This powerful new app enables Fan Page admins to quickly launch a Facebook video contest.  From uploading great content to viral voting, the video contest app gives fans the opportunity to participate with brands on Facebook in a very involved way.

Key Feature Overview

The integrated functions that make launching, managing, and promoting this app so unique warrant a quick dive into the details.

Flexibility

There are a ton of ways that brands can use this app since the core features and admin controls make it simple to configure the app to run a variety of different promotions. First, there is the traditional video contest. (Always a popular choice).  Switch off the user entry function and it can be a great market research app. (Fans vote for their favorite new product idea from a pool of options added by the admin)  Bolt on our mobile entry code and this can enable a mobile scavenger hunt. (Capture and upload an epic video of the hunt on the go).  Whether it’s user generated content, branded content, or some combination of the two, there are tons of great ways brands can utilize the powerful viral voting, user entry, and contest  features of this app.

Viral Social Sharing

One of our favorite features that makes this app unique are the dynamic sharing controls. This means that the brand can push sharing through action based triggers. As well as unique entry sharing for much more effective self promotion of user entries. (You can test this out by using this app on our fan page here and then sharing your entry once it is approved by the contest admin.)

Why does this matter? Well, when a user uploads a video to enter a video contest, you need to give them the tools to effectively promote their entry to their friends and fans. We’ve all seen the wall posts before: “Come vote for my favorite __________ (charity, taco, cat, photo, etc)  and help me win a mega prize!”. Dynamic (or fluid) sharing enables a seamless experience for contest participants, which will lead to more viral growth for your promotion.

Integrated Social Response Emails

This app is seamlessly integrated with the North Contact list building and email system. Allowing brands to set up instant social response emails that hit the entrants inbox within seconds of entering the contest. Configure the list to alert winners, or enroll users in an automated email campaign. The power of the integrated follow up email tools makes this app a great entry point to automated marketing campaigns. Want to see this feature in action? Enter our Epic Video contest on Facebook right now and then check your inbox.

A Powerful Admin Control Panel

Running and managing social promotions can often be a bit of a challenge. Getting the right content, creative, and legal terms all lined up can drain resources and time. This app makes contest management a snap with ultra powerful content management system and powerful entry review tools.  Drop us a note if you want to learn more about how you can set up this app for your Fan Page.

Admins can review “pending” entries prior to showing them in the user facing gallery and users have an option to “flag” inappropriate entries to quickly alert admins that something offensive that may have slipped by. This powerful back end admin control panel gives brands the tools they need to run a safe and effective user generated content promotion.

Don’t Forget The Fan Gate!

Page managers can turn on the optional “Fan Gate” on this app which requires visitors to “like” the page before they can access the contest or gallery.  When the fan gate feature is combined with the viral “Vote for Me” self-promoting actions users take to gain votes, this app delivers a great way to quickly gain new fans.

Don’t be shy, if you would like a demo of this app just click the big blue button.

Cheers,

The North Social Team

There are 4 major mistakes made time and time again, which are easy enough to recognize, fix, and avoid for the future.

1. Looking like a trainwreck. A sloppy, quickly-thrown together three-piece velvet suit will look pretty pathetic to your peers, who expect a decently dressed individual and not a street-walking hobo. If your Facebook goal is to attract users with sexy graphics that call out “come hither”, then you’re not going to find much success by messing around in the Microsoft Office suite and pulling together various “hip” clipart images. Powerpoint can be a mighty tool for building a solid set of promotional images, but it can look like an old drapery pattern was smeared across your graphics when it’s used by the wrong person (probably you. Sorry.)

What many admins fail to consider is the impact bad graphics have on potential customers. It sends a clear message that you don’t care enough to invest, so why would they bother? Being impressive is usually all about keeping it simple and straight to the point. You don’t need to build a complex maze of fascinating artwork in order to capture someone’s attention. You need clean, appealing, and fitting images that work with your existing materials and speak directly to your audience.

2. Assuming people are already interested. If you’re waiting for those lucky fans to come to you, then your arrogance has already lost the battle for you. Whether your brand is a gigantic mega-corporation or a tiny yarn shop above a Starbucks, it is your responsibility to share relevant content regarding events, products, etc.

If you strut through the internet with the “too-cool-for-school” mantra, it will be recognized and ignored. Even loyal fans don’t want to chase you down for deals and beg you for VIP treatment– that’s on you to deliver to them. The average user is connected to 80 Pages and events; do you think they will be spending their precious time checking in with you every day? Initiate the conversation and you’re much more likely to make it onto their radar.

