The New York Times reports that many businesses and industry groups now plan to follow the food industry’s example by offering the public more detailed information about how and where their clothes are made. H&M and Zara have agreed to sign a new “factory safety accord,” and major names like Disney, Nike, and Walmart may follow with campaigns designed to appropriate the “green,” “organic,” and “fair trade” themes favored by food and household goods marketers in recent years. The purpose of this material, of course, will be to highlight the brands’ corporate social responsibility efforts and distance them from horrific accidents like the one in Bangladesh.

It’s nothing new for fashion: upstarts like American Apparel began using their own “fair trade” practices as key selling points some time ago. Yet, despite AA’s success, retailers like Maggie’s Organics and Everlane (tagline “Luxury Basics. Radical Transparency.”) remain few and far between.

Not for long.

Different brands have responded to the growing public demand for change in different ways. Disney backed away from the controversy before the most recent accident by ending all production in Bangladesh after a series of deadly fires struck its factories in 2012.

Others tried to get out in front of the story. Reports tied affordable apparelproducer/J.C. Penney partner Joe Fresh to the factory, and the company used its social forums to control the damage by shelving promotional messages and addressing fans’ questions about safety procedures.

We want to share that we will be providing compensation for the families of the victims who worked for our supplier: facebook.com/joefresh/posts…

— Joe Fresh (@JoeFresh) April 29, 2013

The biggest industry shifts, however, will happen on the marketing front: expect CSR messages about labor practices to appear more prominently in future campaigns. Some of the (few) companies that can claim official “fair trade” status have already used the story as a “teachable moment”:

The key question: How will big garment brands change their marketing and PR messages in the months and years to come? Expect more industry leaders to adopt Patagonia/TOMS-style strategies that focus on CSR efforts and charity programs over price points.

Key examples include the TOMS “One to One” campaign, which promises to donate a new pair of shoes or glasses for every one sold and features heavily on the company’s social media channels.

Patagonia also uses digital content to promote its own fair labor “factory monitoring” and environmental sustainability practices. In one particularly creative example, the company’s “Worn Wear” tumblr page leverages user-generated content to illustrate the stories behind fans’ hand-me-down Patagonia products.

Brands must maintain a delicate balance to serve Americans’ conflicting desires: the public wants inexpensive, high-quality clothing, but we’d rather support companies with solid CSR track records. Market research has long shown that we’re willing to pay more for products created according to certain environmental and labor standards—but not too much more.

We can’t guess when industry practices will change or how many brands will risk cutting into their bottom lines to make their overseas factories safer. But PR and marketing departments around the world have already received the message: adapt and update your message or fall behind.

This post originally appeared on PRNewser.

PiXXart / Shutterstock.com

Every brand on Earth is chomping at the bit to place official ads on the rapidly growing Instagram, but parent company Facebook continues to proceed with extreme caution.

While Mark Zuckerberg says he is very encouraged by the expansion of the image-sharing network, he clearly does not plan to open the commercial floodgates until he’s good and ready. In his own words, Instagram must first focus on “build[ing] community” before determining how best to use its considerable potential as an ad/marketing forum. We can see why Zuckerberg prefers to take low-risk baby steps, no matter how impatient advertisers may be.

In the meantime, brands and their social media teams should be quite happy to learn that they do have more promotional options on Instagram thanks to the newly introduced function “photos of you,” which allows users to tag any other existing account—be it a friend, a celebrity, a local business, or a big-name brand—in their own pics. Amateur lensmen and brand managers alike will receive notifications when others tag them, and they can then choose whether to display these images on their own public feeds.

Can you say “pre-approved user generated content?”

This new policy brings Instagrammers closer to their favorite brands. If, for example, a user takes some of those (in)famous brunch photos, he or she could tag friends as well as the venue and any relevant products—visible or invisible. We have a feeling that thousands of everyday objects will now find themselves labeled “Nike” and “Justin Bieber,” but that’s another issue entirely.

“Photos of you” could well resolve the brand’s content usage issues. Fans initially freaked out at the possibility of having their pictures appropriated for commercial purposes, but now the power is in their hands—they can name-check brands on their feeds if and only if they so desire. Most importantly, no one will unexpectedly see his or her own face popping up in future marketing campaigns. Crisis averted.

Not only does this shift make the Instagram experience more personal for users; it also grants community managers easy access to a sea of potentially priceless branded content.

Now, about those ads…

This post originally appeared on PRNewser.

Photo courtesy of Rob Kim/Getty Images North America

A group of advertisers attending the second annual Digital Content “NewFronts” conference in New York this April received a blunt message: the battle between the cable box and the modem is already over, and the web won.

