The company, we’re told, now allows customers to plan, execute and optimize their Instagram marketing strategy from a single platform with a new publishing flow.

What’s included in the latest update?

With this update, Falcon.io becomes “the only platform of its kind that enables customers to create and schedule Instagram Stories and carousel posts of up to 10 images or videos, in addition to single image or video posts.”

Falcon.io’s newly redesigned Hub mobile app also enables customers to get a full overview of all scheduled and published Instagram content, receive push notifications for posts ready for publication, and collaborate with their team on content.

“The ability to create and schedule Instagram content directly through the Falcon.io platform has made it even more of a versatile tool in our social media strategy,” said Brandon Edler, content manager and creative strategist at The Finish Line. “Enabling the marketing team to collaborate and approve posts within the new publishing flow ensures that everything we post to Instagram has an end to end audit trail that ensures our team stays on brand and delivers value.”

The post Falcon.io Rolls Out Instagram Publishing Flow for Stories and Carousel appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post from Bernard Perrine, co-founder and CEO of SocialCentiv.

With 145 million users signing on in just five years, a Twitter presence for businesses is a necessity and a Twitter marketing strategy essential. Here are the top four elements to keep in mind when developing a Twitter lead generating marketing campaign that results in real time ROI:

Geo-location: Using geo-location is a great way to create Twitter campaigns that zero in on a specific region. Using Twitter users’ profile location to target them ensures they are in the area for the campaign and are more likely to respond, as the outreach is relevant to them.

For instance, a clothing store in Columbus, Ohio, offering shoppers a discount via Twitter is useless for people in Denver. But by targeting users within a few miles of the shop, the owners will likely see a dramatic increase in traffic.

Keyword targeting: A well-thought out Twitter lead generating marketing campaign will have a list of relevant keywords (keywords on Twitter are more conversational than those used for SEM/SEO) to watch for that indicate when a user may be interested in that product, offer or call to action. For instance, someone tweeting about needing more caffeine would be in the market for a free coffee or coupon to a coffee shop.

These are necessary to set up and establish before starting a campaign to know what words will indicate an interested user. Keywords can be found using services such as Google’s Keyword Tool.

A burger shop, as an example, may target keywords like “hungry,” “burger,” “lunch” and “dinner,” while a clothing shop may look for keywords such as “shopping,” “dress,” “blouse” and “shoes” or even “I need a new look.”

Social listening: A large part of developing and executing a successful Twitter marketing lead generating campaign is paying attention to the social landscape. This involves monitoring what is trending, what target audiences are interested in and what topics are currently top of mind. This ensures whatever content is being developed for the campaign is relevant and current.

It’s basic social media monitoring. If it’s summertime and everyone is talking about wanting cool beverages, it wouldn’t do much good to offer a discount code for hot chocolate. Integrating trending hash tags within a target audience into timely tweets can keep the promotion relevant and top of mind. At the end of the day, social listening helps marketers gain a better understanding of their target markets and how to more effectively tap into those specific interests.

Response time: This is a simple yet crucial element in a Twitter marketing lead generating campaign. When brands are timely with their promotional tweets or replies to users, it increases the possibility of a person seeing the message and taking action before that tweet is lost. Because Twitter moves at such a fast pace, brands should respond sooner rather than later in order to catch users while they would still be interested.

If a consumer is Tweeting about wanting a burger for lunch or commented on how she needs a new pair of shoes for an event that day, a matter of hours can make a big difference. It doesn’t do much good for a company to Tweet a burger offer to someone in the middle of the afternoon when the person was in the market earlier in the day or wait until the next day to share a shoe offer with someone when the event was the night before. Remaining timely on these campaigns is key, because it increases the likelihood the user is still in the market for that product or service.

Developing and executing a Twitter marketing campaign takes time and dedication but can yield impressive results. These elements fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and taking the time to ensure they are all in place can turn a moderately OK campaign into a highly successful one. Customers are on Twitter and ROI can be reached in real time if approached in the correct manner.

The post The ABCDs of Twitter Lead Generating Marketing appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In fact, the Sprout Social Index recently found that 5 in 6 messages sent retailers via such channels go unanswered.

Ouch.

“During the holidays, long lines and understaffed stores are common at many brick-and-mortar retail shops; according to the most recent Sprout Social Index, that trend has seeped into social media as well,” a report summary notes. “Today, people are failing to receive a prompt response from retail brands on social media 83 percent of the time — while the lucky few who do hear back have to wait an average of 12 hours.”

12 hours? Double ouch.

But retailers have just enough time to get their acts together for Holiday 2015 when — according to Sprout — “this holiday season, the average retailer can expect more than 1,500 inbound social messages — a nearly 20 percent jump from the number of messages brands in this industry received last year at this time.”

Sprout noted that rather than focusing on people’s concerns, retail brands send out three times as many promotional messages as they do helpful responses.

