I attended the Harmony by the Bay Festival this Saturday at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA. This amazing festival combined music, art, yoga, and an eco-market. The line-up of musical artists included The Shins, Tegan & Sara, Beats Antique, Matisyahu, Kimbra, and other great acts. I used Fotobabble’s free iPhone app to capture photos & audio of the performers along with the Fotobabble for Timeline app. Please check out the fotobabbles of the event below by clicking on the thumbnails.

All photos © Stonia Seng

We here at Fotobabble love music and love the Bay Area. The music scenes of New York and LA get lots of attention, but, hey, we got talent, too!

This summer, we’re featuring a Music of the Bay Area showcase on Facebook and with bands and artists from the Bay Area. The showcase includes an official band photo, music sample, and a link to where the band’s music can be purchased.

“Talking Photos” are the perfect vehicle for bands to get their music out. Everybody knows posting photos is the best way to increase response rates on Facebook – some have even reported a 100% increase in response rate when posting with a photo versus posting without. Combining an eye-catching photo with your music is the smartest way to reach your current and future fans on Facebook.

In addition, sharing and spreading your music is a piece of cake. With only a few clicks, you can share your Talking Photo on your own Facebook wall, share on a Fan Page wall, share by email or grab code to embed your photo in a blog or website.

The Music of the Bay Area showcase is filling up quickly with artists ranging from electro-hop to alt-country music, but it’s not too late for your band to promote itself.

If you’re a Bay Area performing artist please contact noelle@fotobabble.com if you’d like to be featured. In the meantime, see and hear some of the Bay’s local favorites here.

Brands have used Fotobabble to run photo contests to increase likes, brand awareness, and engage users with voting, like-gating, customized photo galleries, and more. Now, you can use photos from Instagram to fuel your social media campaigns. Encourage your fans to submit their favorite Instagram photos for your contest and ask them to share them with friends, increasing the virality and the fun of your campaign!

Best of all, your social media campaigns can go completely mobile. Users can snap quick photos with Instagram and upload them instantly to the Fotobabble iPhone App. Fans can record their own audio to create “Talking Photos” from Instagram shots.

Using Instagram and Fotobabble together is easy. Here’s how in 4 easy steps:

1. Install the Fotobabble for Facebook Timeline App on your Facebook page
2. Follow the instructions to customize your contest/campaign
3. Once created, prompt users to submit Instagram photos. Include a clear call-to-action with instructions on how to enter the contest or photo gallery
4. Click here for a walk-through of the user experience interacting with a Fotobabble photo gallery

Read more here for examples of how brands have used Fotobabble to run successful photo campaigns.

Fotobabble and Other Social Media Tools

Fotobabble doesn’t just pair well with Instagram – it can also be used with Pinterest as a powerful tool for brands. You can make your own Talking Photos and easily “pin” them to your own branded pinboards to create a “Talking Catalogue” for your products. Or pin Talking Photos from your last office party to personalize your company for your fans. Read more here about how you can use Fotobabble and Pinterest together.

Twitter and Fotobabble is another fantastic combo. Tweet Talking Photos instantly to connect with fans and add excitement to your brand. Plus, you can say a lot more with a great photo and your own voice than you can say with 140 characters.

Questions on how you can use Fotobabble with any of these online tools to build your brand? Feel free to contact the Fotobabble team at fotobabble@fotobabble.com.

1) Contact Fotobabble and ask for the code for your iFrame on your Facebook page.

2) Copy and paste the code into your blog or the back-end of your website.

3) In the HTML code, adjust the height and width until it fits nicely on your page

In the end, you will get a fully-integrated iFrame for your website just like this:

Everloop.com selects Fotobabble for Websites to power Greyson Chance INSPIRE contest

Fotobabble, a leader in social media marketing solutions, announced the release of Fotobabble for Websites today, a new application that for the first time lets an organization run photo and audio-driven campaigns and promotions directly from any website. With Fotobabble for Websites brands and businesses can increase web traffic and audience engagement through the visual impact of photos, the emotion of voice and the power of social media.