Yet, despite the fact that “more 18- to 34-year-olds [now] watch YouTube than any cable network,” the brands paying those ad men’s salaries aren’t so sure.

Much of this year’s conference concerned the rise of exclusive web-only content like the original series hyped by Hulu, AOL, and Netflix. But it also served as a symposium on an ad/marketing game that still operates according to the old-school, pre-digital playbook.

How quickly are things changing?

In 2012 we learned of ratings king Nielsen’s plans to partner with Twitter in order to gauge the influence of social media buzz on TV viewership. More recently, Nielsen announced that it will also collaborate with the major networks in developing a “digital program ratings service” to track the growing number of consumers who skip cable altogether and watch shows (and ads) online.

How fast is that number growing? Last year total paid Hulu subscribers doubled to four million—and half of them belong to the crucial 18-34 demo. This fact led Hulu’s SVP of advertising to call it “the world’s most effective video advertising service.” Anyone who has suffered through the same GEICO commercial five times during a single episode of The Colbert Report will probably disagree, but we do see his point: unlike cable slaves armed with fancy DVRs, Hulu subscribers can’t just skip through the commercials—and this fact leads to higher rates of “brand recall.” (Someone should probably tell Hulu that the “No, this ad is not relevant to me” option doesn’t work.)

That’s not all: many of the web-only shows discussed at NewFronts won’t even make it past the concept stage if big brands aren’t willing to sign up and buy the ads, product placements and other forms of branded content that fund the creative. This all means more work for marketing, advertising, and PR agencies in the future, but we haven’t quite entered that brave new world just yet.

Why the delay? Despite talk of “cord-cutting” and struggling networks, people still watch lots of TV—and most of them don’t do it online. Brands haven’t seen enough evidence to inspire them to shift too many of their ad dollars to digital. As good as Hulu’s numbers look on paper, more than 17 million Americans still watch NCIS on live TV—and while House of Cards generated record traffic for Netflix, no sponsored web-only show has achieved the “water cooler” status that will inspire companies to make big ad buys.

Don’t fret too much: the change is coming. It just hasn’t arrived quite as quickly as some of the web’s biggest names might like.

Why should marketers care? Because a wide variety of brands have adopted Vine as a promotional tool, creating themed clips that appear on both company Twitter feeds and individual Vine accounts. With the recent introduction of hashtags, related marketing strategies now closely resemble those used in Twitter campaigns.

Comedy Central, for example, will build on recent trends in interactive TV/social media marketing by hosting a comedy festival entirely on Twitter, and part of the event will focus on comedians using Vine as a storytelling device.

Brands that are doing it right:

Many brands use Vine to make creative reference to their own products and services. General Electric, for example, regularly releases science and engineering-themed loops that suggest the company’s focus on innovation, like this one:

What happens when you combine milk, food coloring and dish soap? #howto#6secondsciencevine.co/v/bXJAmFLBaat

— General Electric (@generalelectric) February 28, 2013

Fashion brands have also taken to Vine. Calvin Klein got a lot of attention during the recent Super Bowl blackout with this eye candy loop:

Since the lights are still out… vine.co/v/b1iiiiUz5uq#SB47

— Calvin Klein (@CalvinKlein) February 4, 2013

Any brand with a strong visual presence could potentially benefit, even in crude, stop-motion format. Here’s a fun clip from Toyota Spain:

Lanzamos el primer spot en #vine ¿Os gusta? #toyota vine.co/v/bJJabDT9eZU

— Toyota España (@Toyota_Esp) January 28, 2013

Brands may eventually hire individual Vine masters to create promo content. This Australian designer, for example, makes the sort of creative food-themed loops that could increase interest in new products among followers:

Cupsicums #magic#food#stopmotionvine.co/v/bDaPJ1L2er3

— Matt Willis (@YellDesign) March 22, 2013

Brands that aren’t doing it right:

No list would be complete without at least a few examples of what NOT to do. Quite a few parties clearly want to use the new toy for marketing but don’t know how. Here, for example, is a fast-paced but disorienting mini-trailer for the new Wolverine movie:

Watch #TheWolverine exclusive #Vine Teaser RIGHT NOW! vine.co/v/bDExaiMjJ1F

— The Wolverine (@WolverineMovie) March 25, 2013

One could argue that this American Apparel promo loop is consistent with the brand’s voice, but it’s also awkward and ineffective:

It’s Spring in #nyc! If you’re in the West Village tonight come by and shake your booty and shop! vine.co/v/bFEJLhIjnYb

— American Apparel (@americanapparel) April 17, 2013

Vine can work if used well, and top loops score thousands of likes within the app’s community. The act of creating compelling content is a challenge, but for the moment it is the hottest thing around—and most top brands have begun experimenting.

