Facebook Moving Towards Live Streaming TV Shows

As of March 21^st, 2016, Facebook is now moving towards live streaming television shows! Cable network E! was the first to bring their show live on Facebook at 12:30pm that day. The show has been revamped to fit the new single-camera format, but will still bring the breaking news and content that viewers want to see.

E! has a massive social media following, with 9 million Facebook page likes! They hope that to attract a new  following as viewers will be able to comment and leave questions directly on their Facebook page and these will be answered live on air! E! will continue to air their show daily, at the same time slot, and viewers will be informed via Facebook notifications.

While this is currently the only show being streamed live, Facebook has much bigger plans for this platform. They have recently been in meetings with multiple TV executives over the past couple weeks and are currently competing with Twitter to gain rights to NFL’s Thursday night games. They also have stated that they are willing to pay a little bit to have famous people start creating live videos. This would be huge for Facebook, and I am sure they will get what they want!

What shows would you want to see broadcasted live on Facebook? Share with us your thoughts and opinions!

Written by Casie Varacelli from Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Networking: The First Step to Getting Into an Industry and Succeeding

Whether you are a first-year graduate or the founder of a growing business, networking should be one of your favorite pastimes. We have all heard the saying, “It is not what you know, but whom you know” and if this saying stands true, then taking yourself out of your comfort zone and mastering networking is a must.

For graduates, landing a full-time job can be long and tiresome, with every extensive application sent, you can only hope your resume is being seen. It is time for you to get from behind your computer and show your face at events where the professionals of your industry of interest will be. Face-to-face interaction can go a lot farther that the keywords on your resume that may or may not stand out to a hiring manager. I am not saying these short chats will automatically land you your dream job, but here is what it will do:

1.     Give you more insight about the industry.

2.     Start a relationship with someone who has his or her foot already in the door, who can possibly pass your resume on to other contacts he/she may know.

3.     Give you practice talking to professionals about your desired career path

Networking should not stop once you have landed the job or have been in the business for years. Clients, media contacts, and any other driving forces of a business do not just pop out of thin air! Networking can allow you to make great relationships with people, whom in the long run (not necessarily right when you meet them) may help you when you are in need of assistance, such as a key introduction.  A growing list of contacts has never been a negative for a company!

Written by Mimi Rosenberg of Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Snapchat Announces Custom Geofilters!

It’s safe to say most Snapchat users all get a little bummed out when visiting somewhere that doesn’t have a geofilter. With the app’s new feature, this won’t be a problem for much longer!

Snapchat has officially introduced on-demand geofilters, which allows users to create their own custom filters, which will temporarily appear within the app. 

The idea for this feature is to give users the opportunity to create a custom geofilter for any event, from a house party to graduation to a wedding! Though a similar feature has been available for quite some time, the on-demand feature is much more cost efficient and customizable, starting at just $5. Who wouldn’t want to create their own geofilter for their next event?  

The process is pretty simple, too. Users can submit their custom filter on their new online portal in three simple steps: 

1. Design – Users can create their custom filter on their preferred image editor. Snapchat has also provided users with templates compatible with Photoshop and Illustrator to aid in the creative process. 

2.  Map – In this step, users pick a date and time they want the geofilter to be available. 

3. Buy – Finally, users submit their final geofilter and checkout. Once submitted, the Snapchat team will quickly review the design and get it up and running.

Users can choose spaces that are a minimum of 20,000 square feet to a maximum of 5,000,000 square feet – to put into perspective, that’s roughly the size of a business’ office to a few blocks around a city. As far as the run time, the custom filters can stay live from an hour to thirty days. 

On-demand filters are now available to users across the U.S., UK and Canada, and will be available in more countries soon. Be sure to create a geofilter for your next event! 

 Written by Samantha Velotta of Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Pinterest Adds Recipe Rich Data to Pins

Good news for the millions of users of Pinterest that search for recipes! Pinterest has now added recipe rich data to recipe pins that allows you to see the ingredients, cooking times and servings directly under the photo without having to go to an external website. We all know how much of a pain it was to be at the grocery store clicking through links to find exactly what you need for that last minute dinner recipe.

This addition has doubled the number of recipe pins to nearly 4 billion! Pinterest is also in the works of doubling their number of movie pins, as they have added rich data for these as well. Movie pins will now provide ratings, cast information and reviews. They have had previous updates in both these categories to make their site more user friendly, but this one was a push for the upcoming Oscars. Appetizer pinning for the Oscars has increased 15% in February alone and has tripled since last year!

The majority of Pinterest users, they noted 90%, are pinning food and drink recipes on mobile, therefor this addition of rich data was vital for the continuing success of Pinterest.

