The Big Money Facebook 50
If you like lists then head over to this slide show on The Big Money, which is running down the top 50 brands that are currently making the best use of Facebook. Various metrics – including fan numbers, page growth, frequency of updates, creativity as determined by a panel of judges, and fan engagement – were factored into each page’s score and ultimate rank on the list. Each entry provides an approximate number of fans (as of 15 November) and a snapshot of some key features / activities.

The Yin And Yang Of Marketing And Innovation
An interesting post from Neil Perkin on the interdependent and interconnected nature of marketing and innovation:

I think the really interesting thing that’s happening right now is how the emerging participative culture pushes both marketing and innovation out towards the customer at the same time.

The result? Greater customer involvement in product development, as evidenced in Harper Collins crowdsourcing new stories and writers, vitaminwater (client) and Walkers crisps sourcing new flavours, Marmite (client) asking consumers to create an extra-strong variant of the brand, and GM launching The Lab. And then of course, there’s the the Rally Fighter:

Canadians Have Aggressively Embraced Social Technologies – And So Have Canadian Marketers
Its not often you see the word ‘Canadian’ and ‘aggressive’ in the same sentence, but here we are.  Forrester last week released Canadian Social Technographic profiles, and added the data to the free Social Technographics Profile Tool. Some key findings:

• Canada boasts a higher percentage of ‘joiners’ than any of the other 12 countries Forrester regularly surveys, with 57% of Canadians using social networks at least once each month
• Canada also has more ‘creators,’ critics,’ and ‘spectators’ than many other countries
• Canadian marketers have been leveraging social media marketing tactics for 3-4 years

Not bad eh?

Search and Social: Playing Nicely Together
This post explores the interplay between search and socialmedia, based on keynote presentations given by Chris Copeland of Group M and Graham Mudd of comScore at the Search Insider Summit.

The basic gist is that they saw significant lifts in search query volume and click-rate when consumers were exposed to both search and social media vs. search alone … this demonstrates the impact social media can have on influencing the consideration phase of the purchase funnel.

The full research is available here.

A Very Special TweetDeck Delivery
TweetDeck last week announced its latest version with some shiny new features:

• The ability to add your LinkedIn account to TweetDeck
• Integration with Twitter lists
• Support for ‘new-style’ Twitter re-tweets
• Geo-location
• An improved user interface

Loser-generated content
The object of Charlie Brooker’s ire in this week’s Screen Burn is crowsourced advertising:

Hail the rise of “loser-generated content”; commercials assembled from footage shot by members of the public coaxed into participating with the promise of TV glory. The advantages to the advertiser are obvious: it saves cash and makes your advert feel like part of some warm, communal celebration rather than the 30-second helping of underlit YouTube dog piss it is.

Oxo, the X Factor and T-Mobile all take it on the chin. Read on.

Groom updates Facebook, Twitter at the altar
A sign of the times? Perhaps. But it’s not as bad as it sounds.

Or is it?

We’re excited to be working with an innovative new food and drink festival called Towards a Fluid State. What is it exactly? Good question. As described by Urban Junkies:

Imagine a futuristic farmers’ market getting hit by a science lab and a truck full of the sexiest booze and food on Earth.

It’s presented by The Tasting Sessions, who’ve been creating unique and immersive experiences that are unconventionally radical compared to a traditional ‘tasting’. It’s an approach that generates plenty of conversation: not only about the events, but also the products that they showcase.

We’re big fans of the concept, especially as many of the principles apply to our work at We Are Social. Getting a group of interesting, influential people to learn about something firsthand in a memorable and immersive environment is a great way to get people enthusiastically talking.

A few weeks ago, a press and blogger briefing previewed some of the food and drink to be featured at the festival, with their trademark “slightly surreal, informative and lots of fun” attitude.

Photo by Jacqueline Chang (@jacquelinechang)

Some of the more ‘guerilla art’ marketing activity has been amplified into social media via Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr, whilst the festival blog serves as a hub for the online activity, and a platform to present the various food, drink (including whisky, gin, cognac, sake, beer and wine), art and performance that are part of the multi-sensory and interactive journey into the Fluid State.

If you head to Dalston for the event (and we recommend that you do!) you’ll be better off getting your ticket online beforehand. As the Londonist puts it, this “upstart extravaganza” is “an especially tasty opportunity to have some fun”.