If you haven’t already hopped on the Vine bandwagon, get ready — it’s predicted to be the next “big thing” to take over the social media world. Even with low adoption, brands are getting pretty creative with the app’s stop motion animation capabilities and some are even utilizing the application for short ad creation. Like Twitter, Vine is all about abbreviation, and with constraint comes creativity.

Vine, the new mobile app by Twitter, enables users to create and post short, six second video clips that can be shared or embedded on a variety of social networking sites. One aspect of the app that sets it apart from other video-sharing services is that the camera only records while the screen is being tapped (by holding the screen down with your finger) thus giving gif-like effects along with audio. Like magic, users can disappear into thin air, give a 360 tour of their business or create a gourmet meal, all in six seconds!

Since the app’s launch on January 24, 2013, Vine has become the most used video-sharing application in the market and other video-sharing platforms are beginning to see a decline in use. Even more impressive, on April 9, 2013, Vine became the number one most-downloaded free app within The App Store. Go Vine, Go!

Currently, the app is only available on the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, and can be downloaded for free in Apple’s App store. Twitter has announced that they are working on bringing the app to other platforms as well.

So the question remains, how will your company use the Vine app to market your brand? Really, the possibilities are endless. Whether it’s a short video showcasing the inside of your company’s walls or the faces behind them, the most important thing to remember is to be creative and share what makes your company unique.

Comment below and let us know what you think about this new app or on our Twitter and Facebook page! Plus, don’t forget to follow More Cabbage on Vine.

In honor of this week’s season premiere of my favorite (and perhaps the best) show on television, Game of Thrones, I’m going to talk about the industry lessons we can learn from those characters we love, and the ones we love to hate. In a world of whispers and lies, who is doing it right? What does it take to simultaneously keep the love of the people, the love of the king, and…one’s head? (Though generally the last two are mutually inclusive.) Can it be done ethically, and most importantly, how does it relate to Public Relations? DISLCAIMER: If you don’t watch the show this will probably seem like another language, but there are some key takeaways so stay with me.

THE GOOD

Margaery is the Westerosi equivalent of a seasoned PR pro that’s been hired in the 11^th hour of Joffrey’s reign to save the Lannisters from reputation doom. Her price is the relatively reasonable request of guaranteed Queenship. The Rose from Highgarden chooses hands-on charity work to kick off a word-of-mouth PR campaign with the purpose of protecting her future husband’s neck. Does it work? This quote from the book says it best: “The mob loved Margaery so much they were even willing to love Joffrey again.” Sure, one may argue that she only helps the poor because of her lofty aspirations, but ambition by itself is not inherently evil. If she’s trying to climb the social ladder through goodwill and philanthropy, it’s all right in my book.

I’m no Stark enthusiast (Bran is pretty much the only one I care about) but young Robb is probably the show’s greatest example of a good leader. He has his father’s honorable morality with his mother’s charisma and knack for diplomacy. He heeds counsel from top advisors and lowly soldiers alike, but always stays true to his convictions. His blunder is sneaking off in the dead of night to marry the woman he’s NOT been promised to under a religion that he and his followers haven’t adopted. Knowing what I do about George R. R. Martin’s penchant for killing off good characters, I have a feeling that this will mean his downfall. The lesson here is transparency. The Freys are going to find out about Robb’s secret nuptials, and when they do it won’t be pretty. In the real world, it’s important for brands to be open and honest in order to build trust. One of the best ways to do so is through a planned and organized social media program with a designated “lead” crisis communicator and proactive messaging. If you tell people about your big secret before they find out on their own, you get to control the message.

THE BAD

Remember that time when a crowd of angry peasants threw excrement at Joffrey? Remember how he tried to have them all executed for it? Don’t do that, you saw the results. When your audience throws virtual dung (a.k.a. a negative Facebook comment or nasty tweet) at you, don’t attack them for it, don’t ignore them, and certainly don’t try to delete it. Show them that you appreciate their feedback and let them know what you’re doing about it. People will like it if you can respond well to criticism.

THE UGLY

Pyat Pree.

I don’t actually have anything to say about him.

