Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Masters in social media

The Birmingham City University (Birmingham, England) is offering a Masters Degree in Social Media. It appears to be housed in the Birmingham School of Media.

http://www.mediacourses.com/courses.asp?cat=2&courseID=30

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

HBR article on user contribution systems

Dave Knox (http://www.hardknoxlife.com/)recommended Scott Cook's October 2008 article in Harvard Business Review entitled, "The Contribution Revoultion: Letting Volunteers Build Your Business" (vol. 86, issue 10, pp. 60-69).

It was written by the cofounder of Intuit and focuses on the importance of user contribution systems (which are almost all social media based) in business.

Monday, March 23, 2009

In-store marketing

This article, by Booz & Company's Matthew Egol and Christopher Vollmer addresses the use of media in the shopping aisle. It is a great follow-up to Christopher Vollmer and Geoffrey Precourt's book Always On.

http://www.strategy-business.com/resiliencereport/resilience/rr00066

The future of advertising looks dim

This Advertising Age article is blunt, negative, and contains at least one word I never thought I'd see in Advertising Age. Unfortunately, though, it is probably correct.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=135440

Saturday, March 21, 2009

More social media in B2B?

B2B firms appear to be shifting from traditional media to social media and other online forms of communication --

http://b2bmarket.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/b2b-companies-to-increase-online-ad-spend/

Friday, March 20, 2009

Social networks vs. e-mail, further discussion

More discussion about social networks vs. e-mail -- http://ow.ly/1bla

Careers with Forrester Research

Thanks to Jeremiah Owyang for Tweeting this site -- http://www.forrester.com/careers

The prominence of social networks and blogs

This post attests to the prominence of member communities (social networks & blogs) --

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10200669-62.html

Guidelines for blogging and micro-blogging

Beth Harte provides some excellent guidelines and information for blogging and micro-blogging (e.g., Twitter, Facebook status updates). This should be particularly helpful for PR people.

http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/2009/03/iabc.html

Hulu mimics Facebook?

Looks like Hulu is adding to the social networking action with "Hulu Friends," a platform that is much like Facebook. Seems like the social media platform space is getting quite crowded!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123681820436902703.html?mod=djem_jiewr_MK#articleTabs%3Darticle

Monday, March 16, 2009

Online communities may not accomplish your objectives

This post provides some reasons why your online community may not take you where you want to go --

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/79989

Using social media to raise money for charities

This social media person uses her blog and tweets to raise money for charities --

http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/other/03/16/0316winner.html

More spent of corporate social media efforts

It looks like companies will be spending more on social media, even in a recessionary market.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/despite_recession_more_than_50_of_marketers_increase_spending_on_social_media.php

Social networks for entrepreneurs

This is a good list of social networks for entrepreneurs:

http://mashable.com/2009/03/12/entrepreneur-networks/

Doodle.com social media tool

Thanks to Devin Wilber for telling me about doodle.com. According to the website's FAQs, "Doodle helps finding suitable dates and times for group events, e.g., an appointment, a conference call, a family reunion, etc. Doodle is particularly easy to use – and passes the "grandma-test"... In addition to scheduling events, Doodle also supports polls in general. That is, groups can conveniently decide on options other than dates."

Check out its FAQs for more info.

http://doodle.com/

Coca-Cola, Coke fans, & social media

This is a good story about how Coca-Cola is handling an incredibly large fan group of >3,000,000 members on FaceBook.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=135238

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Another great quote

"if you don't like change - you'll like irrelevancy even less!" Wayne Friedman
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=101840

Digital Outlook Report from Razorfish

This is a 180 page report, but it's good stuff!
http://www.razorfish.com/img/content/2009DOR.pdf

Quote of the week

"Never upset someone on the internet who has more free time than you." -- Joshua Hammond

Enable crowdsourcing with Crowdspring.com

Crowdspring is a social media site designed to enable crowdsourcing. Thanks to Mitch Canter for point it out to me via Twitter --
http://www.crowdspring.com/

The future of social media

Jeremiah Owyang provides this prelude to his report on the future of social media. It includes some good information about who's who in social media and talks about crowdsourcing, which I believe is going to grow in importance.