Even hitting up a solo medium for blasting out content can be a huge mistake– If you do not exploit the masses via every possible channel, you lose the not-so-niche audiences that are out there, interested, and completely unaware that you are giving away a PS2. 40% of Tweeters don’t even tweet– they just use the site to stay in the loop and get the skinny on that totes adorbz new line of dresses from Anthro.

3. Only talking about yourself. This seems to be one of the biggest, most obnoxious offenders. “New product! Sale! Free lemonade! Coupons for toenail buffers! Look at me!” If you walk into an Apple store, are you approached by someone yelling at you to look at all their cool headphones or to pretty pretty please check out the iPad Mini adaptors? No. Because that doesn’t work in person, nor does it work on a News Feed. Screaming sales is not a tactic, it’s a turnoff.

If you’ve ever tried to (successfully) get mommy dearest to buy you a fancy new pair of pumps for the ball next Friday night or bum a sweet new plaid shirt from your Dad’s vintage set, you know that a certain flirtation is required. A bit of buttering and conversation, so that you ooze delicately into their minds and wallets without aggressively over reaching into their lives.

4. Providing little incentive to say “Yes, count me in.” Promotions will obviously have attractions built-in, but they often miss the mark and end up disappointing visitors, causing your campaign to fall flat. If your goal is to get users to Like your Page for $10 off a $150 Malibu Barbie collectable, the only bites you’re going to get are from basement dwelling eBay crawlers who can’t handle the pressure of an auction. There is a certain threshold that causes people to go from effusively exclaiming “Booya! Winning! Gettin’ my GAP 40% discount on” to a disappointed “WTF? $0.83 off a Big Mac? #Fail. #NoMoBurgers. #WatchMeEatTheCompetitionBrah”. Bad hashtags happen to good businesses. Don’t fall victim to the horror.

People don’t always know what they want, but they sure know when they’re not interested and heading out the door. Don’t hammer your head against the wall with despair– get yourself together, dress to impress, find a winning offer, and you’re already one thousand steps closer to sealing the deal.

But that’s just the point! Don’t overdo your brand’s holiday fueled social media efforts, since that can have the potential to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths like the inevitable “one-too-many-drinks” upchuck. Mint, anyone? Hammering home too many of the same social points can have the same effect as knocking back too many beverages: you start to get confused with what happened, say or do silly things as a result, and eventually go on a Facebook/Twitter/Instagram bender complete with all the things you’ve said and consumed. Have some goals before you go into the holiday so you can push perfect content to achieve an appropriate holiday buzz.
Be wary of the hype that leads into holidays. You wouldn’t want to go to the same pub crawl as every single other person in your city – things would get too crowded and repetitive! Make sure you do the same with the content you push to your brand followers. It should be relevant, but a bit different, maybe quirky…just like you. It’s a fine line, but someone needs to walk it. Don’t fall prey to the mass mentality that seems to prevail during holidays. More than ever, you gotta do you!

So let’s use this holiday as a metaphor – you know, those things you learned about in high school while reading The Odyssey – and give this thing a go. Don’t let your social media get out of hand – know your limits! Just because something seems like a good idea at the time doesn’t necessarily mean it is. Let the pot of gold at the end of your proverbial rainbow be your collection of happy, engaged, not-over-saturated-with-holiday-content fans who haven’t chucked your social efforts to the banished “hidden” section of the News Feed because of banal holiday posts. Make sure your contributions to the social media world are well thought-out, relevant, and fun!

Heed these tips and shamrock on, social media mavens. Shamrock on.

Now, what does it all mean?  The first thing that jumps out is the emphasis on the cross-device experience.  If there were any doubts that Zuckerberg is steering the ship hard towards mobile, they should be put to rest after today’s announcements.  Bigger images, bigger in-stream ad units, and more engaging stories, the result will be Facebook doing an even better job sucking our time away as we scroll through each News Feed.  Now you can select which category you would like to peruse. Interested in Music? hope over to the Music Stream. News? Head on over to the News Stream. Images, everywhere? Get after it with the Photo Stream.

The other major focus is images.  From our lens, Images = Ads.  Bigger  images will eventually roll to ad units, giving advertisers more real estate to promote their brands. Check out the promo video to take look at what they were thinking with this major upgrade.

The new Facebook has several News Feeds from which to choose . The  feeds vary from All Friends, Close Friends, Music, Most Recent, and most importantly, Following. The Following Feed displays posts from pages and public figures you follow as well as presenting it in chronological order to show all posts.

Facebook has said they will roll these new features out slowly over the next few weeks.  To get in line to be one of the first, head over to FB.