He’s just ugly.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen does a GREAT job at branding. Thought you might forget her name for a minute there? Don’t worry, she’ll remind you. Nothing brings the mother of dragons greater joy than rattling off all of her titles just before a well-rehearsed elevator speech about how she’ll take back what’s hers with Fire and Blood (bonus points if she inquires as to the whereabouts of her winged companions.)

Wow, that was nerdy. What should I cover next time? How to be the Dowager Countess of social media? Business lessons from the Bluth Banana Stand? Or do you have a favorite show that constantly provides you with PR lessons? Leave a comment and let me know!

I can make a case for engaging in Social Media PR using just one compelling reason: SEO. Search Engine Optimization. Let me explain.

To start, one has to make two assumptions that I don’t have the time to develop or support. You’ll just need to trust me on this. First, people turn to the web for almost every major purchase decision. Most of the time it’s for research. Or to get educated. Sometimes it’s simply to look you up.

Which brings me to the second assumption. People do business with people they know, they like, trust or connect with. That’s because brands or business can’t talk or listen. But people can. Or simply put, we are constantly influenced by those closest to us.

So if our search engine experience is important to our major purchase decisions, it makes sense that in a search engine’s quest to deliver a very relevant result to a user, the search engine engineers would look at human behavior for a clue on how to best map this.

Enter a Social PR Strategy.

Social Media content, posts, tweets, photos, videos, descriptions, pins, comments, etc., have been indexing into search engines for years.

More importantly, the search engines are starting to integrate social results into the search engine results, mixing a human communication into the middle of your search results or connecting actual social media conversations to your search results. See what Bing is doing with Facebook results. Or check out Google’s integration of Google Plus data.

It’s just a matter of time, short time, when you and I will be in the same location using a search engine like Google to query “Hawaii” from our devices, and your first result will be a blog post your brother wrote about his Maui vacation, but my first result will be a Luau video that my old high school buddy shot.

Can you see the future impact?

If you’re not participating by communicating through social media channels now, you won’t be found later. You won’t be talked about, liked, trusted nor connected to. You will do less and less business and lose loyal customers and prospects to the recommendations of their friends and family in their own social networks. You will also be kicking yourself you didn’t jump in now.

When comprehensive web searching reaches every device in a mainstream way, such as TVs (like this year, or next?), your customers will experience an interactivity with internet content that they have never known before, and they will love the experience.

It is critical to be building social networks and likes, videos and shares, blog posts, tweets and comments. They all flow back to search engine data points. So that you are found.

Bye bye traditional branding, hello inbound online relationship marketing.

“Breast Care Centers have a tremendous opportunity to use social media to engage with their communities,” says Chris Conant, president of More Cabbage. “The Breast Care community-at-large is pre-disposed as ‘social’ and emotionally connected to people and content.”

At this year’s 23^rd Annual National Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference the More Cabbage team trained a couple dozen Breast Care Center Directors, physicians and personnel in a very unique pre-conference workshop. The workshop provided hands-on, detailed how-to’s on growing a Breast Care Center’s online presence, as well as building lasting online relationships. This in turn, improves the organization’s reputation, the building blocks that will put you ahead of the game. The group also learned how to write more effective posts, removing the uncertainty of dabbling in Twitter, and other social media platforms. “Today with social media popularity, increasing the find-ability of Breast Care Centers in search engines becomes key,” added Conant, “the argument for Social PR becomes even more compelling to engage now so that you’re not kicking yourself in about three to five years for not engaging earlier.”

With over 120 sessions featuring 70 world class speakers (including our very own Head Cabbage, Chris Conant), three certification tracks, our new pre-conference course and so much more, our time in Vegas was busy, busy, busy. As we discussed in our earlier NCOBC blog, in a changing world where patients collect their information and make decisions on what they find online, the centers that attended our workshop learned quickly that it is critical to stake their claim.

During our workshop, we educated attendees on the ins-and-outs of the exciting world of digital marketing. Participants were asked to bring a laptop so they could practice during the seminar — and boy, did they participate! The More Cabbage team took the attendees through multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, showing them specific examples of how they could utilize these platforms for the growth of their Centers. We even helped them set up Facebook Fan Pages, Facebook ads, and LinkedIn profiles!

