Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Crossing the line with Facebook strategies?

Check out this corporate Facebook strategy that appears to have crossed some ethical boundaries -- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/12/22/facebook

Monday, December 15, 2008

Primer on social media and marketing

This Wall Street Journal article provides an excellent primer on social media and marketing --
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122884677205091919.html
Thanks a million to Mike Ross for calling it to my attention!

Glynn

Monday, December 8, 2008

Friday, December 5, 2008

Buying in to the value of social media

In this blog post, Jason Falls addresses the important issue of how to get others, particularly marketing people, to buy in to the value of social media.
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/11/26/how-to-win-buy-in-for-social-media/

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Hiring a social media person

Doe-Anderson (Louisville) is building up their interactive department and is seeking to fill four positions, one of which is for a social media specialist. If you know someone who may fit the bill on one of these positions, please send them these links -- http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/11/20/im-up-to-something-again-and-im-hiring/http://blog.doeanderson.com/2008/11/20/doe-interactive-hiring-four-positions/

IRI and Umbria work together to research online WOM

Information Resources, Incorporated and Umbria are working together to dissect what is being said in the world of social media.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS151459+04-Mar-2008+BW20080304

Social media adoption among Inc 500 firms

This is an interesting research summary pertaining to social media adoption among Inc 500 firms by Nora Ganim Barnes and Eric Mattson.
http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesresearch/blogstudy5.pdf

Informative white papers from Buzzlogic

Check out the white papers referred to on the left side of this website. You will need to "sign in" to access the papers but it is easy to do and they don't require much information.
http://www.buzzlogic.com/

LinkedIn as a B2B data source

This blog post refers to an Advertising Age article addressing LinkedIn as a source of B2B user information.
http://b2bmarketingconfidential.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

B2B Marketing and Customer Relationship Management

This article addresses business-to-business marketing and customer relationship management. While it doesn't address new media directly, I see a number of indirect implications -- especially where the "influentials" are concerned.
http://b2bmarketingconfidential.blogspot.com/2008/11/b2b-crm-branding-model.html

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Interesting perspective

These blogposts provide some interesting perspective into social media and marketing. I don't agree with everything that is said, but the points made are definitely worth considering. http://blog.hubspot.com/

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Integrating social networks into higher education

Higher education is beginning to realize that Facebook and other social networks can be used to the college's advantage:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/30/social

Monday, October 27, 2008

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008

Five important blogs

Jason Falls recommends five blogs for those interested in social media -- http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/10/17/five-blogs-i-read/

Jason Falls case study about Martell Home Builders

In the following post, Jason Falls presents the first in a series of case studies about how small businesses are using social media. This post is about Martell Home Builders in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/10/20/social-media-for-small-business-martell-home-builders/

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Increasing consumers' involvement with a low-involvement product

If you read this article carefully, you will see that P&G is using a digital media tie-in to increase consumers' involvement in a low-involvement product - Dawn dishwashing detergent. It also provides insight about how Dawn is positioned relative to Palmolive.
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/incentive/e3id1be9498d926d2ac6e0ffbf6268334e3

Also, check out the related site -- http://www.dawn-dish.com/en_US/handshavetalent/home.do

Wal-Mart employees are blogging

Check out the Wal-Mart employees' blog -- http://checkoutblog.com/default.aspx

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The candidates and YouTube

The presidential candidates are learning what works on YouTube.
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=131479

Monitoring the bloggers

Companies are monitoring the bloggers that talk about them. Some are more influential, some are less influential.
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=131455

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Cautions about corporate blogging

Check out B.L. Ochman's "10 Reasons Your Company Shouldn't Blog." Very good points, indeed!
http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4346

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Here are some suggestions for building your personal presence online --
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=128151
This Advertising Age post talks about the "Summize" product to which a link was provided on my previous post. http://adage.com/article?article_id=128169
Want to find out what people are saying about your organization or brand on Twitter? Go to this website and put in your key word(s): http://summize.com/

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

NBC Universal and Neilsen are attempting to take media convergence into account with Neilsen's new "fusion" measurement product --
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=127470

Friday, May 30, 2008

Companies are using "branded entertainment" to combat some of the problems that are plaguing traditional media.

http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=127312

Thursday, May 29, 2008

According to this case study, Sephora and Popular Media teamed up to find a creative way to identify opinion leaders/influencers.
http://www.popularmedia.com/docs/Pop%20Commerce%20Case%20Study%20Sephora.pdf
This paper discusses the idea of "engagement mapping."

http://www.atlassolutions.com/uploadedFiles/Atlas/Atlas_Institute/Engagement_Mapping/eMapping-TP.pdf
This article suggests "engagement" an a new marketing metric.

