Archive for February, 2009

Ford Models CEO John Caplan discusses how businesses need to adjust to a changing market in advertising. Caplan is the former CEO of About.com, so although we might pawn him off as a guy that just hangs out with beautiful people all day, in reality he ran a company of geeks that later sold for $410 million. continue

CEO of Ford Models says things are really bad in retail and businesses need to shift how they market. Insightful interview that is a must watch.

David Meerman Scott does a great job explaining some key fundamentals to social media marketing. I agree with a lot with what he says, although I think he should touch on what type of people to reach out to and how much hard work can go into a marketing campaign until it works. continue

Rumor has it that Facebook is changing their page design and rolling it out this month. It is supposed to incorporate more viral features. One is rumored to be more exposure to updates in users feeds. The look is also going to mimic the users new Facebook look. To me this feels a little like MySpace in that division between the user and businesses are blurred. I personally think Facebook’s strength is how much it is NOT like MySpace. continue

We created a quick slide show of some key winners in social media marketing today. I still think ROI should be a focus in 2009 and how to quantify results effectively, but still see some outstanding lessons from these examples. continue

Social Networks (aka Your Phone)
The internet has become one giant casual conversation. Perfect for word of mouth marketing and an opportunity for professionals to reach thousands of people by participating. The main ones are easy to identify. Facebook, MySpace and Linkedin are the biggies, but there are several others you can use to reach a highly targeted audience. If you ever have a question of about demographics in a social network refer to quantcast.com and you should get a better picture of the inside of a community. When getting involved with social networks, you need to remember a few things first. continue

If social networks are the phone, social bookmarks and RSS Feeds are the wires connecting all the information together.

RSS feeds: RSS feeds allow users to have information delivered to them as opposed to actively retrieving it. Almost all social network profiles allow you to import a RSS feed which means you can import your own blog to all your other profiles and drastically cut down on time. The other very cool trick with RSS feeds is once you utilize them and update your blog with listings, articles and relevant content, people online can subscribe to your updates. This is a great pull marketing strategy that will pay off in spades if used properly. continue

Now the fun part; identifying all the free listing services out there and tracking them back to your website. With all of these free listing services, it is crucial to automate uploading listings as much as possible and include where to find more information about you, your company or the listing. I have compiled a list of the ones I know of, but if anyone can add to it, please chime in. continue

The message ringing out loud and clear is that old marketing tactics are not as effective as in the past. It’s not the advertiser’s fault. It’s not the advertising agency’s fault. It’s just the evolution of communication. Malcolm Gladwell calls it “Immunity” in his national bestselling book The Tipping Point. Gladwell’s theory is that once a communication gets adapted and used as a standard for communication, it also reaches a point where it becomes a nuisance. Once it become a nuisance, people learn, or become immune, to its interruption. continue

Blogs – Your Antenna

This is where we will start; your business blog. Most people think blogging is a chore that taxes on time that could be spent working. If you blog properly, you will receive more leads than you know what to do with. It’s all about working smarter and a blog is the best place to start. You do not need to write original content. Most really good blogs are not revolutionary. Most great blogs pose questions or incomplete answers and ask the readers to fill in the blanks. The point is to create activity on your door step and not someone else’s. continue