With that being said, we’d like to share a very special story of one attendee that we helped during the session, who is already seeing results on her Facebook page:

Nancy Ballard is the founder and president of Rooms That Rock 4 Chemo (RTR4C), a non-profit organization devoted to creating positive, healing and uplifting spaces that spiritually, emotionally and physically support those dealing with chemotherapy. RTR4C transforms unimaginative, often sterile, spaces into warm, vibrant and peaceful environments. (What an inspiring cause, right!?) The More Cabbage team stayed after the workshop to help a few remaining to set up a Facebook Pay-Per-Click ad. Since then, the RTR4C’s Facebook page has increased its “likes” by more than 700%! This in turn provides qualified people on her Facebook fan page with whom she can talk with, answer questions, share ideas, or simply engage with.

After the workshop was complete at noon, it was time for Chris Conant to speak during the plenary session to a very packed room of over 1,500 physicians, directors and breast care personnel. He gave both an update and timely application on the constantly changing online medium of Social PR. Of note, Conant showed attendees how they could participate in Social Media and build those quality relationships while still adhering to HIPAA compliance – something on all of their minds.

Lastly, we wanted to send a sincere and gracious THANK YOU to all of the people at the National Consortium of Breast Centers for having us and allowing us the chance to share our services with attendees. We have a fantastic time!

If you’re a Breast Care Center or physician and would like to know more about how More Cabbage can help you grow you center, please contact us today. Also, don’t forget to connect with More Cabbage on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as Chris Conant (@CTConant), Nealy Mincher (@nealymincher) and Benna Combs (@BennaCombs).

See you next year!

Yep, you read that right. At this year’s South by Southwest Interactive Conference held in Austin, Texas on March 8-12, not only did the More Cabbage team attend sessions that confirmed their love (as well as the Internet’s love) for those furry, self-sufficient creatures we call cats, but we learned, networked and brought home notes on notes on notes of tips, tricks and ideas that we just can’t wait to share with our clients.

This year was my first time attending the SXSW Interactive festival. Being from Austin, I knew the ropes for where to park, what places to eat and where to grab an after-session cocktail, but I had no idea how filled the streets of Austin would be with fellow social media managers, Instagram obsessors, bloggers, ad pros from major agencies across the globe and more. From sitting in on an interesting session with the CEO of foursquare, Dennis Crowley, to an insightful discussion with the Director of Digital Marketing for Wendy’s, my thirst for digital marketing knowledge was quenched at SXSW.

Benna Combs, one of More Cabbage’s Social Communications Managers, and I attended about five sessions per day (trust me, by Tuesday evening we could barely see straight!). Of those sessions, a few stuck out to me because of the intuitive practices they provided, which I’ll touch on more below:

• “Why Social Ads Work. Ignore the Facebook Naysayers.”
  This session was a discussion between Kurt Abrahamson, the CEO of ShareThis, and Randon Rhoten, the Director of Digital Marketing for Wendy’s. This was an enriching panel to listen to because it was the view of social media marketing from a larger brand’s perspective. Rhoten discussed how his team uses social ads to build a story for their brand and the different ways they use social to connect with their target audience. “We don’t care about the number of fans or ‘likes’ we have,” Rhoten said during the discussion, “we care about people falling in love with the brand.” And it’s true; Social PR, social media and digital marketing are only three of the key places to do that online.

• “Digital A-Z for B2B”
  I felt like this session was made specifically for me (yes, I’m a nerd). Not only were Lauren Vaccarello, the Senior Director of Salesforce.com, and Maura Ginty, Senior Director of Marketing for Geographic Expeditions, extremely entertaining, but the ideas and measures that they presented were smart for those working with clients that fall into the B2B space. At More Cabbage, we have a variety of clients that range from B2C to B2B. It was valuable to listen to fellow pros discuss this often-neglected topic. While most of it seemed like a refresher course for us, Vaccarello and Ginty did contribute some new insight, such as retargeting, that we will be bringing forth to our B2B clients.