http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,42124,00.html
This blog post (Jim Calhoun, CEO of Popular Media) identifies some good social media metrics and provides interesting guidelines for social media marketing. One particularly interesting point he makes pertains to the idea that people put their social capital at risk when they share something with their friends.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/behavioral_insider/?p=276
Here is some interesting evidence about the power of traditional social networks to influence behavior -- in this case, getting people to quit smoking.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/26/ST2008052600601.html
Here are some excellent statistics from Universal McCann about the social media habits of those who constitute the "Active Internet Universe."

http://www.universalmccann.com/Assets/UM%20Wave%203%20Final_20080505110444.pdf
This is an interesting article about how Coors is using social media --

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/business/media/28adco.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
It looks like Electronic Arts is open to selling more product placements in its video games --

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/business/media/29adco.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

This is interesting. It looks like the United Kingdom is insisting on complete transparency in terms of marketing and social media.
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126667

Monday, April 28, 2008

Check out Jason Falls' blog post about "How to Get Placement on Blogs." He alludes to an interesting question -- how does your strategy for getting placed differ from one type of blog to another?
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/04/28/how-do-i-get-placement-on-blogs/

Thursday, April 24, 2008

This is an interesting twist. Miller Brewing Company has an employee who maintains the "Brew Blog." He blogs about, what else, beer. While his posts cover a number of beer-related topics, this Wall Street Journal article suggests that one of his favorite pastimes is scooping Anheuser-Bush's PR releases. The blog indicates "BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MILLER BREWING COMPANY," so transparency appears to be in play.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120829767153417401.html?mod=djemMM

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

This is sort of the ultimate in involving/engaging one's customers. Radiohead is making stems of its music (bass, drums, vocals, etc.) available so fans can remix it as they see fit. I wonder how many artists or marketers would be willing to take a risk like that?
http://blogs.mediapost.com/social_media_insider/?p=12

Friday, April 11, 2008

Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer for Doe-Anderson Advertising Agency in Louisville, offers some excellent guidelines for starting a corporate blog --
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Ford is redesigning its F-Series trucks in a way that is likely to generate word-of-mouth and word-of-keyboard communication:
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=80126&Nid=41298&p=911887

Monday, March 31, 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Friday, March 14, 2008

Toyota, General Mills, Hewlett-Packard, and H&R Block are finding creative ways to reach customers through YouTube --

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120485739329518557.html?mod=djem_jiewr_MK
This is a good primer on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) from CNET --

http://search-engine-marketing.classes.cnet.com/

Friday, February 29, 2008

This Adweek article suggests that traditional advertising agencies may not be doing a good job of incorporating consumer-generated media into the promotional mix. Could there be some career opportunities here for those who are able to get ahead of the knowledge curve?
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3id13cf7c770b633b60456549756b829bc

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

This company uses "crowdsourcing" to develop new products --
http://adage.com/article?article_id=125285
Online chatter alone doesn't necessarily lead to increased sales --
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125340
In this video, the speakers talk about the "three screens" of your digital life -- PC, TV, and cell phone. The idea is to integrate the three. http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/23642
This classical music artist is putting her music on the Internet for all to hear. The hope is that more people will become interested in classical music in general, and her classical music in particular. She is also performing in nontraditional venues to, again, expose more people to her work. Sounds like a "market expansion" strategy to me (if you remember your Principles of Marketing class).
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19352442&sc=emaf
It looks like many of the music industry's magazines will have to go to an "online only" format if they are to survive. This seems to be particularly true for those having a relatively narrow readership as opposed to a Rolling Stone type of magazine with a broader readership.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19357366&sc=emaf

Monday, February 25, 2008

Here is a list of 6 ways to identify the top blogs in a given area --
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/identify_top_blogs.php
On the other hand, going to Google's Blog Search and typing in your subject also seems to work well. Technorati.com's "Blogger Central" also seems to return a good list of highly rated blogs.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Check out Neilsen's "Brand Pulse" product -- http://nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/brandpulse
Thanks to Sarah Wells for submitting this excellent overview of CGM --

http://www.designdepot.com.sg/newsletter/interact_jan07.pdf

I particularly like one of the statements near the end "Ultimately awareness (talk) leads to enquiry (traffic) which leads to sales (profits)."

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Thursday, February 7, 2008

This post discusses placing advertisements in video games.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=75970&Nid=39127&p=911887
This post discusses companies that used new media successfully, companies that used it unsuccessfully, and at least one possible ethical breach.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=75975&Nid=39127&p=911887
This post discusses the use of social media as an alternative to advertising during times of recession.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=75979&Nid=39127&p=911887

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

This link takes you to a tool that will grade a website. It evaluates things like metadata tags, headings used, and images used.

http://www.websitegrader.com/

By the way, this "Marketing And The New Media" blog scored 50 out of a possible 100 points.

