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In a post at his Be the Brand blog, Dave Saunders links to a YouTube video by Perry Belcher that takes some Twitter users to task for their seeming lack of interest in the people who follow them. (NB: The video contains some four-letter words.) Belcher illustrates his point with ... more
Gems of 2008: Online reputation management means tracking your brand and reacting when necessary. Brand monitoring can save you from a potential disaster when someone cites your name in an article that misrepresents you. What's more, it can help you proactively join conversations around your topic area, helping to get ... more
Gems of 2008: People have not stopped buying things, so how are they researching and purchasing products since they have made themselves immune to old marketing techniques like banner ads and direct mail? The answer is with search engines and Google. According to comScore, Americans conducted 11.5 billion searches in June ... more
You know its time for your company to enter the realm of social media, but perhaps you're unsure of how to get started, or where to concentrate your efforts. You probably require outside help. And in a Pro article at MarketingProfs, Mack Collier provides an in-depth primer on hiring a ... more
If you were to talk to a sixth grader about blogs or social networks or streaming video, you'd be having a conversation with a first-generation "digital native." While the rest of us learn new media as a second language—with varying levels of skill and comprehension—this emerging segment speaks Web 2.0 ... more
"While US consumers are fully embracing text messaging," says Alan Berrey in an article at MarketingProfs, "very few enterprises have followed suit." And when you consider that 80 percent of Americans own mobile phones, and send over one billion test messages each day, it makes sense to develop a strategy ... more
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
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