The importance of having a social media policy and being careful who has access to your accounts

This anecdote from Mashable underscores the importance of having a social media policy and being careful who has access to your accounts:
http://mashable.com/2013/12/16/fired-restaurant-chef-twitter/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

Targeting "influentials" vs. targeting everyone

Should you target the "influentials" or everyone?  Duncan Watts shines light on this important topic in this MSI article:
http://www.msi.org/articles/why-marketers-should-aim-for-ordinary-influencers/?utm_source%2013-Nov&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=WebSignupEmail

Guidelines for developing a social media strategy

Douglas Karr provides guidance for developing a social media strategy in this Social Media Today post:
http://socialmediatoday.com/douglaskarr/1920396/infographic-4-steps-social-media-marketing

Paying for retail purchases with mobile devices

You will soon be using your mobile devices to pay for the products you buy in retail stores:
http://www.mcx.com/
http://www.google.com/wallet/

Search Marketing Map from OverDrive Interactive

This is a very useful Search Marketing Map from OverDrive Interactive:
http://www.ssm-responder.com/Overdrive/resource-library/pdf/SearchMediaMap_LIVE.pdf

Social media and Human Resource Management

Social media is impacting Human Resource Management as well as Marketing:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/10/21/the-9-hottest-trends-in-hr-technology-and-many-are-disruptive/2/

Supermarkets will be engaging customers through their mobile devices

Supermarkets are soon going to be engaging their customers through their mobile devices while they are in the process of shopping. 
http://supermarketnews.com/technology/data-deluge-creates-privacy-issues?eid=forward
http://supermarketnews.com/blog/sn-poll-results-retailers-split-big-data?eid=forward
http://supermarketnews.com/technology/smartphone-use-prevalent-grocery?eid=forward
http://supermarketnews.com/technology/smartphone-technology-puts-mobile-scanning-power-customers-hands?eid=forward
http://supermarketnews.com/blog/sn-poll-results-retailers-split-big-data?eid=forward
http://supermarketnews.com/blog/sn-poll-results-2022-predictions?eid=forward
http://supermarketnews.com/private/just-facts-2013-technology-survey?eid=forward

Forbes Human Resource Management article focusing on technology that is driving the marketplace

This Forbes article is about Human Resource Management rather than Marketing, but the technology discussed is driving the marketplace for products and services as well as people. 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/10/21/the-9-hottest-trends-in-hr-technology-and-many-are-disruptive/2/

Search Engine Land's "The Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors"

Thank you to Dr. Terry Holmes for bringing Search Engine Land's "The Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors" to my attention.  It is really quite good if you are trying to understand what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about. 
http://searchengineland.com/seotable?goback=.gde_62352_member_5797923280497160195#!

Adweek article about "the millennial male"

This Adweek article is about "the millennial male."  While it is not about new media per se, millennial males are an important part of that ecosystem and a target market for many new media efforts. 
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/millennial-male-not-who-you-think-he-152929?page=1

The future of social media and the social media manager position

This is an interesting article on the future of social media and the social media manager position: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/10/01/social-media-manager/

Since this is a link blog, I don't usually provide commentary, but I think I'll make an exception in this case.

This article can be taken several ways.  It talks about the death of the social media manager.  But, it also says the growth in social media manager positions has slowed to 50%... that’s still pretty good.  It also says that social media is now becoming everyone’s responsibility and “Compared to a year ago, there are 13 times as many jobs on Indeed that involve the use of social media in some way.”  Also, according to the article, “Last year, IBM (IBM) saw a 400% surge in sales after implementing a social selling program, and 61% of U.S. marketers now use social media to generate new business.”

 

Maybe the key is in the quote  by William Ward -- "’Business requires people with the skills and understanding on how to use ... social media professionally in an integrated and strategic way,’"  I think I agree that social media manager positions may tend to fade as the media becomes more integrated into every aspect of business life … and that’s probably the way it should be.

To me, the bigger issue is about interpersonal influence and ways to stimulate it, often by creatively engaging customers and often through the use of social media.  Social media is just a set of tools that enable us to do that more and better than ever before.  As the 2008 book Groundswell pointed out, the social media technologies come last.  People, objectives, and strategy come before. 

For me, the big question is “What does this mean in terms of teaching and research?”

How to get customers to talk about your brand

This is a great Entrepreneur.com article on how to get customers to talk about your brand:
http://m.entrepreneur.com/article/227997

This New York Times article suggests that many of the product reviews in the marketplace are fake.

This New York Times article suggests that many of the product reviews in the marketplace are fake.  The problem seems to be especially prevalent in the market for books.  According to the article, a data-mining expert at the University of Illinois, Chicago,"estimates that about one-third of all consumer reviews on the Internet are fake."


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1380301261-FkvNsI3h7TZgXR6wLG2Vqw&_r=1&

Harvard Business Review blog post on creating a climate of organizational transparency

This Harvard Business Review blog post makes a good argument for creating a climate of organizational transparency -- "In the absence of information, the brain works overtime. After all, we’re programmed to anticipate harm and protect ourselves from it. "
http://hbr.org/tip?date=092313&utm_campaign=Socialflow&utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet

Entrepreneur.com on what to ask yourself when creating a social media marketing plan

Entrepreneur.com identifies questions to ask yourself when you create a social media marketing plan
http://m.entrepreneur.com/article/228324

How Jet Blue, Axe, and Dollar Shave Club have earned favorable word-of-mouth

This Marketing News post from the American Marketing Association talks about what word-of-mouth marketing is and isn’t.  It also describes how Jet Blue, Axe, and Dollar Shave Club have earned favorable word-of-mouth from their customers and potential customers.

http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary/Documents/newsletters/mne/2013/9/wom-marketing-exact-target.pdf

Interesting ethical issue

This is an interesting ethical issue.  Yelp! is accusing a law firm of posting phony reviews.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/208865/yelp-accuses-law-firm-of-posting-phony-reviews.html#reply

Ways dissatisfied customers can hurt a business

There are a lot of ways dissatisfied customers can hurt a business.  Check out this Mashable post about how one guy took a shot at British Airways --
http://mashable.com/2013/09/02/man-promoted-tweet-british-airways/

Nation's Restaurant News on how Margaritaville uses Instragram

Thanks to Dr. Terry Holmes for sharing this Nation's Restaurant News article on how Margaritaville uses Instragram:
http://nrn.com/social-media/margaritaville-marketing-head-talks-instagram-strategy?NL=NRN-02_&Issue=NRN-02__20130903_NRN-02__552&YM_RID=terry.holmes@murraystate.edu&YM_MID=1419443&sfvc4enews=42

Will companies soon pay us for our personal data?

Is it possible that companies will soon be paying us for our personal data?  Check this out -- http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/02/handshake/

Economist article on how media companies are finding profitable ways leverage the Internet

Is it possible that media companies are starting to find profitable ways to leverage the Internet?
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21583687-media-companies-took-battering-internet-cash-digital-sources-last?fsrc=nlw|hig|8-15-2013|6397721|37145547|

Time spent on nonvoice mobile activities

US adults are projected to spend 2 hours, 21 minutes per day on nonvoice mobile activities in 2013 -- 

http://trends.e-strategyblog.com/2013/08/07/average-time-spent-per-day-on-non-voice-mobile-activities-by-device/13319

U.S. adults are projected to spend more time on digital than on TV

U.S. adults are projected to spend more time on digital than on TV -- http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Digital-Set-Surpass-TV-Time-Spent-with-US-Media/1010096