• “How Will Art, Copy & Code Re-imagine Advertising?
  Probably one of the most sought-after sessions at SXSW, Benna and I barely made it in for Google’s Art, Copy & Code panel. The line wrapped around the Austin Convention Center, but we scored seats in the back and anxiously listened as Adam Govil and Ben Malbon presented new Google products and services to a packed room. The crowd consisted of everyone from small social media agencies to full-blown traditional advertising firms because it’s true; Google and the digital world are truly re-imagining how advertising, branding and marketing really work. And let’s just say, Google has some pretty mind-blowing things coming our way.

All in all, every session I attended sparked my already obsessive interest in Social PR and digital marketing. It was inspiring to be in a room with fellow professionals and then doused with knowledge from some of the industry’s best. And one of my favorite quotes from the entire conference came from Dennis Crowley. He said, “SXSW is where we go to live in the future for a few days before going back home to live in the present.” However, the More Cabbage team came back with a little different mindset. We did come home to the present, but we plan to converge this newly obtained knowledge into the future of our Social PR programs.

Be sure to follow More Cabbage on Instagram to see shots from the conference. And tell me, were you at SXSW Interactive this year? What were some of your favorite things about it?

Facebook is at it again with the announcement of more changes, but this time it’s to its interface and not its privacy settings (whew!). While most of us moan and groan over Facebook changes, these seem pretty intuitive and I think consumer and marketers alike will enjoy the new News Feed. Let’s walk through the three major areas that are being targeted:

Richer Stories

Facebook really wants the user experience to be enhanced. And by enhanced, they want you to feel and experience as if you were there alongside your friend or at your favorite company’s function. Larger images, more check-in location information available, and more suggestions about what events you should attend based on what you’ve attended before and what your friends are attending are all highlights of the new features. Facebook wants your life to come alive online and allow you to take your friends along for the online ride.

Choice of Feeds

Probably one of the best features is Facebook users now have the option to toggle between customized feeds. You are no longer confined to a single feed that is guided by Facebook’s Edgerank. Instead, you are now free to create your own customized experience that is what YOU are all about. Love music? Check out a whole feed dedicated to posts about your favorite artists, from your favorite artists, or about your favorite artist’s next tour dates. Is music not your thing? You can check out a feed that is dedicated to your favorite News sources, photos, or people you’re following. The feeds are fully customizable and your most frequently used feeds will be at the top of your “Feed Switcher.”

We think the choice of feed will create opportunities for brands. It will definitely inspire brands to be more engaging if they want to garner a coveted position in a user’s main feed. Brands have to be in touch with the consumers they are targeting and create the content their consumers are looking for.

Mobile Inspired User Interface

Lastly, the look of Facebook has a more consistent feel across all different platforms. Inspired by our mobile way of life (and we’ve known that mobile is becoming more and more prominent on the social side of things), the new interface is less cluttered and more streamlined.

You will also find a “truly global navigation” with the new Facebook, which means that you will be able to navigate anywhere on Facebook without having to go back to your home screen. How is it done? With mobile inspired sidebars and drop down menus that help guide you to where you want to go. Search for friends or companies, check out the latest buzz in music, or start a conversation with an old friend, no matter what page you are on.

So when is this all taking effect? Right now. Facebook is already rolling out the new interface for users. You will see new updates for your phone apps in the next few weeks and also notice your business page converting over, too. They said that since it’s such a large overhaul, it might take several weeks to hit everyone. For more information, check out their News Feed page.

So what do you think about the new interface? Do you think it will create a reason to spend more time on Facebook or is it complicating things too much for you?

Attention Breast Care Centers!

There are many ways to communicate with patients, communities and employees. Besides printed methods, there are email, search engines, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn just to name a few. Instead of dabbling in these areas, why not learn how you can use them to grow your breast care center, improve your online reputation, gather patients and grow professionally?

Don’t miss this VERY UNIQUE series of lectures entitled “Digital Strategy and Social Media for Breast Care Centers” at the 23^rd Annual National Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference on Sunday, March 24, 2013 at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. These lectures are specially-designed to help you build a digital marketing strategy for your Breast Care Center or for you as a professional in the industry. In a changing world where patients collect their information and make decisions based on what they find online, it is critical to stake your claim, and make your health care business current, established and relevant. A web site is not enough. No, you need to reach out in a dozen ways to your online and mobile community – ways that can be taught.