Friday, February 1, 2008

This note comes from Devin Wilber -- "Here is a site that uses 'crowdsourcing' to work on projects submitted by users. A user submits their idea, the 'crowd' builds and tests the ideas, and the original submitter reaps the rewards. Web 2.0 and consumer generated media in action!

http://www.cambrianhouse.com/

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Devin!

Friday, January 25, 2008

This post has some great web-related and blog-related stats:

http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1626
Bloggers seem to be having a greater impact on the sale of beauty products.

http://www.wwd.com/issue/article/today/121770?page=0
This article talks about ad spending and economic growth. As a point of note, it points out that marketing organizations spend about 7.5% of their marketing budgets (I presume they mean "advertising" budgets) on the internet even though people devote about 20% of their media consumption to internet-based media.

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348963&story_id=10567459#top
This blog post explains how Care2 <http://www.care2.com/> uses "behavioral targeting" to identify people who are concerned about various social issues and link them with their causes. According to the post, there are 8 million people in the network.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/behavioral_insider/?p=239
Neilsen's "Blogpulse" is a helpful research tool. Go to http://www.blogpulse.com/. Then, click on "tools." You can go to "conversation tracker" and type in the name of a company or brand to see who is talking about it in the blogosphere and what they are saying. You can click on "trend search" to see the amount "buzz" that has related to the product or organization over time.

Companies seeking more in-depth analysis can use Neilsen's "BrandPulse" product -- http://nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/brandpulse

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

This is an excellent article about using online communities for market research purposes. However, you may need a Wall Street Journal Online subscription in order to access it:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120027230906987357.html?mod=djem_jiewr_mk

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The "net promoter score" addresses the likelihood that the respondent will recommend a product/service/company to someone else. However, as this Wikipedia post suggests, there is controversy about the value of the net promoter score and whether it is the best measure to use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_promoter_score

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

This appears to be a good source of online marketing facts, figures, and statistics.

http://www.emarketer.com/
This post highlights social media's relevance for health care consumers.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74308&Nid=38279&p=911887
According to this article, the milk industry is targeting dieters with a combination of web, print, and public relations in general. Perhaps a key to success with the "new media" is to find successful ways to combine it with "old media"?

http://adage.com/article?article_id=123071
This article discusses how casual gaming applications seem to be a natural for social networking sites.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/technology/15facebook.html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
This article discusses how MySpace is cooperating with the Attorneys General of 49 states to make social networking safer for minors.

http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9849909-36.html
In this post, Gannett's Chief Digital Officer talks about "rich media" and the company's digital future.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74309&Nid=38279&p=911887

This explains "Tickerboy" which is discussed in the post -- http://www.pointroll.com/tickerboy.aspx

Monday, January 14, 2008

This post addresses an attempt to engage vodka customers and potential customers through a series of video "confessions." The author of the post seems skeptical about whether the campaign does what it is supposed to do.
http://blogs.mediapost.com/media_creativity/?p=76
This vodka company has found an interesting way to target influencers and try to generate word-of-mouth about the product.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/media_creativity/?p=38
This article talks about reach, engagement, and the continuous shift of advertising dollars to digitial media.

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=123057
In this post, Facebook doesn't score so well in terms of access time. The article also identifies some other important social networking sites: "News Corp.'s MySpace, Google's Orkut, Windows Live Spaces and Twitter ... UK-based Faceparty ... [and] Orkut."

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=74122
Celebrities can communicate with their fans online ... and their fans can communicate with one another.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=74130
New ways to reach an important target market for many consumer products, moms --
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=74138
Bad news for Yellow Pages as more advertising goes digital -- http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=74131
This Marketing Daily article underscores the importance of reaching customers at an emotional level. A good book on the subject is Emotional Branding by Marc Gobe.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74116&Nid=38167&p=911887

Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Center for Digital Democracy and the Electronic Privacy Information Center both advocate for consumer privacy.

The Center for Digital Democarcy -- http://www.democraticmedia.org/

The Electronic Privacy Information Center -- http://epic.org/

These two organizations were mentioned in Wendy Davis' Friday, January 11, 2008 "Just an Online Minute" post. It can be found at http://blogs.mediapost.com/online_minute/?p=1642

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Even Swiffer is getting in on the action. In this case, consumers are asked to post music videos on YouTube where viewers will vote on a winner.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74026&Nid=38116&p=911887

This is a great way to increase awareness and involve consumers and potential consumers. But, now that so many companies are doing it, I wonder how long it will take for people to get bored with the concept?
Coors is getting in on the consumer generated media bandwagon by inviting consumers to submit videos. The videos are supposed to convince the judges to award Super Bowl tickets to the winning contestants. The general idea seems to be to engage consumers or to increase their psychological involvement with the product.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/business/media/10adco.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

