A new study from Facebook says users are most engaged by content relating to the brand itself. After looking at over 1,200 posts from 23 brands, Facebook created a model to predict user engagement through likes, comments and shares. Head of measurement platforms and standards Sean Bruich stated, “By far, the biggest predictor of engagement was that the post was on a topic relevant to the brand.”

This is not to say that brands should never post unrelated, purely fun content, but it’s likely best to stay primarily on brand-related topics. Customers “liked” the page for a reason, and it probably wasn’t to chat about random subjects.

Magento

In recent years, online retailers have been demanding affordable e-commerce technology that offers numerous features. Magento, which was acquired by eBay last year, has been able to fill that requirement for many. Its open source technology has encouraged developers to build a vast array of features that are then available for all users.

Currently, The Spokes Agency is developing two new sites with Magento. We are finding it very friendly and reliable for meeting client needs.

According Experian’s 2012 Digital Marketer Report, Pinterest is growing quickly; the site is currently attracting nearly 30 times the number of visits per week that it had 6 months ago. Demographics of the site tend to skew female and in the age range of 25-44.

Some companies, including The Gap, have taken initiative with marketing to this site, creating their own pinboards, but there is likely much more untapped potential here. How can you use Pinterest to connect with your customer base?

The concept of incentivizing reviews is not without potential drawbacks. While Sketchers is offering rewards for all reviews – positive or negative – some customers may believe that people are being encouraged to write favorable reviews. If consumers think advice on a site is biased, it can lead to a lack of trust in the company. This is certainly something to consider when deciding if an incentivized review program makes sense for your business.

Rock the Vote created these shirts with social media partners PromoJam, and will be selling them through the 2012 elections. They will also be worn by volunteers at festivals such as South by Southwest.

According to the Project Re:Brief site, “Despite almost two decades of innovation online, digital ads are still being used to simply inform more than they’re being used to connect, engage and entertain. So we designed this experiment to re-imagine what advertising can be and push the boundaries of how creative ideas and our technology can work hand in hand.”

It’s an interesting idea, and can be used as inspiration to push yourself to get the most out of your own company’s digital advertising. How can you use new mediums to do things that were previously impossible? It’s a question those looking to make a mark in digital advertising should be asking.

According to Ad Age, additions will likely include the ability to conduct e-commerce and contests within Twitter. The new brand pages will likely have more in common with Facebook’s fan pages, departing from the usual 140-character limits on Twitter.

With this new e-commerce push, it appears Twitter would like to become a destination for users, as opposed to a gateway to other sites. It remains to be seen whether Twitter can become an actual shopping destination, however, considering the difficulty Facebook recently had in this arena.

Of course, we’re all familiar with receiving deals via email advertising, but Walgreens has taken it one step further by making coupons available via mobile app check-in. In an article from adage.com, the company’s use of LocalResponse to find public check-ins at stores is profiled. While there are many companies offering deals exclusively through foursquare checkins, LocalResponse allows the drugstore chain to find any public check-ins (foursquare, Yelp, Twitter, etc) and send responses to the customer. It’s an interesting use of location based marketing – and could have widespread effects on the industry if successful.

The app grabs key data from a user’s Facebook page, including recent interactions, tagged friends and frequent commenters to create a “Draft Class” – the 10 friends he or she should take if they won the contest. It comes complete with a draft video unveiling the picks that can be shared with friends.

One of the most important aspects of any social media campaign is engaging potential customers. Visa’s campaign creates a fun way to keep their contest (and thus their brand) in customers’ minds. While obviously not every company has the power to partner with the NFL, even the smallest businesses can find ways to be unique and engaging.

Having a custom domain extension will not come cheap – it costs $185,000 just to apply. For some, it may be a worthwhile investment, as it provides an opportunity to control a branded space and may have some benefits for search engine rankings.

ICANN’s decision to allow for these new extensions, called generic top-level domains (gTLDs), is not without its drawbacks, however. A recent article in internetretailer.com discusses the potential issues with opening up limitless domain possibilities, including potential for consumer confusion and even fraudulent sites. New gTLDs may mean that companies have to undertake quite a bit of expense to protect their interests across a huge range of extensions.