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/03/11/research-status-the-future-of-the-social-web-social-media-in-a-recession/

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Addressing negative comments

What to do when negative comments are made about your organization or brand in the social media space --
http://dirkshaw.blogspot.com/2009/02/address-negative-comments-head-onyou.html

Why influencers matter

This post explains why b2b influencers matter --
http://dirkshaw.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-influencers-matter-for-customer.html

Online tracking tools

This is a nice list of tools for tracking what people are saying about you, your company, or your brand online --
http://mashable.com/2008/12/29/brand-reputation-monitoring-tools/

Interesting question from Pat Coyle

Pat Coyle posed an interesting question this morning during his presentation at the University of Louisville -- "What do you do in a market where people are buying only what they need?"

I posed the question to the people following me on Twitter and Facebook and here are the replies so far --
  • Thomas Rasinen -- Help them find it - more efficiently and less expensively. Then they have more time and money to think about what they want....
  • Sharon McConnell Worster -- Make sure you have what they need!
  • Lynn Richard -- Help them define "what they need". Position products and services to match "what they need". Needs or pain points are often addressed with not just necessity items but other items as long as they are positioned, in this economy, as high value.

Top Twitter mistakes

The top Twitter mistakes made by those who are new to Twitter --
http://www.10000words.net/2009/03/top-7-mistakes-new-twitter-users-make.html

Telecommunities

This article discusses the "telecommunity" phenomenon --
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3i719c968044c38f8c044422dfa52dc0ee

Using Twitter for promotion

Great advice on using Twitter. Thanks to Thomas Rasinen for forwarding it!
http://searchengineland.com/how-to-use-twitter-for-local-marketing-16809

Monday, March 9, 2009

Web site design and SEO

Interesting comments on web site design and search engine optimization (SEO)--
http://www.webinknow.com/2009/03/seo-and-your-crap-filled-site-.html

Jason Fall's definition of social media marketing

I like Jason Fall's definition of social media marketing --

"Social media marketing, however, is the practice of engaging audiences in conversations about a given subject to foster greater volume, better sentiment or to gather intelligence from the participants about that subject."

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2009/03/09/why-you-shouldnt-trust-social-media-to-an-seo-consultant/

Neilsen report on global networking trends

Neilsen's latest report on global networking trends. Thanks to Peter Blackshaw and Jeremiah Owyang for Tweeting these:

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/social-networking-new-global-footprint/

http://server-uk.imrworldwide.com/pdcimages/Global_Faces_and_Networked_Places-A_Nielsen_Report_on_Social_Networkings_New_Global_Footprint.pdf

Thursday, March 5, 2009

K-Mart jumps into social media

K-Mart leveraged influential bloggers in their foray into social media I like the fact that it addresses objectives and outcome metrics.
http://www.wendypiersall.com/influencer-marketing-case-study-kmart-holiday-hoopla-contest/

Dave Knox on social graphs

Social graphs are an important part of the emerging promotional paradigm. Dave Knox gives us an overview --
http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2008/12/07/how-should-brand-managers-approach-the-social-graphs-of-facebook-connect-and-openid/

Dave Knox on perfectionism

I think Dave Knox has identified one of the major impediments to creating a culture of innovation --

"It’s not about getting it right the first time because no one is perfect. Instead it is about having a mentality of failing fast and fixing the mistakes. That is what Big Brands need to learn from start-ups. We operate in a world of ready, aim, aim, aim, aim…maybe fire. A start-up is aim, fire, adjust… aim, fire, adjust."


http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2009/03/01/should-brands-start-thinking-like-start-ups/

Dave Knox discusses Christopher Vollmer's book "Always On"

Dave Knox discusses Christopher Vollmer's book "Always On" in this blog post:
http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2009/03/03/digital-darwinism-will-change-the-marketing-ecosystem-for-brand-managers/

Monday, March 2, 2009

An overview of web marketing

This is an interesting overview of web marketing in its many forms, provided by Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/01/01/a-complete-list-of-the-many-forms-of-web-marketing-for-2008/

Generating WOM with photo-sharing

This gives us some ideas for using photo-sharing sites (e.g., Flickr) to engage and generate word-of-mouth. The recommendations center on higher education applications.
http://brendanmayer.com/2007/04/10/5-ways-to-use-flickr-as-a-higher-ed-marketing-tool/

Stimulating WOM through outrageousness

Outrageousness can stimulate word-of-mouth, either online or offline! Thanks to Sven Tuzovic for sending this to me.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4632991n?source=mostpop_video

A new business model for the recording industry?

"Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said at the company’s analyst day today that “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith” has generated more money for the band than any of their albums."-- Blogger Patrick Klepek on 9/15/08. Could this be a new business model for an old industry?

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/09/15/gh-money-for-aerosmith/
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-03/st_essay