Imagine having your phone charged in seconds. Already millions upon millions of socialites, stock brokers, and tiny infants have their faces attached to a smart phone for larger portions of the day and night. How does an active brand such as yourself even begin to keep up with that kind of focus and need for constant, engaging information? What sort of deliverables are you presenting your audience, and hopefully potential future audience, with on the day-to-day?

The hundreds, thousands, or millions of users funneling through your information every day is not a constant and needs to be nurtured like a young garden in order to sustain your presence. On and off the major platforms, users are relying more and more on the mobile component of every brand on the planet. Here are a few thoughts on how to keep up with demand….

Coordinated cross-channel social promotions! One social media platform is no longer enough even Facebook has a Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram account. Being able to run promotions across numerous channels extends the reach of your promotion. Use a smartlink to post the promotion on all channels and allow any user to enter no need to login. You will collect e-mails for lifelong contact! Don’t forget that you can also embed the promotion onto a website or blog.

Concert venue? Have people sign up for an email of the week’s schedule. Restaurant? Advertise your newest menu creations with some great photos and delectable discounts. Post a link anywhere like on a coaster at a bar for customers to collect and use a coupon instantly. Use banner ads that pop up on potential customers phones while they are hitting the gym. Link the physical world with a users mobile world through an ad in a magazine featuring a mobile promotion.

However you go about it, the key is giving you fans constant and easy access to your brand. Doing so will leave the warm fuzzies with your fans as well as creates potential customers, which is what we call a win-win! With longer battery life comes more responsibility and the power can be yours with mobile opportunities.

With the right strategy, any brand can run a successful coupon campaign. Case in point: Starbucks’ smashing LivingSocial deal back in 2012 completely crushed any group deal record set previously. According to Yipit, the coffee giant sold 1.5 million “50% off a $10 gift card” coupon in one day. Why? A foolproof plan that’s attainable for any brand. Thanks to search engines, it’s easy – and almost expected – to look for coupons before a purchase. Today’s climate has programmed us to search for deals, and we’re getting really, really good at it.

You’ve got to engineer a coupon campaign just like any other promotion. Get smart and target your coupon to those who you know will use it, like Starbucks did. Make the discount amount something to get excited about, because 5% off a service or product just isn’t gonna cut it. A coupon is no good if it’s not usable. Limiting coupons fosters the psychology of gotta-have-it-now – integral for instilling a sense of urgency in your promo. There’s just nothing like the psychology of “I could have spent X, but instead, it was 50% off and I spent Y!” or the satisfaction of lording your discount victory over those who were just too late. That’s a valuable feeling of accomplishment that no coupon code can deny.

Now if you want to maximize your chances of spiking eyeballs, clicks, and cash register rings, go mobile! Make redeeming a coupon as easy as possible for your followers. They’ll appreciate it. Slight product push here: North Social’s got a mobile coupon app that’s ready for any of your mobile promotions. It’s now embeddable within your website or blog, and a Smartlink enables you to promote your coupon anywhere you can dream up (including your POS at retail).

The great thing about social media is that there are no physical aisles and carts with which to crush any coupon competition, but instead powerful social channels to blast your message. Get even more social and think about partnering up with another brand with exclusive deals and steals. Give the people what they want!

To see a mobile coupon app in action, click the big blue button below (from your phone of course):

Ever since Facebook first introduced fan pages for businesses, we’ve all been in the “must-get-fans” mindset and have been fan-gating our promotions like nobody’s business. “Like us to win! Like us to sign up! Like us! Like us? Please?” You name it, we (and our bosses) craved more Like button love.

It was easy pre-Timeline with the default landing tab; post-Timeline it got a little more complicated. We got creative with posting and linking our promotions on our Fan Pages. If your promotions were smart, targeted, and executed well, then the fan count of your Facebook Page most likely grew. If you were smart about how you marketed, it grew a lot.

But, now that you have more fans, are you seeing more engagement, or is your Page carrying dead weight in the form of passive fans? Psst…a high fan count isn’t valuable unless you’re seeing a return on it, so make those fans work for you.

Creating engagement can be as simple as a shareable blurb of a wall post, a great photo, or a community question. It can be more complicated, such as a promotion that incentivizes sharing. The thing to remember is to make it easy for people to share. If something’s hard, people usually won’t do it. It’s human nature to look for the easiest way from Point A to Point B. Keep your fans guessing as to how you’ll promote a particular post and make it relevant to your fan base. The biggest hurdle is visibility: if no one can see your post, no one can interact with it. Get smart with your social avenues and put that post in Facebook ads, Tweets, internet ads, email blasts….see where we’re going here?