Each lecture is carefully planned to give the participant insight into the human process of decision-making and community building in an online setting. This is very compelling stuff! The Breast Care Center must see these inbound marketing tactics to publish content like videos, blogs, post and comments into areas of the Internet that will be found, searched-on and discovered. We will include a section on mobile marketing and reputation building.

All students are asked to bring a laptop because they will be assigned some overnight homework.

If you’re going to be attending the 23^rd Annuals National Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference, make sure you connect with More Cabbage on Facebook, Twitter and follow us on LinkedIn, as well as Chris Conant (@CTConant), Nealy Mincher (@nealymincher) and Benna Combs (@BennaCombs) so you can tweet along with us during the conference and don’t forget to use the hashtag: #NCOBC!

See you soon!

Who’s ready for SXSW? We are! We are! In just a couple of weeks, some of the More Cabbage team, including myself, will be heading to Austin, Texas March 8-12, for the 2013 SXSW Interactive Festival.

This year’s festival will feature five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders, the SXSW Trade Show and an unbeatable lineup of special programs showcasing the best new digital works, video games and innovative ideas the international community has to offer.

So you ask, what is the More Cabbage team most excited about this year? Well, there are tons, and I mean tons, of educational sessions to choose from this year. But I decided to pick three (boy, was it hard to pick just three) that in my opinion are my “Fun SXSW,” not just all work and no play, must-see sessions:

1. At the time of writing this, I had my two cats, Layla and Twinkie sitting on my computer, looking up at me saying, “pet me” or (let me rephrase) if they could talk that is what they would be saying.  So I took this as a Crazy Cat Lady “sign” that I must catch this session: #catvidfest: Is This the End of Art?. On August 30, 2012 over 10,000 people gathered at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis for the first Internet Cat Video Festival (#catvidfest). In turn, this festival acted as a social experiment testing the boundaries of online communities and crowd-sourcing content that fostered an international debate. So cool, right? And even better, this session will include cat videos! Hashtag: #sxsw #catvidfest
2. Also, another session I don’t want to miss is the Addicted to Mobile, the New Cigarette session. Since I did quit smoking this year (internet high-five!), and I am addicted to my iPhone, I found this to be a fascinating topic. I mean, can our mobile phones really be acting as the modern day cigarette? Are they just as addictive? Either way, I’m exited to explore the psychology. Hashtag: #sxsw #mAddict
3. Ok, last but certainly not least, the Apps of the Future: Instagram for Cyborgs session. This session will discuss the technological advances that will shape our lives over the next two decades, and how mobile apps will evolve as a result. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store because as you know, it was just six years ago that most of us had never heard of an “iPhone app.” Can you believe it? It will be interesting to see what the presenters predict for the future of fundamental technology. Hashtag: #sxsw #CyborgApp

To see the full list of 2013 SXSW Interactive Sessions take a look at the 2013 SXSW Interactive Schedule. We can’t wait to see you in Austin and don’t forget to connect with More Cabbage on Facebook and Twitter, as well as Nealy Mincher (@nealymincher), Chris Conant (@ctconant) and myself, (@BennaCombs) so you can tweet along with us during the fest. See you soon!

Which SXSW sessions are you looking forward to the most?

In case you have been living under a rock or perhaps experiencing an Internet outage, the one and only Myspace is back! And uniquely named the “New Myspace.” This comes after months of beta testing and only a day after Justin Timberlake, a prominent Myspace investor, released his latest single “Suit & Tie” featuring Jay-Z.

By releasing an entire social network along with a new single
, Myspace sends a clear message that they are going to continue with their focus on music. As soon as you log in, this value is even more evident by their clear emphasis on music. In the bottom of your home screen you will find a media player, which includes the ability to create your own “mixes.” (This is “Myspace speak” for your own custom playlists.) They also feature many resources for artists to post, host, and share their music online.

Other than the music focus, Myspace is completely redesigned. Instead of trying to imitate their largest competitors, such as Facebook and Twitter, Myspace has gone a new direction with its interface. I think we can all agree that the teaser in September got our hearts pumping with the excitement of reliving our younger days and the nostalgia of rediscovering the social media network most of us grew up on. Large text and an all new multimedia interface are just some of the new features of Myspace.