Everloop.com, the leading online social site for kids and tweens, selected Fotobabble for Websites to power its INSPIRE contest with international pop star Greyson Chance. Kids are invited to take a photo of what inspires them, add their voice, and enter to win an iPad and autographed posters (a kid’s Everloop account must be approved by a parent in order to qualify).

“Fotobabble for Websites brings all of the social marketing benefits of photo contests and campaigns to websites”, said Kamal Shah, Fotobabble’s founder and CEO. “With the ability to seamlessly integrate Fotobabble into their website, our customers maintain full control over the branded user experience and can engage with their audiences in ways that are not possible on a Facebook Page or on Twitter.”

“We’re thrilled to be using Fotobabble for Websites to power the Greyson Chance INSPIRE contest,” said Sandy Barger, Chief Marketing Officer for Everloop. “The kids on Everloop love to show their creativity. Fotobabble’s Talking Photos make it easy and fun for kids to share creative, inspiring photos and stories safely and securely with their Everloop friends. Fotobabble for Websites was really easy to integrate into our website, and their team was great to work with.”

For companies interested in learning more about Fotobabble for Websites, please contact us at sales@fotobabble.com or call 916-504-2525.

About Fotobabble
Fotobabble helps businesses engage customers with photo and audio-powered social marketing software across social, mobile, and web. Major global brands such as Target Australia, NBC Interactive/iVillage, EA Games, the Sacramento Kings, and Tim Hortons and thousands of small businesses have used Fotobabble’s solutions to deliver effective social media marketing campaigns. For more information, visit: www.fotobabble.com. Follow us on Twitter @fotobabble. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/fotobabble.

About Everloop
Everloop is the leading online site for kids to connect with friends, play games, discover new talents, create and have fun. Everloop’s unique looping technology allows kids to join groups by interest and its breadth of content supports development of core skills including creativity, collaboration and communication, all needed for the 21st century child. Above all, safety is the top priority and Everloop employs the most comprehensive privacy protection and 24/7 monitoring technology of any kid’s site to guard young users against bullying, bad language and inappropriate sharing of information. Parents can decide the level of independence their child has and which features they have access to with the simple click of a button. Working together, Everloop and parents train kids to be responsible digital citizens. For more information visit www.everloop.com.

The best blogs feature quality content delivered in your own unique voice. Fotobabble lets you add your own voice literally to your blog with Talking Photos. Combine compelling images with your voice to engage fans and give your blog a distinct personality. And it’s incredibly easy – make great blog-ready Talking Photos in only a few simple steps. Watch this short video to see how.

: Vote for Miss 24/7 Card                                          

Goals:

• Increase brand awareness
• Get more Facebook likes
• Drive visitors to 24/7 Facebook page
• Increase customer engagement

SocialKaty used Fotobabble for Facebook Timeline to launch and run their contest. Fans voted for their favorite Miss 24/7 Card contestant out of twenty-four stylish, confident Filipino-American women. The lucky lady chosen to be Miss 24/7 Card would represent the Filipino community in the United States. 

What they found: fans love to vote! And they love to share. Over 2000 people voted in the contest and over 500 people shared their vote with friends. 24/7 Card also set up a “like gate” on the contest page, which generated over 3,933 new likes in less than a month!

Part of 24/7 Card and SocialKaty’s huge success was their quality content. The team customized the Fotobabble for Facebook Timeline app to create a unique landing page for the contest using clear calls-to-action and an embedded video introducing the Miss 24/7 Card contestants. The use of eye-catching graphics and voting capabilities further engaged users leading to over 6,000 page views in the first few days of the contest!

As far as Facebook contests go, we’d vote this one high on our list in terms of campaign successes. It’s a great example of how a little creativity and Fotobabble for Facebook Timeline can expand your community and virality in a short amount of time.

