So many of us use social media to distinguish ourselves from the rest. We all do the same things, yet many of us are more successful than others. In professional sports, the same is true. In baseball, everyone goes to the plate, uses the same bats and balls, and tries to outdo their competitors. There are metrics put in place that allow the public to determine who are the most …
With all the fuss over the growth of Twitter let us not forget that there is a little site called Facebook that in the US, has still been under-represented compared to other countries in terms of it’s importance. In the US, visits to social networking websites increased 4% in February 2009 vs. February 2008 among a custom category of 55 of the top properties, while visits decreased 1% compared with January 2009 among those sites, according to data from Hitwise (via MarketingCharts).
All the social media sites we love (or hate) to use including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc., enable us to interact with people we know well and those we have never met. My rule is generally to allow anyone I have met into my Facebook world, and those I have not are reserved for LinkedIn. With so many people to keep updated and in touch with, both those you know and those you don’t, these sites can often feel like the only lifeline to reach them. They can also be a way to make connections with new customers, influencers and others who can help your business grow, outside of your known network. Too often people make simple mistakes that harm their reputations, rather than helping.
So Microsoft bought into Facebook a while back, but has not really been able to realize significant value yet other than access to representing their sales to the agency market. Now, it seems some of Microsoft’s marketing budget is going to help Twitter get itself into the advertising game.
Twitter rolled out a new program titled ExecTweets. The program presents on a page, Tweets collected from various executives.
According to AdAge, the joke around Facebook is that it is run like a nonprofit. Indeed, for a site its size, it has remained remarkably free of overt commercial activity. Last fall, Facebook began trying to dial up the ads with a new generation of units it calls “engagement ads.” The irony is that marketers and individuals alike can leverage the platform without actually paying for it.
Take Burger King’s “Whopper Sacrifice” application, which allowed users to un-friend 10 friends for a free Whopper. The application resulted in plenty of press and more than 230,000 dumped friends, but Facebook earned no revenue from it. Ultimately, Facebook disabled the notification feature, which it deemed too intrusive, and the application was shut down.
This week my tenure as Group Account Director for Digital Agency Mighty ended. I will be moving on to a new and incredible opportunity in the new year (stay tuned for more details). I have had an amazing time at Mighty, working on projects for clients including Scotiabank, Hyundai, Microsoft and others. The people were talented and friendly, the ownership committed and the work fun and rewarding.
When I thought about leaving, I figured I had to deliver my goodbye message in a way that was different than the standard email to all company employees. Social Media tactics perhaps?
So you are sitting at your desk, reading emails, surfing the web, when you get a new message notification on your favourite social networking site. Figuring it is a note from a friend you check the inbox. To your surprise, it is a legal notice of a lien. Normally reserved for hand delivery, liens and legal notices have rarely been delivered through any other channel. It is now a completely different story.
The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court has approved a lawyer’s request to use Facebook to serve legally binding documents — in this case, a lien notice — after he failed, via email and at home, to reach a married couple in default.
Facebook launched the much talked and blogged about Facebook Connect. This is yet another system that lets members use their login information to access other websites, see what “Friends” are doing, and broadcast actions to others. Simply put, connecting Facebook to other sites will inherently make those sites social. That in turn, should make those other destinations more attractive to advertisers as traffic volume will likely increase through social …
Ted McConnell from Proctor and Gamble questioned the whole concept of ‘consumer-generated media’ and whether it is something that should be monetized. He states that as marketers, we’re being predatory. “Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. …
Let me know if you are coming…looks like I will only be there on Sunday for a few sessions, but if I can get someone to watch the kids…who knows?
Everyone knows that college students spend time online, a lot of time actually. While it might seem obvious that they use social networking sites, marketers often wonder what they do on these sights so that embedded ads and messaging can be aligned to student’s most frequent activities. A recent study by EDUCAUSE compared social network usage at 44 colleges and universities across the USA in 2006, 2007 and 2008. …
When you are in the job market, you might think that when it comes time to reference checking, you can control the names that you give your prospective employer. It was always safe to assume that you could expect a positive, glowing reference from each of the names given.
With the proliferation of social networking sites loaded with lists of your contacts, and your contacts’ contacts, it’s like the Wild …
As someone with over 500 friends on Facebook (I have met them all except for about 5) this is a hilarious satire on how it would work in real life. Just watch and laugh as I did…
Articles of Interest