To add these rich pins to your website, follow these 3 simples steps that Pinterest lays out for you on their website: https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/enable-rich-pins-your-site.

Written by Casie Varacelli from Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Top Social Media Fails

What a wonderful tool social media can be for a company, when done right. When done wrong, it can leave a lot of heads shaking in disbelief. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have grown in popularity with companies of all sizes. It is now common to see social media managers who control the operations of these accounts. When a social media post takes a turn for the worst, we can’t help but wonder what was going on in the minds of these social media savvy pros. These top social media fails will make you scream, “Come on, what were you thinking!?”

US Airways Twitter Fail

US Airways took a different approach to, “the customer is always right” when they replied back to a customer’s complaint with a not-so-kid friendly picture. It's so bad, we don't even feel comfortable describing it, but if you really want to find it, a simple Google search will bring it up.

Many people have had a slip of their finger and accidently posted something that wasn’t meant for their followers. That is exactly what happened to the US Airways twitter, but instead of instantly removing the inappropriate graphic, the post stayed up for an hour before removal. An apology followed the removal, but that didn’t stop the tweet from going viral, making it very hard for the person behind the account to forget and move on from their mistake.

Now US Airways has merged with American Airlines and it is safe to say that their social media accounts are now in different hands. You are safe to follow them again!

IHOP’s social media strategy isn’t one to follow

This social media fail is a little different, because IHOP was well aware what was happening on their social media accounts. They clearly didn’t think about the reactions that could possibly come from mixing their social media strategy with 6^th grade humor. You all remember jokes like, “butter face” or simply insulting a women’s figure. That is what IHOP did, but instead of talking about an actual woman, they included a picture of pancakes. Many people still didn’t find that very funny.

These tweets stayed up for about an hour until a lot of criticism came tweeting IHOP’s way. These finally made the business think, “Hmm, maybe this wasn’t a very funny joke”.

You now have seen how social media can do some harm to a company when not done right. With social media having such a large presence in a brands identity, it is very important to double-check what it is about to be posted or in these cases, give it a triple-check.

Written by Mimi Rosenberg of Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Account Switching Available on Instagram

Good news, multi-Instagram account users – you can now switch between multiple accounts on Instagram! With the rising popularity of the app, it was only a matter of time until the feature was introduced. After months of testing on both iOS and Android, the company has recently officially announced the feature!

“Starting this week, you can quickly and easily switch between multiple accounts on Instagram!” The Instagram Help Center goes into more detail and provides users with a step-by-step process on how to add more than one account. Here’s how to do it:

- Go to your profile and tap the settings icon: 

- Scroll down and tap Add Account (this will be close to the bottom by “Log Out” and “Clear Search History)

- Enter the username and password of the account you’d like to add

Yep, it’s that easy! This process can be repeated to add up to five different accounts on the app.

Users have been giving a lot of positive feedback about the feature already, as it makes handling multiple accounts for personal and professional use much easier. Before the feature, those with multiple accounts would have to use third-party apps to easily switch between different profiles.

The feature is supported with Instagram version 7.15 for iOS and Android. Social media business owners rejoice!

Written by Samantha Velotta from Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Using Pinterest Analytics for a Stronger Marketing Campaign

Pinterest, the visually oriented social media site, is no longer just for planning weddings and finding healthy recipes. The social media site is estimated to have approximately 40 million active monthly users and is continuing to grow. A lot of people use the site for pleasure, but, if used strategically, it can be a great marketing tool for businesses.

Marketing your business on Pinterest may seem like a daunting task, but Pinterest analytics makes the process smooth and the results easy to comprehend. For business accounts, Pinterest offers analytics that provide insight into information about the business’ audience, the audience’s preferences, and referral traffic. Specifically, Pinterest analytics provide information on your audience, including specifics like gender and location. Additionally, the analytics also provide information about your audience’s interests, allowing you to tailor your posts to meet the interests of the audience. The analytics can also tell you what pins and boards of yours are most popular and what people save from your website. Additionally, analytics tracks how much traffic your website gets after you add the “Pin It” button to your site.

If your business involves selling products, Pinterest can be a great test-run for your items. If you pin images of your products, Pinterest analytics will tell you which of the pins are the most popular, essentially forecasting which of your products will be the most successful. On your analytics profile page, you can also see your 50 most repinned pins and your boards with the most repins. Pinterest also offers free marketing advice, providing tips on your analytics page based on your data from the analytics.

Pinterest is a growing social network and is extremely unique. Utilizing Pinterest’s sophisticated analytics tools can help you market your business by providing invaluable feedback about your audience and the things your audience is interested in. Looking at your Pinterest analytics and utilizing that information to alter your marketing strategy can make your business’s marketing campaign more successful. 

Written by Samantha Weisner of Rebecca Adele PR & Events