About 24/7 Card: The 24/7 Card is a prepaid debit and remit card for Filipinos living in the United States. It’s one powerful card – you can shop, pay bills, withdraw money from ATMs, and send money to friends and family in over 20 countries, including the Philippines.

About SocialKaty: SocialKaty is a team of social marketing “assassins” who manage Facebook/Twitter accounts for businesses and get “legendary” results.

About Miss Philippines: The Miss Philippines USA Beauty Pageant is a celebration of the beauty, grace, elegance and confidence of young Filipino American women and their culture.

About Fotobabble: Fotobabble helps businesses engage customers with photo and audio-powered social marketing software across social, mobile, and web. Major global brands such as Target Australia, NBC Interactive/iVillage, EA Games, the Sacramento Kings, and Tim Hortons and thousands of small businesses have used Fotobabble’s solutions to deliver effective social media marketing campaigns. For more information, visit:www.fotobabble.com. Follow us on Twitter @fotobabble. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/fotobabble.

Now that you’ve got the Fotobabble Social Media Marketing Platform, let’s walk you through how to customize it to maximize the ways your business can benefit from using Fotobabble.

The following best practices provide you with tips and strategies to hook and engage fans, get great user-generated content, and run high-performing marketing campaigns.

1. Getting Started 

The Fotobabble Social Media Marketing Platform comes with three tools: 

• Facebook Timeline App: Combine Talking Photos with Facebook to drive ‘Likes’ and let users create, enhance, share, comment, and vote. Take full advantage of all Timeline has to offer with big, beautiful photos.

  Perfect for: Fan engagement, branding, running contests, inspiring user-generated content

• Website Widget: Publish interactive galleries and slide shows automatically to any website.

  Perfect for: Integrating user-generated content from Facebook or elsewhere into your own website

• iPhone App: Capture photos and audio in real time.

  Perfect for: Events, mobile fan engagement, creating Talking Photos on-the-go, live blogging

Visual Design of Page/App

Now that you’ve installed the Facebook Timeline App, customize it with your own branding. Using the Admin Tool, you can:

• Create your own landing pages to reflect your brand or use our default landing page

• Add your own banners (tip: include a theme that is eye-catching and a call to action for better results. Display banner and photos in the largest format available (810px) to take full advantage of screen real estate)

• Change the name of the app to match your campaign in the list of tabs on the left of the page

• Customize the Header and Sub-header text on all pages

• You can run multiple tabs for contests/campaigns/like-gates, so you can organize your content and marketing material however you like.

Other Cool Features:

• Use one of our design templates to meet your seasonal needs

• Produce a slideshow

  • When you check the ‘Enable Slideshow’ box, all Talking Photos created will be viewed as part of a slideshow

    

2. How to use the App to meet your goals

The Fotobabble App is designed to be customized in order to to meet your specific goals. Here are some best practices on how you can use the App to:

1. Increase the number of ‘Likes’ on your Fan Page

Tips:

• Check the box for ‘Like-Gating’. Use our default page or create your own. (tip: you can use a Talking Photo for your Like-Gating page!)

• Track the number of ‘Likes’ you gain during your campaign

• Encourage your fans to click the ‘Share’ button when viewing their Fotobabble so they can post to their own Facebook Walls, Twitter and send as a email to friends

2. Engage your fans

Tips:

• Check the box to ‘Enable User-Generated Content’ to get your fans involved in your campaign

• Include lots of clear instructions about your campaign and what you want the user to do

  -Include instructions on your landing page and banner (e.g. if this is a contest,        include a prize)

  -Include custom header and sub-header text that provides instructions on what your fans should do on each page of the Fotobabble creation process

• Customize the ‘Create Your Own’ button to give the user clear instructions on how to create their own Talking Photo

• Encourage sharing of the content – click the ‘Share’ button and fans can post their content to Facebook, Twitter and send as an email

• ‘Enable Audio’ to allow users to record an audio message with their photo (tip: add text in the header of the ‘Record’ page asking fans to record a message)

  

3. Run a contest

Tips:

• Check the box to enable ‘User-Generated Content’ to get your fans involved in your contest

• Check the box to enable ‘User Voting’ to allow fans to vote on their own or other Talking Photos

• Your landing pages should include a call to action and instructions to encourage fans to vote

• Your promotional material that drives users to your fan page should include instructions to encourage fans to vote

• You can run multiple tabs for photo contests/campaigns, so you can have one tab to showcase your products and services and another to run a new contest.