“Social media is an integral part of consumers’ daily lives and a critical communication channel for brands to engage in conversation with their customers during the holidays,” said Scott Brandt, CMO of Sprout Social.

“The Sprout Social Index reveals that more often than not, brands are silent when their customers reach out,” Brandt added. “Whether answering a product question or confirming a customer’s gift order, brands have an opportunity to positively influence awareness, customer loyalty, positive sentiment and seasonal sales through social media engagement.”

The post Get Ready to Talk, Retailers: 20 Percent Surge in Social Messages Forecast for 2015 Holidays appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

This extra-mile effort will provide Bigcommerce merchants with the opportunity to promote and sell products to more than 100 million monthly active Pinners through Pinterest’s iOS mobile and tablet apps.

Bigcommerce merchants will be among the first to have access to Buyable Pins, providing them the ability to offer a secure checkout experience optimized for mobile buyers. According to a recent study1, 87 percent of U.S. consumers have been influenced to purchase a product after seeing it on Pinterest, with more than 80 percent accessing the visual discovery tool via mobile devices.

“Pinterest has become an indispensable shopping resource for millions of consumers that use it to discover new ideas and find inspiration prior to making a purchase. Through Buyable Pins, our merchants will be able to extend this further and complete the sale while purchase intent is the highest,” said Brent Bellm, chief executive officer of Bigcommerce. “Enabling this capability for our clients, and providing them with access to new revenue opportunities, illustrates how Bigcommerce continues to lead the industry in helping merchants sell more across every channel and through every device.”

The post Bigcommerce Hypes Availability of Pinterest Buyable Pins appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Now there’s more information that could help, tucked neatly into a new infographic from MDG Advertising.

The graphic “adds up the top trends driving the direction of modern marketing and looks at which media channels you should channel your budget toward.”

Some insights:

#1 — Digital is Going to Trump TV

“Watch out TV, because digital advertising is predicted to be the top media category of 2016,” warns MDG. Consider this: there has been more than a 16 percent increase in digital advertising in both 2014 and 2015. And digital spend is expected to reach $69 billion in 2016 and $95 billion by 2019.

#2 — Mobile Is the Fastest Growing Segment

According to industry experts, expect mobile to be the fastest-growing advertising segment next year.

#3 — Facebook’s Not Just for Cat Videos — It’s for Ads

“In 2016, Facebook will update its status as the leading social media platform,” according to MDG. “The ever-increasing mobile audience will drive its digital dominance in the upcoming year and beyond.” To wit: 1 out of every 5 minutes people use mobile are spent on Facebook and 1 out of every 6 minutes people are on the Internet are spent on Facebook.

Want to know more? Check out the info-packed visual below.

The post Where Should Marketers Spend the Big Bucks? This Infographic Points the Way appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The numbers are impressive.

“(The) Company is announcing strong second quarter 2015 financial results of $10,761,573 in revenue, an increase of 3,786 percent over the second quarter of 2014 and a 168 percent increase over the first quarter of 2015. With two solid quarters of growth so far in 2015, (Social Reality) guidance forecasts full-year 2015 revenue of $30 million,” a statement provided to MMW reads.

Why all the growth?

Social Reality works with some of the largest brands and retailers in the world, and their solutions help clients maximize returns on their digital assets and improve advertising performance.

“From traditional banner ads to mobile, video and social media, Social Reality sells or analyses approximately 12 billion ads per month and has delivered measurable results for their clients,” the statement adds.

Social Reality’s three core platforms are designed to generate long-term recurring revenue streams from its core technologies.

“We are an innovative company that excels in digital advertising and creating platforms that add value for our clients,” said Christopher Miglino, Social Reality’s CEO and Chairman. “The digital industry is booming and I do not see that slowing down. We are filling a gap for our clients, which enables them to buy all types of digital media in one platform and compare their results across all media types.”

The magic trick appears to be not just the platforms, but the speed.

“We execute quickly and are always looking to make improvements through organic development and through strategic acquisitions,” said Miglino.

The post Social Reality Growth Spurt: Company Brings Big Data to Targeted Shopper Marketing appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

GraphScience’s software, now available through Centro, “helps marketers harness customers’ social media data to dynamically create and optimize, in real-time and at scale, thousands of personalized ads on Facebook,” according to a statement provided to MMW.

The move is designed to bolster the Centro platform. GraphScience’s customers include large e-commerce and retail companies with hundreds of product lines and thousands of SKUs. The acquisition strengthens Centro’s offerings by adding robust social ad capabilities that have delivered superior ROI for brands.

It’s a big deal: Centro’s technology platform is projected to manage nearly $400 million in digital ad spend this year.

“Centro continues to consolidate digital advertising in one software stack — first pioneering automated guaranteed media-buying technology, and then building a cross-channel real-time bidding (RTB) software solution,” noted the release. “Now, Centro is expanding its product suite with GraphScience’s personalization and optimization engine for social ads. Centro recognizes the growing importance of social media to the marketing mix, as social media advertising spend reaches $8,334 billion in 2015.”