How do you see your brand grabbing onto the Vine?

We scan the blogs, online news sources and digital magazines (so you don’t have to) and gather our five must-read picks.

1	The Secrets of What Makes a Product Go Viral http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226114  Ten years ago, had you ever heard of the hand sanitizer Purell? It existed, but nobody really used it. Then one day, it was everywhere. Grocery stores placed dispensers at the door, nail salons gave it to clients, and people started carrying travel size bottles in their bags. With little advertising, how did Purell catch on?   Read the full article >>
2	3 Reasons Why Responsive Web Design Is the Best Option for Your Mobile SEO Strategy http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2253965/3-Reasons-Why-Responsive-Web-Design-is-the-Best-Option-For-Your-Mobile-SEO-Strategy  As smartphone and tablet adoption rapidly increases, so does the importance of mobile-friendly websites. If SEO is a core component of your digital marketing strategy, having a mobile-friendly website is becoming essential.   Read the full article >>
3	Finding the Right Mix of Conversion and Conversation Content http://soshable.com/finding-the-right-mix-of-conversion-and-conversation-content/  The rise of content marketing and more importantly the focus that Google and Bing have put on website content engagement have changed the way we view the types of content we put on our websites… In other words, your websites have to be interesting to a wider range of people, not just those specifically looking for your products and services.   Read the full article >>
4	26 Ways to Use Visuals in Your Social Media Marketing http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-visual-social-media-marketing-strategy/  Have you noticed more photos on social networks? Do you have a visual component as part of your social media marketing strategy? Do you need some help in getting started or maintaining momentum in sharing more visual content and in creating a visual conversation with your audience? 26 tips, an A-Z guide, for getting started with a visual strategy.   Read the full article >>
5	6 Simple Ways To De-Suck Your Office, Whether You’re A Grunt Or CEO http://www.fastcompany.com/3006809/6-simple-ways-de-suck-your-office-whether-youre-grunt-or-ceo  No matter what level you’re at, you can make your working life better. (And your colleagues will love you for it.)   Read the full article >>

The most wonderful time of the year presents both challenges and opportunities for Facebook content. More competition for attention coupled with an increased urgency to communicate your marketing message makes it tempting to overload your editorial calendar with marketing-speak. The holiday season also presents an enormous opportunity to be creative and upbeat. Content that gets shared, and therefore seen, will end up being more effective than blatant self-promotion.

To take advantage of the occasion and produce something share-worthy, we came up with a few idea-starters:

1. Virtual Greeting Cards

Create an album of branded photos that feature different holiday messages your fans can share with friends and family. This works especially well if consumers regularly demonstrate affinity for, or loyalty to, the brand. Not only do virtual greeting cards promote positive engagement with the brand, it leverages the virality of sharing to spread the brand’s content beyond fans.

Kate Spade leveraged a similar idea for Valentine’s Day and encouraged fans to share photos as e-valentines. One of the photos was shared more than 400 times. Collectively, the album generated over 1,700 shares.

2. Donations to Charity

Brands can increase engagement and do good at the same time by donating to a charity based on shares of a post or likes of a Facebook page. Not only does this demonstrate corporate social responsibility to your fans and others, but it also garners a lot of positive engagement and attention for the brand and the charity. Both options adhere to Facebook’s page guidelines regarding incentivizing native actions.

Kraft Fight Hunger leveraged this technique to donate more than 1 million meals to Feeding America last Thanksgiving. Their post that promised 200,000 donated meals for every 1,000 shares received a whooping 63,513 shares within a week!

3. Gift Guides

Who doesn’t want to give the perfect gift? And what marketer doesn’t want to remind its fans exactly where to look? (Hint, hint.) There are a number of ways to create a gift guide on Facebook that’s share-worthy. Design photo albums that feature the perfect presents for each family member, re-create the gift guide that already exists on the brand’s website in a Facebook tab with more seamless sharing functionality, develop a series of posts that link to different gift guides on the web, or craft a promotion that encourages users to make their own gift guides and reward the most creative. The possibilities are endless and not many companies are taking advantage of the engagement potential a Facebook-optimized gift guide can offer.

While these ideas highlight some ways to get noticed on Facebook during the busiest shopping season, brands should feel empowered and compelled to come up with even more innovative content. What brands have you seen do a great job at getting noticed during the holidays?

Armed with an impressive list of accomplishments in both work and play, one would naturally expect such a worldly group to have sophisticated wants. So when setting out to buy holiday gifts for the Renaissance man or woman who seems to “have it all,” where does one begin?

