How are you feeling today?
Jolly? Then you'll thank Trevor Young of the newly launched ParkYoung for drawing our attention to this comedic video on the perils of design by consensus... a lesson in when less is more.
Thoughtful? Then you'll want to drop in on Brian Solis' updated Conversation Prism.
Poor? Then you might wish to review your investment in online advertising courtesy of Graham Jones. It is, he says, a waste of money.
Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team.
Social Media for Business Taster Course Presentation
by Aren Grimshaw of UKNetWeb Limited
A copy of yesterday’s ‘Social Media for Business - Social Media Taster Course‘ Powerpoint Presentations are shown below. For all those who could not get a place on the first course, please get in touch, as we are hoping to run another event on Thursday May 7th.
Social Media Taster Course
Social Media Taster Course Presentation (Niddocks) View more presentations from Aren Grimshaw. All the resources used to prepare the presenation have been added to our Delicious Social Bookmarks under the tag ’smtc’ More...
Google to buy Twitter - oh help...!
by Graham Jones of Internet Psychology
Google is in the final stages of negotiations to buy Twitter, according to "people close to the negotiations" who have informed TechCrunch. If this turns out to be true, it could be a disaster for Twitter users. Google's virtual monopoly position online means it will be able to do almost whatever it wants if it gets Twitter. It will, for instance, have to add advertising to Twitter in order to get its money back. And if there's one thing that repeated studies have shown us - social networking users hate advertising with avengance. More...
Bluetooth marketing - Fangs or no fangs?
by si crowhurst of We Love Mobile
We have an ongoing debate about Bluetooth marketing in the We Love Mobile office (you should work here, its sooo exciting), and are often asked by brands whether we think it should feature in campaigns. Such is the level of disagreement that last week we even found ourselves arguing about its merits in front of a client.
This blog was actually triggered by the news that T-Mobile are putting Bluetooth into their retail outlets in the UK, in order to spam (sorry, capture) people on the street as they walk past. More...
The Conversation Prism v2.0
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas
The Conversation Prism debuted in August 2008 to provide a visual representation of the true expansiveness of the Social Web and the conversations that define it. In this short time span, over one million people have crossed its path.
When Jesse Thomas of JESS3 and I initially mapped “the conversation,” we recognized that the act of categorizing social networks within a visually rich graphic would be momentary at best, demanding endless iterations in order to accurately document evolving and shifting online conversations as well as the communities that promote them. More...
Yahoo! Launches Big Purple Scooby Snack
by si crowhurst of We Love Mobile
Yahoo! launched their new mobile portal yesterday, in mobile web and iPhone app flavours. It combines all their key mobile offerings in one giant purple stack and replaces their previous suite of downloadable apps (which I could never get to work 100%). Some of the features of the web version look good; customisable content and layout, collapsible sections and a fairly fresh look and feel. One think you can’t seem to be able to change is the Yahoo! purple, or shall we be charitable and call it ‘grape’. More...
Paul Gillin on Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
Paul Gillin at Blogworld Expo
I've rigorously followed Paul Gillin over the years. Gillin is a long-time technology journalist who’s worked almost exclusively online since 1999. He was founding editor-in-chief of TechTarget, which was one of the most successful new media entities to debut on the Web. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief and executive editor of the technology weekly Computerworld for 15 years. In 2007, Gillin released The New Influencers and in 2008 he released Secrets of Social Media Marketing. More...
The spamtastic results of pay-per-Tweet on Twitter
by Mindy Gofton of I-COM International
There is now an ad service called Magpie which hooks up advertisers with Twitter users. The Twitter users get paid to post links in their Twitter streams and the advertisers get exposure on the social media site of the moment.
This pay-per-view Twitter advertising is a bad idea for both users and advertisers. For users, it's a very quick way to lose followers who aren't going to want you to send them unsolicited ads for products and services you haven't tried.
For advertisers, you risk ending up paying for the following sorts of garbage: More...
There is no such thing as a Twitter Strategy but you should have clear expectations for your corporate Twitter profile
by Philip Sheldrake of Racepoint Group UK
I'm frequently amazed at the frequency with which I come across people discussing their Twitter Strategy, or their Facebook Strategy. Contrast this with offline terminology... we never talk about a Press Release Strategy or a Features Tracking Strategy.
Twitter and Facebook et al are one of many channels or platforms through which we wish to engage stakeholders in conversation. The strategy, then, is the plan we set ourselves for our use of social media to achieve our business objectives.
The strategy is constructed to meet our objectives and is informed by deep insight into best practice application of social media. More...
Social Media Helps PR Grow Another Leg
by Trevor Young PR Warrior of Parkyoung
I’ve followed for some time the argument (mainly overseas and now outdated) that the emergence of social media will be the death of public relations.
Errr, nup. I don’t think so.
To the contrary, I’d go so far to suggest social media is potentially the best thing to happen to the public relations industry since, well, the advent of the telephone (still a very important tool in our business).
Click here to read the rest of this story.
Content exclusive to Marketing Magazine. More...
More evidence that online advertising is a waste of money
by Graham Jones of Internet Psychology
Last year, in the USA alone, advertisers "invested" some $21bn in online advertising. No wonder we are in an economic mess - most of that money is being thrown away since almost no-one is looking at online adverts. Banner advertising has long been known to attract few people; current click-through rates on banner adverts are less than a quarter of a percent. In other words you have to show the advert to mroe than 400 people in order to get one person to click on it. And with conversion rates from such adverts running at less than 1%, it means you need to have more than 40,000 views of an advert to generate one sale....!
Now, a new study of social networking users shows that they aren't interested in adverts either. More...
Is the Best Job in the World the best marketing in the world?
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
I'm often asked: "How do I market a commodity." My answer is predictable to those of you who read this blog: Create a world wide rave and people will share your ideas and tell your stories. Yes, even if you market a commodity.
Sandy beaches in warm and sunny locations are a commodity product.
This may come as a complete shock to people in tourism marketing, but it's true. The traditional approach of showing white beach sand with footprints near lovely blue water and a bikini or two just doesn’t cut it. More...
Discussing Putting the Public Back in Public Relations with Loic Le Meur
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
I recently visited the gorgeous San Francisco offices of Loic Le Meur and Seesmic to discuss his company's roadmap, photography, how to build online communities, as well as my new book with Deirdre Breakenridge ,"Putting the Public Back in Public Relations."
Loic suggest that we spend a few minutes discussing the book on camera to share with the Loic.tv community. It was an offer I couldn't refuse - after all, Tim Ferriss had occupied the same chair moments before I arrived. More...