Here’s your challenge, if you choose to accept it – make your promotion or post as shareable as the cute puppy post on Buzzfeed that’s circulating around your office. It’s easy to share a funny photo or quote, but it’s more practical to make it easy for your fans. If you want them to work for you, then keep it simple! More hoops to jump through is directly correlated to the number of people who will just abandon the cause. In the social world, simple is better. Remember it this way: Keep it Social [and] Simple

Mobile is shareable and accessible, making it perfect for both reaching and engaging fans. The ability to reach your followers on mobile devices gives you a leg up on your competition. Enter the smartlink and tweet that smartlink with a catchy line to accumulate some retweets. Make a compelling share message, and perhaps your fans will share your promo via email. Your tried-and-true Facebook fans might opt to share it on their own timelines. As a thank-you for checking out promotion, send out a confirmation email with some subscriber perks. The fan-and-Page relationship is a two way street, so make sure to drive accordingly.

If 2012 was the fan-gate year in the social calendar, then 2013 is the year of mobile. If you don’t know that it’s time to mobilize or perish, this post is for you. 2013 is not only the year after the world didn’t end (thanks, Mayans) but it’s also the year that mobile will reign supreme. The numbers don’t lie: the average American spends 94 minutes per day utilizing mobile apps vs. 72 minutes of hangin’ out on the web. Look around and you’ll see it’s true – we’re on our phones and tablets all the time. We text at stoplights (don’t tell my mom) and we check out Twitter while waiting in line at the grocery store. We even watch TV with a tablet or phone in hand to engage even more than laughing at the laugh track. Yep, something social is happening every minute, and we all want in on it.

So get in on the fun by adopting a more mobile mindset in 2013. You (and your boss) will be glad you did.

If you wanted to publish your promotion OFF of Facebook, you had to link from Twitter, banner ads, your blog, or website baaaaack to Facebook so they could engage with your awesome North Social promotion. (A little odd to run a promotion on Twitter that requires a Facebook user account).

Adding to all this complexity is the fact that Facebook apps are not available on the native Facebook mobile interface (and networks like Twitter are two-thirds mobile) and now you’ve got a giant pain in the you know what. This is not cool.

You can now create a promotion with North Social and then publish that promotion EVERYWHERE.

Want to learn how? Keep reading…

There are two really cool new features that enable this to work, and I’m unaware of any other software company on earth that can deliver the same functionality.

Personal side bet: If you know of any company that can do what we’re doing: native mobile, Facebook Fan Page app, smart link to sniff device type, blog and website embeddable, desktop user re-direct, instant email response to entrants, floating url, customized entry forms, easily customized designs, and white-label all starting for under $100 to run a week long sweepstakes or coupon blitz. Please let me know by sending an email to alex [at] northsocial dot com and I’ll buy you a beer if you can prove it. (must be 21)  Note: rendering a desktop design in a tiny little phone screen is not “native” mobile, it’s a flippin joke and nearly impossible to use, so don’t waste your breath trying to explain to me that other FB app providers have a mobile “solution” when what they actually have is a mobile disaster. Cheers!

First, there is the smart link technology.

Under the publish tab you’ll see a cool blue “smart link” which is what you are supposed to grab and use as “the” ideal click path for your fans.  (Note: We are aware that this link is a bit long and will be adding a link shortener soon, but for now just use whatever link shortener you prefer and make it a little more presentable). The smart link will sniff what browser the user is on and will deliver an optimized experience for desktop, tablet, or mobile.

This instantly takes the “what platform are they on” question and puts it to bed. Goodnight. Doesn’t matter if you are on a phone or a laptop, it will auto serve the right experience.

This is pretty cool stuff, but we’re not done.

This is what the publish section looks like in your admin panel.

This is where you grab the smart link. (See the giant image below)

You can use this smart link (shorten it if you want to) and publish it across Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Email, banner ads, and any other place where your prospective customers might click.

Second, There is the Desktop User Re-Direct.

The second part of this magical “publish anywhere” equation is the ability to send desktop users to three different places where they can engage with your promotion. (Note: desktop is not mobile or tablet)

Yep, this new feature allows you to direct desktop clicks to where you want them to go.

1) Facebook Fan Page

2) Your website or blog where the promotion is embedded  OR

3) A “Stand Alone App ” page where the promotion lives all by itself (so you don’t need a fan page or website)

This is what it looks like when you send desktop users to your Fan Page on Facebook. This is how North Social apps have traditionally shown promotions (inside the Facebook chrome).

Based on what your promotional goals are, and where you plan on engaging the most users, you can select the optimal destination for your desktop clicks.