This article provides an excellent overview of social media from a marketing perspective -- http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=122867
This is an interesting article about Cisco's Eos (entertainment operating system) operating system. Apparently, it identifies TV shows you watch and the lifestyles to which you are attracted. It also monitors your online interactions with other people. It will use this information to identify other content in which you may be interested. It will also enable companies to use the information collected to build online communities and to target their advertising most effectively. Could it be that Orwell's 1984 has arrived 24 years late? Other companies that offer social networking software are also identified.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119973082626572521-email.html

Monday, January 7, 2008

Check out Southwest Airlines' effort to engage business travelers at:

http://bemoreproductive.com/
This post addresses some of the sociology behind consumer generated media. It ties in nicely with Emanuel Rosen's book, The Anatomy of Buzz, especially chapter 4 entitled "Network Hubs."

http://www.customerthink.com/article/social_networks_communities_elastic_ties
The basic human motivations that drive consumer generated media appear to be relatively unexplored. These two posts povide a great starting place for thinking about consumer behavior issues.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/spin/?p=1204

http://www.communispace.com/assets/pdf/R_All_Communispace_Gaining_Business_Value_Release_11_29_07.pdf
Don't forget the power of e-mail when considering consumer generated media.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/spin/?p=1201
This post contains a couple of new terms that I haven't seen before -- "circular entertainment" and "immersive living." Some terms stay around and some don't. We'll see if these have legs.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1609
Buyers of traditional consumer package goods appearing to be researching their purchases on the Internet.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=73741
This is a good example of how Papa Johns is extending traditional consumer promotions in a way that generates a higher level of consumer involvement.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=73740&Nid=37946&p=911887
This is a great information resource that Dr. Fred Miller uses in his graduate marketing class --
http://web2.murraystate.edu/fred.miller/mkt675/Articles/Articles.htm

Friday, January 4, 2008

Here are still more examples of increasing consumer involvement by encouraging consumers to generate media.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72924&Nid=37516&p=911887
Still more about engaging consumers. This time, OlayForYou.com (launching in January) will feature skin-care consultations.
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003686042
Here is some interesting information on the growth of social networks and the amount of ad spending.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72830&Nid=37462&p=911887
Here are still more examples of companies getting consumers involved.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72622&Nid=37347&p=911887
This is an example of how Consumer Generated Media (CGM) can provide input into companies' product development efforts.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72640&Nid=37347&p=911887
Here is still another example of getting consumers involved in creating the message.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72747&Nid=37461&p=911887
This article is a good follow-up to the previous post. In this case Hallmark is partnering with the "Red" campaign to product consumer generated content. Notice the comment in the last paragraph about consumer generated products as well as consumer generated content and media.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72839&Nid=37461&p=911887
Check out this story about how Dove (beauty products) is getting consumers involved in creating the message.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72806&Nid=37461&p=911887

The approach increases consumer involvement, stimulates interpersonal communication, and may result in a better advertising campaign than the agencies would have developed.
This is about MarketTools. It is a company that uses online consumer communities for market research purposes. The consumers choose to participate in these online communities and it is my understanding that the company informs the consumers of their research activity. This article is interesting in that it summarizes insights MarketTools has gained about an important group of consumers -- Moms.
<http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72583&Nid=37347&p=911887>
The article in the link below addresses a possible "do not track" law. The article also provides insight into the type of data that is being collected. "Behavioral tracking" and "behavioral targeting" are buzz words that are sometimes associated with this type of tracking activity.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/technology/01Privacy.html?_r=3&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin>
This article focuses on companies that sell consumer perishables (nondurables). It addresses the way they are getting people to their sites and, then, engaging them. <http://adage.com/print?article_id=122497>. It also provides a good list of companies that are leading the way in this area. The article isn't about "consumer generated media" so much as "consumer-involved media."
Note the references to "influencers," "early adopters," "credibility," and "word of mouth" in this article: <http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72387&Nid=37190&p=911887>.
Check this one out -- <http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=72214&Nid=37064&p=911887>

Also, check out the M&Ms website <http://www.m-ms.com/>
Here are three sites that you may find helpful as you begin to think about the world of consumer generated media (CGM), Web 2.0, etc.:
http://www.epinions.com/
http://www.rateitall.com/
http://www.consumerreview.com/
Check out this article pertaining to changes in newspaper circulation from last year to this year.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003667952
The vast majority of newspapers lost readership, most by a significant percentage. One reason for this may be that people are relying more and more on consumer generated media as opposed to the traditional media. If so, how can marketing organizations get ahead of this curve?