  

4. Increase Sharing

Tips:

• Encourage fans to ‘Share’ by asking them to share with friends on your landing page, creation pages, etc

• Make your campaign about getting the most number of ‘Views’ or ‘Votes’

• Customize the text displayed when a Fotobabble is shared on your Facebook wall and fans’ walls

5. Promote Your Brand on Facebook

Tips:

• Take full advantage of Facebook Timeline by using big photos to promote your brand, product, services, and user-generated content (tip: Display banner and photos in the largest format available (810px) on Facebook)

• Convert photos, Talking Photos, or user-generated content into ads and offers on Facebook. (e.g. if you run a contest and a user creates a Talking Photo that is a dynamite testimonial for your product, you can turn the Talking Photo into an ad that will show up for your target audience on Facebook)

6. Produce Great User-Generated Content for Your Fan Page and Website

Check the box to ‘Enable User Generated Content’ if you would like your fans to contribute their own content to your contest, fan page, or website.

To enhance the user experience and further engage your fans, configure the following before your launch:

• ‘Enable Facebook Comments’ so that other fans can comment on the content

• Add a button at the bottom of each Fotobabble if you want it to link back to an external website

• Add borders to the photo to generate a unique look for all Talking Photos

• Check ‘Enable User Voting’ if you are running a contest and include your Contest Rules on the ‘Create Fotobabble’ page

• If you want your fans to record audio, be sure to emphasize that in all of your promotional material, landing page, banner and make sure to check the box to ‘Enable Audio’.

Adding mobile capabilities

Encourage your fans to use their Fotobabble iPhone App to upload content to your Fan Page.

In the Admin Tool, check the box to ‘Enable Mobile Uploads’ and identify a unique Mobile App Tag that can be used to post the Fotobabble directly to the Facebook App Gallery.

Encourage fans to install the Fotobabble App on their iPhone/iPad/iTouch and identify the unique tag in all of your promotional material.

Successful campaigns take advantage of every feature in the social, web and mobile Fotobabble channels.

3. Promote

A social marketing campaign can only thrive with the right promotion. Use every channel available to reach your fans, customers, and potential customers.

Make a clear, concise plan that includes:

• A clear start and end date for the campaign

• A promotional plan that includes multiple touch points and regular communication throughout the length of your campaign (e.g. if you are promoting the campaign on your Facebook page, be sure to “Pin” the post on Timeline, so it does not move off the first page).

• All promotional content should include a call to action that drives the viewer to the Fotobabble Facebook App

• Encourage your fans to create and share the content on Facebook, Twitter

• Organize the content in your Gallery by featuring the best content, making sure it shows up first in the gallery

• Post featured Talking Photos on your Wall on a regular basis to increase excitement and encourage participation

4. Review and Evaluate

Use the Fotobabble built-in metrics tools to evaluate the success of your campaign during and after your campaign.

• Using the Dashboard, monitor how many Talking Photos were created, how many ‘Views’ and ‘Votes’ there were (tip: Track this on a daily or weekly basis)

• Track how many new fans were generated during your campaign

• Track when and how photos were shared, how many people it was shared with, and how many views that share generated

• Review the content – what was the quality of the user-generated content?

• Ask fans and customers for feedback via Facebook or Twitter or on your website

In addition to this Best Practices Guide, Fotobabble has a customer support center that can help you with your Facebook App. Reach out to us at support@fotobabble.com. We want to help you make your campaign is a success!