Entries by Josh Fenster

Social Media Case Study: Target’s Awesome Shop

Target has a brand new e-commerce site called the “Awesome Shop”. The standalone site is updated daily and includes social integration by using data driven from Pinterest as well as from Target. The site has a fantastic layout and easy to read descriptions for each item. Essentially, Target has taken data from Pinterest and combined it with their […]

A Creative Use of Social Media: The Twitterview

Everybody knows Twitter is a great way to communicate with other people who have similar interests. It’s incredibly easy to search for certain users, follow trends, and use hashtags to join in on topical conversations. One of the ways we use Twitter at Silverback Social is to initiate meaningful conversations.

Caring is the New Business Model of Success

We live in an age where brands can’t fake it anymore. Among successful social media campaigns, the trend is a storytelling element that speaks to the voice of the brand. The slightest sense of BS is sniffed out and dismissed by the social media community.

Instagram vs. Vine Josh Fenster Social Engagement Manager at Silverback Social Weighs In

As soon as Facebook announced “Instagram video”, brands immediately had advertisements ready to be viewed and shared within the social media ecosystem. Minutes after the Instagram application update Lululemon posted a unique digital ad using the new technology. It will be interesting to see which video sharing platform will be used more by advertisers, Twitter’s Vine or Facebook’s Instgram? Brands must provide content for both platforms, not only because of the 150 million combined users that are active on the apps, but because they both provide different ways of story telling. Vine forces companies to be creative with their content by limiting each video to six seconds. The “game” of creating great content on Vine highlights the companies or agencies creativeness, planning and execution. For example check out this cool vine video by Ian Padgham. However Vine is limited because there is only so much one can fit in six seconds and for the fact that you can’t seamlessly edit the video. Instagram video allows brands to use filters, edit the video, film for 15 seconds and pick the video’s thumbnail. 15 seconds is the same length as many commercials on TV. Brands will use video on Instagram to create unique commercials using the new features that were introduced today. If brands repurpose their TV commercials instead creating unique content exclusively for Instagram video they better be prepared for a negative response. People are getting tired of the old way of advertising, tired of brands pushing and dumping products on them. Brands must be providing value with each and every ad, whether that means the ad is funny, cool or informative. Native advertising is the future and these platforms play right into the trend of brands becoming publishers.