Online influence is a puzzle wrapped up in an enigma for most marketers. What exactly is influence? Who has it? How do they get it? How can marketers tapped in to it effectively? With 3.2 billion likes and comments per day and over 400 million tweets per day, the social media world is based on how well we can sway the opinions of others both on and offline. (more...)

The most clicked stories from this week's #Sports include: the best athletes to follow on Instagram, XFINITY's Ultimate sports social media job, Klout's partnership with ESPN, Stephen Curry embraces Vine, and how the NFL gets fans on Facebook. (more...)

This week's #SoMash is here with the top stories from last week including Facebook's most social landmarks around the world, 23 must-know mobile marketing statistics, the latest update from Google+, another Klout algorithm change, and the only way to ensure all your Facebook fans see your updates.   Facebook Newsroom: Social Landmarks Around the World Travel and transit are all about sharing where you are through geo check-ins. Whether you're waiting for a flight in the airport, celebrating the end of a work week at your go-to local spot, or at the ballpark cheering on your favorite team, checking in to these various places has become habitual.   Facebook has delved deep into the data of check-ins of 25 cities worldwide (via both Facebook and Foursquare) to give you the world's most social landmarks.

  23 Eye-Opening Mobile Marketing Stats You Should Know Employing social media to leverage brands is much more than just a fad, and marketers are catching on. 1.08 billion of the world's 4 billion mobile phones are smartphones. Over one third of Facebook's users access Facebook mobile, and over one half of Twitter's users access Twitter Mobile. The numbers don't lie: mobile social media and networking are well on the rise. Hubspot blogs has compiled a set of convincing statistics on why investing in mobile marketing for your brand is more than worth it.

The Social Media Mashup is here with the top stories from last week including creative ways to use Pinterest, the new Olympic Athletes' Hub, NBC live streaming 2,500 hours of the Olympics online, how the UFC is becoming more mainstream through social media, and Klout announces new brand pages.   The 9 Most Creative Uses for Pinterest   With the rapid growth of Pinterest, marketers are beginning to experiment with the new platform. David Berkowitz, VP of Emerging Media for 360i, says,  

Pinterest is at the point where every marketer needs to at least decide whether it makes sense for them and how they might best leverage it. Pinterest connects inspiration directly to purchase, so e-commerce brands on the site such as Whole Foods are well positioned to benefit from it.

  Since there are no set best practices yet, here are some examples of what brands are doing on Pinterest.  

  Peugeot, the European car brand, created pinboards featuring the latest models with squares missing. They invited users to search the company's Facebook page and website for the missing pieces, pin them to their own boards, and share it with Peugeot. First five to finish the game won a prize.  

  Kotex picked the 50 most inspiring pinners, perused their boards, and created a customized care package based on their pins. In order to receive their package, the chosen users had to like or repin Kotex's prompt praising their online expressions. The campaign sparked 2,284 intereactions and 694,853 impressions across social media.  

  Although many consider Pinterest a visual platform, the Wall Street Journal has turned that idea on its head and created a very text-heavy board. The page is a collection of noteworthy quotes from stories that have run in the paper or blog.   The Olympic Athletes' Hub Launches, Giving Fans Behind-the-Scenes Access to London 2012   Last week, to celebrate the 100 day-countdown to the Summer Olympics, the International Olympics Committee officially launched the Olympic Athletes' Hub. During the Games, fans can get real-time social media updates from Olympian athletes and get results from events. According to the IOC's Head of Social Media Alex Huot, the idea for the Hub was "born out of our desire to connect Olympic athletes and their fans more intimately than ever before."   Each athlete will have a page that consists of links to their Facebook and Twitter accounts, their latest updates, and the events they participated in. Over 1,000 Olympians have already joined and they expect the number to grow as the opening ceremony approaches. Fans can also earns rewards, such as unlocking videos and earning virtual medals.  

 

NBC to Live Stream 2,500 Hours of Olympics Online

Get excited. NBC is going to be live streaming over 2,500 hours of the Olympics online! For those of you who can't get enough of Olympic sports coverage, you'll be glad to hear that all 32 sports events will be offered on NBC's official Olympics website in real-time before the time-delayed coverage that airs on TV stations throughout the States. Archived content, stats and other material will be provided on the website as well. NBC plans to archive the events online relatively quickly, except for major events that NBC wants to feature on TV first.

  According to NBC Sports Digital Media VP Rick Cordella, NBC's not worried about losing ratings on traditional TV to live stream coverage.  

Anytime you have a great event that happens before it shows on the air, it increases ratings and generates buzz.

  NBC is teaming up with YouTube to live stream the events. However, the coverage will only be available on NBC's Olympics website.    How Social Media Gave UFC a Fighting Chance   The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has aggressively adopted social media over the past several years. Twitter and Facebook have helped UFC have transformed the company and its events from violent niche sport to relatively mainstream entertainment. Consider this: some of the UFC fighters rival NBA stars in Twitter followers and the UFC itself counts nearly 3 million more Facebook likes than the NFL.   How has the UFC been so successful on social media? According to their social media manager, Kristin Adams, "it's because we're real." In 2011, the UFC offered quarterly cash rewards to the fighters who most effectively added followers, tweeted creatively, and engaged fans. In order to expand their reach to a new audience, the UFC recently launched a Pinterest page, with pinboards themed around inspiration shots, party pictures, and healthy living.   To promote UFC 145 in Atlanta, the company purchased its first Promoted Trend on Twitter. They also produced the infographic below.  

 

Klout Adds Brand Pages

  Last week Klout introduced Brand Squads, its version of brand pages which feature the brand's logo, a list of the top 10 and top 100 brand influencers, an activity stream and any deals the brand is offering through Klout Perks. Klout's product manager David Temple said,  

With Brand Squads, you will see a dynamic list of top influencers for each brand, watch conversations flow across social media, monitor information about a brand’s recent developments and earn access to special Perks.

  Red Bull was the sole launch partner for the Brand Squads. Top influencers will get a subscription to The Red Bulletin, a chance to try Red Bull Total Zero with a 4-pack sent to them, merchandise or a VIP Red Bull experience.  

  Other social media articles from last week that you may enjoy:  

We hope everyone had a great weekend! Monday’s #SoMash is back with the following stories for you: what Pinterest is doing that Facebook isn't, how to increase your Klout score, three startups born from the NFL, Patriot's player shares Super Bowl pregame music playlist, and Twitter's ad revenue expected to double. (more...)

Yesterday, Klout, which measures social media influence based on a user's ability to drive action among friends and peers, released a blog post rating the top 10 most influential MLB baseball players on rosters of playoff contending teams.

In case you are unfamiliar, Klout pulls data from various social media websites in order to determine an individual's influence on the web based on three specific categories:

1. True Reach: How many people you influence
2. Amplification: How much you influence them
3. Network Impact: The influence of your network

According to the San Francisco based start-up, Red Bull athlete, Philadelphia Phillies MVP shortstop, and Activ8Social client Jimmy Rollins has the highest Klout score among all players in the MLB playoffs in 2011. Check out the rest of the list from Klout to see if you’re favorite player made the list of most influential baseball players on the web.