“Centro is bringing together a unified platform that allows advertisers and agencies to solve one of the biggest problems in the industry — fragmentation. The addition of GraphScience to our advertising software stack enables Centro to deliver a platform that automates the research, buying and execution of all digital inventory types,” said Shawn Riegsecker, CEO of Centro.

Again, it’s all about getting through via social media.

“Accessing enhanced social media capabilities on our platform empowers our customers to drive better performance for their digital campaigns, no matter the channel, device, ad unit, or buying tactic,”Riegsecker concluded.

The post Social Ads at Scale: Centro Gobbles Up GraphScience appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Recently, an app was yanked due to a request made by Facebook, an app developer says. The app let users know when someone unfriended them on Facebook.

“Less than a week after an app that allowed you to see who deleted you on Facebook soared to popularity, it has been discontinued, ABC News reported,” says WCVB-TV in Boston. “The developer of “Who Deleted Me” said Facebook asked him to take it down.”

Well, when Facebook speaks, we all bow down, right?

“Unfortunately, due to a request by Facebook, “Who Deleted Me” is no longer available on any platform,” confessed app developer Anthony Kuske in a statement. “Who Deleted Me was intended to be a useful tool to enhance users’ Facebook experience, but Facebook did not see it the same way.”

We’re shocked, we tell you. Shocked.

“The app, which allowed users to get a notification when they lost a friend, gained popularity last week after media attention. When ABC tested out the app, they reported it was performing slowly but eventually allowed testers to see that one had deleted another as a friend,” according to WCVB.

Seems like people really wanted to know who was ditching them on Facebook.

“Kuske said the app reached the top spot in the iOS App Store at one point last week and that the unexpected volume caused it to work slowly,” reported WCVB. “The level of traffic took me by surprise,” Kuske said. “I worked non-stop to get it back online so everybody could enjoy it.”

Kuske admitted he’s now working on non-Facebook-related projects. And Facebook did not reply to a request for comment from ABC News.

Here is where we say yet again: ROFL.

Also, how does one unfriend Facebook?

The post Facebook Unfriends ‘Who Deleted Me’ App appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

But these contact lists haven’t yet made organizing our social media contacts quite as convenient.

That is, until now.

In a time when contact information and communication preferences change at the speed of light, it is a struggle to manage it all, says the team at Atmospheir.
The crew recently announced that their mobile app is rapidly becoming the new standard in mobile address books.

In the last ten days since the free app launched on the iOS App Store (the Android version set to be released later this year), the user response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Atmospheir enables users to discover, connect and exchange complete sets of contact and social information in seconds using a single ID. The app pairs the fastest way to exchange information with built-in messaging that allows users to send and receive free text, voice, photo, GIF and video messages without leaving the app. Atmospheir makes adding a new contact, (and all their communication channels), as easy as following someone on Twitter, and removes the need to use another app to communicate.

“Atmospheir blends elements of social networking, mobile card design and in-app messaging to create a simple and effective solution for managing contacts. We’ve made the fastest way for you to get and stay connected to the people that matter most,” says CEO and company founder Matt Crumrine. “The app alleviates the pain of recording and updating information and creates a platform where relationships will automatically stay relevant and grow more valuable over time.”

The post Atmospheir Shows Off ‘Sensational’ Social Address Book appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In addition to breaking the all-time attendance record at Levi’s Stadium (76,976 fans from all 50 states and 40 countries attended WrestleMania 31), WrestleMania 31 was the most social event in WWE history.

But that’s not all.

• The event was responsible for a record 142 worldwide Twitter trends (up +106 percent vs. last year), including 10 No. 1 worldwide trends, which was more than any broadcast or cable show that night.
• WWE-related content saw more than 60 million video views across all platforms on the day of WrestleMania.
• WWE trended on Facebook with exclusive content featuring WWE Superstar ring entrances, match clips, interviews, locker room commentary and training videos.
• WrestleMania 31 garnered a record 165 million impressions on Facebook and 92 million impressions on Twitter, an increase of 62 percent and 23 percent year-over-year, respectively.
• During WrestleMania, the WWE flagship App saw its most usage since launch in 2012, while reaching nearly 18 million downloads during WrestleMania.
• The WrestleMania 31 App had four times as many downloads as last year’s WrestleMania 30 App.

“We are thrilled that WrestleMania 31 has set the standard for all future events held at Levi’s Stadium. None of this success would have been possible without the support of Mayor Matthews, Mayor Liccardo and the San Francisco 49ers, as well as our public and private sector partners that worked tirelessly to support all of our regional WrestleMania Week activities,” said John P. Saboor, WWE Executive Vice President of Special Events. “We now turn our attention to the Dallas/Arlington region for what will surely be a historic WrestleMania 32.”

The post WWE Touts Mobile, Social Success One Week After WrestleMania 31 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.