So, how will the new Myspace fare? Only time will tell. At More Cabbage, we have been playing around with our profiles and checking things out. So far, we love the interface, but are still a little confused on a few things like searching for our friends. It seems that the new Myspace is a little too focused on music and leaves the old Myspacers fumbling with the new layout. If you do feel yourself becoming overwhelmed, don’t fret; Myspace has a little gray bar at the top of your page, for now, that well revert you back to the classic look.

Oh, by the way, if you’re worried about setting everything up again, you are also in luck. You can import your classic profile or sign in using Facebook or Twitter. Of course if you want to start over fresh, feel free to enter all of your new information into your profile. You should also be able to use the same email address that you used to login to the old Myspace (if you’re like some of us who haven’t changed their email accounts in almost a decade).

So, inquiring minds want to know — what have been your experiences with the New Myspace? Are you impressed or are you not giving up your Facebook & Twitter bookmarks anytime soon?

As we celebrate New Year’s, we know what you’re thinking: Resolutions! And with the promise of a new year (now that we all survived the Mayan Apocalypse) the pressure to make and stick to those resolution is upon us.

Well, at More Cabbage, we’re not only your #1 resource for all things Social PR, but we’re here to help with your personal vigilance this year as well. We have analyzed your top resolutions and have a prescription of mobile apps to help you power through this year and end victorious.

We did the research, and we determined the most important topics for the new year are as follows:

• Paying off debt/saving money
• Quitting smoking
• Getting fit
• Learning a new skill
• Giving back.

Paying Off Debt / Saving Money

We all know that having money is not the problem, saving it and managing it is. If your goal is to have a better understanding of where your money is magically going and, perhaps, having more of it at the end of the month, then this app is for you.

Mint.com is a free service that compiles all of your banking and debt information and puts it into a convenient location. Mint is great for paying off debt, setting up an expense report, and also keeping everything together.

Quitting Smoking

Kicking the habit is another common New Year’s resolution. And we think the Livestrong MyQuit Coach may just help you reach your goal!

The app has an easy interface and is packed with loads of helpful features. You can create a personalized quitting plan, upload your own personal motivations, and much more. The app is also integrated with your social platforms to help get support from your friends and family.

Getting Fit

Another great application from the folks over at Livestrong is the MyPlate Calorie Tracker. Like the MyQuit Coach app, MyPlate has a very intuitive interface that is easy to navigate.

It works by imputing all the food items you consume, the activities you engage in, and the ideal weight you are looking for. Then, it turns this information into a workable plan. Whether you had a Greek salad or a greasy burger, the application calculates the nutrition and adjusts the rest of your daily consumption. Losing weight and getting fit is easier than ever with the help of this app!

Learning a New Skill

A big goal of the New Year is to learn a new skill. No matter if you want to be the next Julia Child or Emeril Lagasse or just brush up on your French for your summer vacation, we though these might help.

Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner Pro – This app is perfect for those who aren’t culinary accustomed. We love it because its packed with hundreds of recipes, helps you create the perfect shopping list, and even allows you to scan the items you currently have to help with meal inspirations.

Busuu – Busuu offers a wide variety of languages that range from Spanish to Mandarin. Their easy-to-use applications walk you through many different lessons and help build your understanding of the language that you’re trying to learn. Five basic lessons are available for free, then you can purchase lessons for $4.99 each. Not bad!

Giving Back

Giving back is not only important to those you help; it also fills yourself with a sense of pride that can spill over into other aspects of your life. We like to give back by helping with local communities, churches and charities.

To help you give back, we found the Pay it Forward app. It is a simple application that allows you to find ways to help people every day. Whether it’s putting a quarter in a meter that you notice is running low to scheduling some time to bring cheer to those sick in the hospital, this application inspires you to do a little something extra every day. What a wonderful way to do something good and feel good at the same time!

As you can see, keeping those resolutions this year can be easy, especially with all of the readily available apps that you can access in a second from your smartphone or tablet. Be sure to let us know if any of these apps helped you out and keep us updated on how your resolutions are going. We’d love to hear about your successes.

Happy New Year’s from the More Cabbage team!