Ah, Super Bowl Sunday. The annual event where we find ourselves stuffing our faces with chicken wings and devoting a whole day to nothing but football. While most of the Super Bowl Sunday rituals haven’t altered much, the Super Bowl ad is continuously changing. As consumers, we are used to waiting until game day to see the big reveal of an advertisement. But, I warn you, my fellow Super Bowl ad lovers, those days of the big reveal might be coming to an end. (more...)

This week's #SoMash is here with the top stories from last week, including Pinterest opening their registration for everyone, Oregon's Quack Cave", Tumblr's original content hub, and the 10 Olympic advertisers that have won the biggest buzz from social TV. (more...)

A new infographic recently released by SocialBakers attempts to take a look at which global brands have the largest following on Facebook and which brands are the most engaging.   With an estimated 157 million Facebook users in the United States and more than 900 million total users globally, about 83% of those total users are located outside of the US. What does this mean exactly? For many top brands, it translates to a greater emphasis on reaching consumers in primary and secondary markets outside the states.   Now it's quiz time! What do you think are the top 5 brands on Facebook in terms of total number of "Likes" or fans? There are few surprises on the list we bet you wouldn't have guessed. Would you believe us if we told you that #3 on the world's top 5 (and only behind #2 by a small margin) is sneaker and apparel brand Converse (owned by Nike)?   We didn't guess that one correctly either. The world's most recognizable brand for the last few decades, Coca-Cola, leads the packs by a significant margin --- 42 million  to 30 million. In case your keeping tabs at home, that's a 40% larger audience than Starbucks.  

1. Coca Cola
2. Starbucks
3. Converse
4. Red Bull
5. Oreo

  What else does the below infographic reveal? Our team has highlighted a few key numbers for your reading pleasure:  

• Only 17% of total Facebook users reside in the United States
• India has 46 million Facebook users followed by Indonesia at 42 million
• Halls has become wildly popular on Facebook in Brazil during 2012
• Top 10 countries: 3 in Europe, 4 in Asia, 1 in South America, 1 in Central America

 

According to a study by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in November 2011, 62% of Fortune 500 companies have an active Twitter account while 58% of those same companies have a Facebook Page.   Perhaps not a surprise due to the rise of social media, only 23% of Fortune 500 companies have a corporate blog.

 

Overall the adoption of social media by major corporations is slowing with essentially no year over year growth within the Fortune 500, however, this does not mean that marketers should be alarmed. What I believe is slowly happening is that the world's largest companies are beginning to understand the negative impact of haphazard, misaligned social media strategies.

  For many of these businesses, Twitter, for example, is best used for customer service, and like waiting 20 minutes of hold for a phone representative, not properly responding to negative brand comments can leave a bad taste in the consumer's mouth. Therefore, marketers of these companies are starting to think in terms of more integrated approaches to digital and social that communicate the ethos of the brand.  

Despite the slowed adoption rates of social media by the Fortune 500, digital marketers should be excited about the future. For one, the Dartmouth study doesn't address the overall marketing spend of these companies for interactive.

  According to Forrester Research, the overall budget for interactive in the United States will grow from $34.4 billion in 2011 to $76.6 billion by 2016.  This same forecast predicts that the social media spend will rise from $1.6 billion in 2011 to $5 billion in 2016. Consider this for a second ... if Forrester's prediction is correct, $76.6 billion is a major milestone considering that number represents the total amount of spend on television marketing in the United States during 2011.  

  This infographic below from Go Gulf takes a deeper dive into the social media statistics of Fortune 500 companies. Here are some key takeaways to consider:  

• 37% of INC 500 companies have blogs compared to 23% of Fortune 500
• @google has the most Twitter followers at 4.3M while @WholeFoods is second
• Coca-Cola has 40.1M on Facebook while Starbucks has 28.7M
• Special retailers have the most Twitter accounts while the Insurance industry maintains the most Facebook Pages

  Check out the infographic below for more insight into everybody's favorite social network and the state of affairs in 2012.    

On Super Bowl XLVI Sunday, the New York Giants will challenge the New England Patriots at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, but the real action will actually take place on Twitter feeds, Facebook statuses, Pinterest boards, the blogosphere, and smartphones.

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We hope everyone had a great weekend! Monday’s #SoMash is back with the following stories for you: the 100 biggest Twitter fails in sports history, Facebook’s IPO, social media and sports as natural teammates, the debut of Fancloud, and Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl polar bears go real-time in digital world. (more...)

Calling all golf aficionados and Foursquare badgers! The PGA Tour has recently partnered with the world's check-in leader to offer an exclusive FedEx shipping discount on golf equipment, merchandise, and apparel as well as a limited edition foursquare Partner badge.       • With the conclusion of the summer comes the end of the professional golf season for players on the PGA Tour and a competition called the FedExCup, a special four event playoff series across the United States in August and September. You can read here for full details.    For those unfamiliar with the current format which was started in 2007, the trophy is decided by a points race. The top 125 on the "regular season" points list qualify for the first of the four playoff events - The Barclays. The field is cut again to 100 for leg two, the Deutsche Bank Championship, and then to 70 for the third event, the BMW Championship. This event has no cut and the qualifiers here go on to the final elite 30-man field which contest the Tour Championship in Chicago and battle it out for the FedEx Cup trophy.  

Until this year, the PGA Tour has strictly prohibited spectators from bringing mobile devices onto the golf course. In an effort to modernize the game and appeal to a younger generation of golf fans, the PGA Tour is increasingly encouraging the active use of cell phones.

  The PGA Tour recently partnered with foursquare by launching a brand page (see below) to provide tips to professional golf fans, drive check-ins during the 2011 FedExCup playoffs, and most important increase total followers. This is an interesting move by the PGA Tour to expand the reach of its brand online. Most intriguing is that golfers traditionally trend 35-64 year old males which is not the bulk demographic of foursquare users.  

 

Users who follow the PGA Tour on foursquare and check in at one of the four playoff courses listed above will earn the FedExCup 2011 Badge which presumably unlocks a special discount code related to each title sponsor. See below for details on the exclusive badge. Don't miss your change to earn it!

 

  Partner Badges / FedExCup 2011 Badge  

Congrats on unlocking the FedExCup badge! It all comes down to this: PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. PGA TOUR fans could save up to 25% with FedEx when shipping golf clubs and important items. Signup at http://at.fedex.com/4sqFEC (use your personal code).

What do you think about the PGA Tour's partnership with the PGA Tour? Do you like the design of the 2011 FedExCup badge?