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We're suckers for any video series that takes an entertaining approach to informative content like the weekly podcasts from HubSpot TV, hosted by the extremely likeable duo of Karen Rubin and Mike Volpe. This episode opens with viewer mail. The first question asks whether a company should add a Twitter ... more
You learned in school that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But as cable TV's popularity wanes against the force of the almighty Internet, it looks like "free lunch" has become stat quo: nobody wants to pay for TV shows, movies or SNL video clips anymore. They want ... more
Motrin recently created an online hulabaloo when a video intended for laughs instead raised the ire of its target audience: Mothers. "Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion," begins the female narrator of a 47-second spot. "I mean, in theory it's a great idea." And with a whiff of ... more
You want to explore uncharted territory, but you're also worried about sowing cash on unproven social media ground. Well, here's a way to play it safe: ease, ever so slowly, into Facebook. The facts: It's the largest social networking site in the world. In August '08, users spent an average ... more
If you use Twitter the way Mack Collier does, you might feel overwhelmed as you try to keep up with the constant stream of conversation, and stay connected with actual friends and colleagues. In an attempt to get a handle on his situation, Collier decided to cut back on the number ... more
K9 Cuisine helped fill a void created by the pet-food crisis of 2007. Since then, its annual sales have reached $2.5 million, and it expects to double that in the next 8-10 months. How? With the help of social media. more
By now, you've probably heard about a recent Pepsi outreach that delivered three packages, over the course of an hour, to 25 influential bloggers; the first two contained cans with logos from throughout the cola-maker's history, while the last featured those with the latest design. A note explained: "You're part ... more
Gaming is no longer the sole domain of geeky guys with programmer's pallor: 44% of online gamers, and 40% of gamers in general, are women. Over half are between 18 and 49, and "extreme gamers" devote 45 hours a week to games. Salivating yet? Good, because here's a pretty meaty ... more
The more quantitatively you can measure your social media, the better. And the closer those measurements are to business outcomes, even better. How rapidly people in the network engage with you and respond to your "call to action," such as write a review, participate in the blog discussion, or forward ... more
Imagine a world in which you persuade your customers to kidnap their friends so that you can then convince them it's in their best interest to visit your Web site. Virtually, it's already happening. And turning out quite well for the Travel Channel. more
Van Jones beat the odds when The Green Collar Economy landed at number 12 on the New York Times best-seller list. "What he didn't have, as a first time author with an almost non-existent marketing budget, was the kind of money and name-recognition that typically helps place a book on ... more
According to comScore, Americans conducted 11.5 billion searches in June 2008, 61.5% of those searches using Google. This is living proof, if we still needed it, that marketers should not only be investing in paid search, they should be optimizing their sites to be picked up in unpaid, organic search ... more
While auto dealerships across the nation struggle to survive in the new economy, Auction Direct USA's business is expanding. In fact, its fresh approach to online marketing has transformed the brand of this "used car dealer" to drive up sales. more
Ron Hudson of the Immediate Influence Blog recently asked his friends on Twitter to nominate candidates for a list that would become "50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media." They threw our own Ann Handley's name into the virtual hat, and when Hudson analyzed Alexa rankings, ... more
If the popularity of the 3G iPhone is any indication—Apple sold over one million units during its first weekend on the market—the smartphone is here to stay. According to Loren McDonald, this presents something of a quandary for email marketers. While everyone likes the idea of customers having access to ... more
When we say "viral marketing" you know exactly what we mean. The question isn't whether to integrate viral elements into your marketing mix, but rather how—and to what degree. But when a profession-specific concept becomes so commonplace so quickly, it's easy to forget that your colleagues and clients might not ... more
In late August, 2.9 million subscribers learned the identity of Barack Obama's running mate with a 26-word text message delivered via SMS (Short Message Service). The announcement joined a trend of strategies employed by the likes of NBC (Olympic coverage), Fox (American Idol) and others. According to R.J. Talyor, the ... more
When Apple unveiled its first iPhone in 2007, most reviews highlighted features that skewed to personal—rather than business—use. You could use the iPhone for many things, but you surrendered a measure of professional functionality in the tradeoff. A recent re-design, however, coupled with the introduction of the App Store, has made ... more
Do you know what people are saying about you? Online reputation management consists of tracking your brand and reacting when necessary. Sometimes it's tedious. But brand monitoring can save you from a potential disaster. It can also help you proactively join conversations around your topic area, to get your brand ... more
While blogs and social networks seem to get most of the attention when it comes to social media talk, podcasts and videos also remain viable channels to reach and connect with an audience. CC Chapman should know, as he's been active in the blogosphere and social networking spaces for years, but ... more
Hewlett-Packard simply handed over a $5,000+ computer prize package to each of 31 bloggers, asking them to give away the prizes to their readers in any way they saw fit. HP trusted the bloggers' influence over the market it wanted to reach—and had faith in their creativity. Turned out, that ... more
Back in 2006, a group of friends decided to play a practical joke on a colleague obsessed with his Jaguar—they covered the S-Type sedan with thousands of colorful Post-it notes. Scott Ableman uploaded photos of the prank to Flickr, where they became a viral phenomenon. This clip of an ABC ... more
In a recent article at MarketingProfs, Mike Volpe of HubSpot likens search engine optimization to a gigantic onion. There's no end to the number of layers you can peel back in your quest for a higher rank among your target market's search results. But the good news is you don't ... more
It's mid-afternoon and you learn—a little too late—that a blog post badmouthing your company has just gone viral. Rohit Bhargava offers a five-step plan for dousing the flames of these online wildfires: Identify the players. Says Bhargava, "Every blog crisis has three categories of participants: the source, the commenters and the ... more
Nine months after launching the HDX Dragon, Hewlitt-Packard faced a quandary: Sales of the feature-packed laptop were underwhelming. The company took action by partnering with Buzz Corps to create a social media campaign that targeted 31 influential bloggers. Dubbed 31 Days of the Dragon, it gave each blogger the opportunity ... more
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