The State of the Social Union

Taco Bell is offering a comic book on its Tumblr channel, titled “The Spicy Adventure of Johnny DLT”. Selfridges, the UK department store, is using Google Plus as a part of its biggest-ever beauty-ad campaign. YouTube has made it possible for channel owners to add a three-second intro to their videos and Twitter now allows advertisers to target promoted tweets and promoted accounts in 20 different languages. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

Social media is a busy space. Brands and networks keep re-inventing themselves and micro- campaigns are plenty. Here a few of the biggest and most interesting events from the past week. CB2, the home décor chain from Crate & Barrel is running an interactive campaign on Pinterest. Users are invited to vote for their favorite furnishings with which the brand plans to decorate an apartment it has rented in New York. SpeedStick Gear teamed up with YouTube celebrity and extreme stunt expert, Devin Graham to create a sponsorship video. The campaign is being promoted by both brand and Graham with the hashtag #GearChallenge. Pinterest launched Guided search, a new feature that allows users to look for specific ideas on their phones, while Snapchat rolled out private messages and video calls for its 40 million users. Find out more about these items and more on our latest Podcast.

Evian is back with the baby, with some added super powers. Cadbury launches a campaign called “Crème Egg Bake” in an effort to increase engagement. Twitter will now offer mobile ads beyond its network through MoPub, a mobile ad exchange and Instagram has updated the type of posts on its ‘Explore’ page. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

Taco Bell has created a short movie on Snapchat using its ‘stories’ feature for the announcing its latest item in the Doritos Locos line. Leeds Bradford Airport has launched an application which shares live flight data via Twitter and LinkedIn is partnering with Samsung to integrate its app with the Galaxy S5. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

Marc by Marc Jacobs is using social media-based casting calls to find a model to star in its first ad campaign. Turner Broadcasting’s HLN news channel has struck a strategic deal with Twitter to broadcast live visualizations of Twitter data simultaneously across television and digital platforms. Twitter has rolled out a new and improved profile that now allows users the ability to use large profile photos and customize their header. For more social media news , give the podcast a listen.

Robinsons Drinks is running a ‘Get Squashed’ promotion that encourages consumers to make a video or take a photo of different ways they prepare a squash using Robinsons Squash’d. Taco Bell and McDonald’s have been involved in a brand fight that’s been dubbed as “The Breakfast Wars” which is generating social media buzz for both companies. Google has released a new ‘YouTube Creator Playbook for Brands’, which is a 100-page guide that offers brands in-depth instruction on how to gain more leverage on the video platform. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

As a part of its ‘Happy Hour 2.0’ initiative, Carlsberg is offering drinkers the opportunity to keep buying its beer at half price. McDonald’s gave away 1,000 free Egg McMuffins at each of its 6,000 branches across Africa, the Middle East and Asia and Pinterest goes local in India by adding Hindi to the list of over 24 languages. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

Wren Studio, a Los Angeles-based women’s clothing company, introduced their Fall 2014 collection in a YouTube video featuring 20 strangers kissing. Better Homes and Gardens has launched an Instagram contest asking its readers to share photos of their favorite color palettes. Facebook has announced that it will offer brands the ability to buy video ads to run in the users’ News Feeds. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

Facebook will be rolling out a new updates, in the coming weeks, to its news feed so that its desktop and mobile interface looks the same. Heineken gives followers a chance to bring their movie pitches to life. Oreo will be using Twitter to make 3D cookies at the SXSW that will offer attendees deliciously hyper-personalized and customized snacks. Check out the whole story by giving the podcast a listen.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts is running a ‘My Oscar Photo’ campaign in an effort to make its fans a part of the red carpet experience. Saks Fifth Avenue has introduced a series of beauty tutorials via Vine, featuring its favorite products and the techniques to use them. Twitter has announced that it will now automatically include the ads of Promoted Accounts in search results of the advertiser’s existing target audience. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

BelVita is running a Twitter campaign that celebrates its consumers’ ‘morning wins’, U-Haul is encouraging consumers to send photos of their moving adventures, which will be featured in collages on the sides of its moving vans. Pinterest has updated both its iOS and Android apps with the ability to support animated GIFs and LinkedIn has expanded its publishing platform, and now allows all users to write and share long-form content on their LinkedIn profiles. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen. The State of the Social Union- Week Of Feb 24th, 2013 by unmetric

Caribou Coffee has built a 64-feet tall Pinterest board at the Mall of America in Bloomington,Target is partnering with the top three designers on Pinterest to create a collection of party products. Evian has launched a social media campaign for Valentine’s Day called the ‘I Love You Like’. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

Oscar Mayer now gives fans the chance to get access to its famous Wiener mobiles, Old Spice creates 9 websites to help you prank your friends. Pinterest has introduced the “Interests” tool to help you find post you like and Linked’in has redesigned its “Company Pages”. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

Wilson, the manufacturer of game balls for the NFL, ran a ‘Name in the Game’ sweepstake to give its Instagram followers a chance have their names sewn into official game balls to be used during the Super Bowl. JBL’s ‘Tweet Music’ campaign turns tweets into music whenever someone tweets at the brand’s Twitter handle. YouTube has launched the Ad Blitz channel giving football fans a sneak peak of this year’s Super Bowl ads. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.

HBO has uploaded the first two episodes of ‘Girls’ season three onto its YouTube channel in an aim to court the show’s active online fan base. Ferrari is running a social media contest called the ‘Snap your Passion’ in which fans are asked snap a photo depicting how Ferrari has branded the lives of its fans. YouTube has released a new ‘Central Page’ for comments allowing users to moderate and respond to comments from a single location. Facebook has launched a redesigned ‘Trending’ section on the sidebar of the news feed. Find out more by giving the podcast a listen.