We asked Tenthwavers to share the techy toy they covet most this holiday season. You know, the gadget they pine for when perusing tech blogs. The gizmo they dream about at night. And, were it a culturally acceptable option for a grown person to write Santa a letter, the number one ask on their North Pole-bound wish lists.

Low and behold, the 2012 Tenthwave Holiday Wish List…

Stay nice!

1. Bodelin ProScope HR2 CSI Advanced Microscope

“Plug it into your USB port, point the hand-held microscope anywhere you want, and BOOM—high resolution images streamed on your monitor.”

-Seth Fowler, Emerging Media and Digital Strategist

2. Martin Jet Pack

“After enduring two weeks of commuting nightmares [post Hurricane Sandy], and a 2.5 hour bus-surfing commute…what I covet most is this.”

-Jen Graeff, Senior Front End Developer

3. The Lytro Camera

The Lytro camera lets you create living pictures that you can endlessly refocus after you take them.

“It’s unique, and it’s ushering a new way to explore photography (post-click) that’s both cool and useful.”

-Mike Mazar, Partner & Creative Director

4. Denon AH-D700 Ultra Reference Over-Ear Headphones

“I believe everyone should splurge on one thing that gives them pleasure. For me, nothing beats the best headphones in the world…I’ve been salivating over them for a couple months now.”

-Gunny Scarfo, Strategy Director

5. iPad with Retina display

“I have massive iPad envy. Not the new Mini. Not the iPad 2. But the latest and greatest  Retina-flavored iPad with both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity. If Santa gave me one, I’d be his elf forever.”

-Reuben Radding, QA Director

The promotions experts at Tenthwave’s Long Island office may have the pleasure of notifying lucky winners, but they’re also responsible for planning, executing and fulfilling contests and sweepstakes for clients like eBay, VISA, Paypal, Duncan Hines and Pepperidge Farm.

So why would a brand like VISA want to send 80 people to the Olympics? Promotions are intended to create awareness, encourage retention and acquire new fans. Awareness reinforces or adds value to the brand’s identity, retention rewards loyal costumers and acquisition allows brands to collect data, generate new traffic and ultimately stimulate sales.

Promotions also help a brand relate to its fans. “What’s most engaging is product, then value, then knowledge or something bigger—that something bigger is promotions,” says Steve Caputo, Managing Partner and Director of Promotion Marketing. The more valuable the prize, the more people participate in a promotion. A trip to the Olympics, a $30,000 scholarship and cash are big motivators for consumers to engage with a brand.

Besides dreaming up prizes, brands need to decide which type of promotion—a contest or a sweepstakes—is right for them. In a sweepstakes, the winners are chosen by randomization software, so that the prize is obtained by chance. In a contest, every entry must be reviewed and scored according to predetermined judging criteria, so that the prize is obtained by consideration.

Because the legal side of promotions is lengthy, it’s crucial to have a knowledgeable lawyer on hand to write the rules, register the promotion with state governments and make sure potential winners are aware that prizes valued over $600 require a 1099 tax form.

“There aren’t a lot of digital shops out there that understand content strategy, SEO, back-end development, social marketing and promotions, but Tenthwave does it all,” Caputo said. As a full-service agency, Tenthwave will continue using promotions to help brands catch their digital wave.

Did you know that 19% of online women use Pinterest, according to Pew Research? With such a large percentage of women using the platform, it’s hard for brands to ignore Pinterest’s marketing potential. Retailers and women-oriented magazines made a big splash earlier this year, boasting increased traffic, sales and engagement, leaving many other brands wondering how to replicate their success.

While Pinterest grows in users and marketers launch “Pin it to win it” promotional campaigns to gain followers, CPG brands are struggling to make Pinterest work for them. Coca-Cola, which recently became the first brand to pass the 50 million Facebook fan mark, only has 1,842 followers despite launching over six months ago. Oreo, another one of the most popular brand pages on Facebook with over 27 million fans, only has 990 followers on Pinterest. Compared to the follower bases of Better Homes & Gardens, (182,676) Real Simple (173,111) and Kate Spade, (84,734) CPG follower numbers look pretty dismal.

CPG brands need to get creative if they want to play in this space. Here’s how they can compete:

1. Showcase interesting ways to use the product

Oreo features their cookies as edible art as part of their “Daily Twist” series. It would be more successful on Pinterest if it was unique to the platform, the series is already a large part of Oreo’s Facebook content strategy, and if it connected more seamlessly with the Daily Twist microsite.

