chop while you shop" my mind went elsewhere.  Maybe a thought for next year guys!

Well it was super fun watching my newsfeed this morning and I hope you enjoyed reading along.  Did you see these ones?  Did you see anything that I haven't covered here?  Comment below! 

If you live in New Zealand and have need of Social Media Content Management for your business, visit www.kmedia.co.nz to see our offerings or contact us directly at info@kmedia.co.nz for pricing and more information. Follow us over at https://www.facebook.com/kmedialtdnz

How do I get rid of comments and edit in Instagram?

Back in November Instagram announced a whole bunch of updates to their app, but the one that got me fist pumping had to be the edit caption option. It was always a painful exercise having to delete a post and re-do it just to fix a typo:

http://blog.instagram.com/…/1…/discovery-and-caption-editing

In the last few weeks I have noticed a lot of comments on pictures here and there, that could be easily deleted or edited.  However, editing Instagram is not always as intuitive for users as you might hope.  So for all those learning to use Instagram, I wanted to document a few more hints and tips.

Editing Your Caption

Once your picture has posted, take a look at it.  In the bottom right there is a menu button (looks like three vertical dots).  If you tap the button then you get options.  To Edit tap the word Edit.  This will take you into the text box and give you the ability to edit it and re-save the photo post.

Editing Your Own Comments

If you post something and it's not quite right, you don't get an edit option!  However, there is a work around.  Tap the speech bubble button as if you are going to comment.  Then tap on the comment you want to edit.  A menu will pop up.  Select copy text, and you should receive a message to say it has copied.  Then tap the comment again, and select delete this time.  You can then paste the copied text into the comment box by holding your finger on the text box.  It will ask you if you want to paste.  Paste your text in and edit as required.

Delete Spammy Messages From Your Photos

It happens to the best of us.  Post something up in a public forum and suddenly you are being urged to "hurry hurry hurry! F4F" and the like.  Some random comments are fine, and don't seem out of place on the image.  But if you get a comment on a photo that makes you uncomfortable then you can delete the comment.  Like editing your own comments, tap the speech bubble button, select the comment you want gone and then tap delete on the menu that pops up.

Hope these tips help you keep your photos and comments error free.  Thanks for reading along.

If you live in New Zealand and have need of Social Media Content Management for your business, follow us over at https://www.facebook.com/kmedialtdnz

September 2014 Instagram Challenge

Suddenly September and Spring is in the air. Christmas is on my mind, hence the delay in getting this blog out!    In fact September is sliding by before my very eyes.  Nevermind, it's definitely time for some Instagram fun.

  And so as always, a new month brings a new Instagram challenge.  Thanks to all those that participated last month. 

Here is the September challenge:

I clearly had summer on my mind when I selected these ones! 

It's another 7 day photo challenge, and a fun networking opportunity for you and your business.  Join in, do one during the month or all seven - whatever suits you best.  Think of it as a fun way to increase the content that you are sharing on your Instagram channel.  Taking part will give your customers a behind the scenes look at your business' fun side.  

I'll be checking in on all our participants and I will be sharing any note-worthy entries month-to-month as well.  So look out for those updates too.

If you live in New Zealand and have need of Social Media Content Management for your business, visit www.kmedia.co.nz to see our offerings or contact us directly at info@kmedia.co.nz for pricing and more information. Follow us over at https://www.facebook.com/kmedialtdnz