It is flexible and totally up to you, just select one of the three options and go. (note: if you select url, you’ll need to type or paste the url where you are embedding your promotion. Or you can send them to some other website if you want your promotion to be on “mobile only”.

Want to take that promotion and run it on your website or blog? NO PROBLEM.

Just grab the iFrame embed code (which is also in the same “publish” section of your admin panel) and past it right into your website, blog, tumblr, whatever.  (Note: You might need to install a plug-in to support iFrames depending on what CMS you are using for your blog or site)

This is what the embed on your blog link will look like when you send desktop users to your site. (This is a WordPress powered blog example only)

If you don’t want to send users to Facebook, and you don’t have a website or blog where you can easily publish an embedded promotion.

You are NOT out of luck.

The third option for the re-direct is the magical floating app. (Note: this is not actual magic.)

When you select this as the destination for desktop users, they will be taken to a floating url which hosts your promotion inside a sleek little box.

This is GREAT if you don’t want to set up a website, or bother desktop users with Facebook. This is a super flexible way to quickly run promotions that don’t touch ANY social network at all. (think landing page, squeeze page, or other fun marketing use for sending users to an easy to set up and modify interactive experience).

The floating url will look like this below.

If you are still reading this all the way to the bottom, I want to say thanks.

Our team here at North Social works really hard to try and build the best possible solution for brands, agencies, and social media managers.

We invest our heart and soul into what we do, and we listen to our customers as much as possible and are always working hard to improve. We’re pretty happy about where we’re going with this entire platform of tools and we hope that you’re having fun as the social/mobile market continues to evolve.

Cheers! -Alex

It’s tough being a sports fan with all the facts and figures to know, but thanks to our tablets we can manage scores and stats with a swipe of our fingers. According to the folks over at Mashable, over 50% of sports fans own a tablet and use that tablet to keep on top of MVPs and play-by-plays. All the better to check stats with, my dear. (It’s also how I impress my significant other with the Devils’ starting squad, but we’ll keep that between you and me).

So why should you care? Because if you’re a brand, you must make sure your marketing strategies and tactics include a strong mobile component. If you’ve been reading Facebook stats as much as you’ve been following your fantasy stats, you’d know that 64.15 percent (and growing) of Facebook’s total user base now accesses the service from a mobile device.

This means without using mobile optimized apps for your brand, you’re striking out, getting sacked, having your shot blocked, and putting your business in the penalty box all at the same time. Let’s be real, mobile is the deer antler spray of brand promotions (when you need results quickly). Seriously, if your sports fanatics can’t participate, like a fair weather fan, they’ll take their passion, cheers, and wallets over to another team.

These days, fan participation spans the airwaves and the internet. According to a survey by InMobi, nearly 40% of respondents used mobile devices in response to Super Bowl ads last year and 45% estimated that they would spend 30 minutes or more on their mobile devices during the big game. Sure some are talking smack with friends, but they’re also discussing and re-watching commercials, getting product info, or participating in a brand experience. You got it, consumers are willing and able to participate, but marketers have to place the bait by adding a clickable mobile incentive for people to interact with your TV ads (or other marketing communications if you don’t have $4 million to drop on a :30 ad).

Remember, just because your brand isn’t directly related to sports doesn’t mean you can’t run a meaningful and relevant “sports” promotion. How about a “win some tickets” sweepstakes for your region’s most loyal fans? Maybe a digital coupon code for a chunky discount on team gear? How about a mobile-entry photo contest where the most epic pic wins? Or how about dishing out some go-to game day recipes? Come up with your end zone dance, they ideas are endless.

Bottom line, learn to harness the power of mobile (and cast off the chains of desktop-only promotions) so all of your on-the-go sports junkies can take part.

Game Plan:

Advertise, strategize, prioritize! We all know that when it comes to promotions that hope is not a strategy, so make sure you promote this opportunity across all channels: radio, in-store receipts, email campaigns…you get the drift. Mobile apps use a smartlink to properly format the promotion experience for users on different devices. This smartlink is also accessible across any social channel, so promote it on your website, Twitter feed, blog, and in ads all around the web.

How It Works:

User clicks unique URL and goes to a subscribe form. User fills out form (simpler is always better!) and receives an instantaneous email detailing your promotion and thanking them for entering. It’s little things like a confirmation email that set your brand apart from the rest. Take advantage of these personal touches so your customers know that you appreciate their involvement.

The Next Steps:

Brand chooses the winner, but can choose to reward all entrants with a little something something like a coupon code via North Contact’s confirmation email feature (optional, but totally worth it).

Just one of the many wonderful things about mobile is that it’s just about as flexible as you can dream up. Try one mobile promotion – I dare you. You’ll be hooked!