2. Leverage coupons

Pinterest is a great place for social couponing initiatives. The coupons are easily sharable; the core Pinterest audience, the digital mom, regularly and enthusiastically consumes online deals, and the concept is simple to execute.  All the brand has to do is have an existing online coupon and “pin” a link to it with an attention-grabbing picture.

3. Create recipes

With edible CPGs, recipes are a natural fit if they are well photographed.  Kraft Foods has a dedicated Pinterest profile to recipes that has over 41,000 followers. Recipes are engaging because of their visual appeal, sticky because they lend themselves to curating and they drive traffic to the brand’s website. Some-inedible CPGs can benefit from “recipes” as well—bleach bottles can be up-cycled, glass jars can be transformed, the DIY recipe possibilities are endless.

4. Connect with influencers

There are many avid Pinterest users who are also bloggers and social media influencers. Brands can connect on a new level with this target on the platform where they’re actively sharing products they love, tips and lifestyle-focused content. Pepsico connected to moms on Pinterest with their “Diet Pepsi Celebrates Moms” campaign last Mother’s Day. They featured photos of fans who participated in their Photo Booth Facebook app, links to participate in a Twitter party, and pictures of a live event with moms in LA.

5. Use it as your website

Grey Poupon in a radical move made their Pinterest profile the brand’s main website. The long-term benefits of using Pinterest as a website are debatable, but no one can deny that it makes a statement and that it makes it simple to update the content. Other brands can capitalize on the benefits of this concept without as much risk by using a Pinterest profile for a new product or a specific campaign instead of a microsite.

These are just a few of the interesting ways CPG brands can use Pinterest as part of their social media and digital strategy. Have other examples? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The best niche marketing allows brands to communicate the most appealing attributes of their products or services to the right consumers. The diversity of social media platforms makes niche marketing easier than it has ever been before. Pick any interest or hobby and there is an existing platform with a network of like-minded people to support it.

One platform that is well suited to many facets of niche marketing is Pinterest. The platform appeals to a variety of interests, such as fashion, travel, cooking, baking and design, and it is easy to segment these topics into different boards with their own set of followers.

Here are three simple steps to get you started using Pinterest to target niche demographics:

1. Identify your targets

Every marketing activity should begin with a plan, right? Start by deciding which consumers you want to engage with and create boards that fit the personalities of those individuals. Many brands have already set up their Pinterest profiles to appeal to a wide variety of consumer targets.

A great example of a company that uses Pinterest to speak to different demographics is Bloomingdale’s. Its profile contains a variety of fashion and beauty-related boards for its female shoppers, men’s style boards for their male shoppers, wedding pins for the prospective brides and interior design boards for consumers looking to decorate. It’s obvious why Bloomingdale’s would feature fashion and home goods because that’s what it sells. By separating its products by style, gender, season and occasion, it is able to segment followers by interest.

2. Leverage Influencers

There are tons of bloggers, celebrities and notable professionals who produce content that consumers care about. Brands can better promote their products on Pinterest by aligning with this content. It gives their marketing a cultural relevance and positions it as entertainment instead of advertising.

Bloomingdale’s shines here as well by mixing products from its website with content from celebrities and high-profile bloggers. It keeps their followers from clicking the “unfollow” button and connects their products to the content that consumers care about. Its “Fashion Photography” board features pins from a multitude of magazines, fashion blogs and designers. Including content from influencers is way more appealing than chiefly focusing on catalog shots.

3. Tie back your content to purchases

At the end of the day, Pinterest needs to have a role in sales to be a valuable component of your digital marketing plan. The best way to drive sales on Pinterest is primarily by creating boards that will peak a consumer’s interest and adding related products as a secondary focus. Followers interested in the topic will be pulled in by the most engaging content and then will be exposed to products related to their interests.Bloomingdale’s page does a great job of selling itself without it looking like a banner advertisement. It has a number of boards aimed at food lovers, bookworms and travel enthusiasts, which seemingly don’t align with anything that Bloomingdale’s offers. However, it is able to segment followers according to these interests, capitalize on what’s successful on Pinterest and tie-in relevant products. On its “pasta!” board, most of the pins are of pasta recipes, but there are also pins from Bloomingdales.com for cooking supplies, such as a cheese grater. The product is a perfect fit for food lovers but, arguably, a board full of recipes is more interesting and interactive than a board full of kitchen appliances.

By following the three steps above, any marketer can use Pinterest to his or her advantage. Fashion can be grouped according to style, occasion or gender; fashion bloggers can provide interesting content. Recipes can be used to sell kitchen appliances. Overall, brands can engage potential customers more effectively by tailoring products to specific target demographics.