Michael Wolf tells you what you need to know: Unless you are running a news website, it’s very likely that there are plenty of opportunities to take advantage of “how to” posts. If you run an eCommerce website, you should start with your most popular products and create “how to” guides for each of them. If you think you are going to have a large … [Read more...]
The Interview: Wikia CEO Jimmy Wales
The cofounder of the web’s fourth-largest site tells what’s wrong with our notions of performance-based advertising and user-generated content. It’s hard to say which is more surprising: that the fourth-largest website has only two dozen employees or that it doesn’t make any money. But one thing that almost never raises an eyebrow about Wikipedia.org is that it’s outrageously … [Read more...]
Blurring the Lines
Recently, I posed my question to a diverse audience: "At your company, who is in charge of social media marketing? Raise your hand if it's the marketing group." A few hands went up. "The public relations team?" A few hands again. "Market research?" Once again, only a smattering of hands was raised. "So I guess most of you aren't using social media at all?" I suggested. "Must be … [Read more...]
Social Networking Bailout
Our politicians, along with Wall Street, a few bankers and some mortgage firms may be able to take our money, but they can't take away our friends. In fact, our friends may be all we have left someday. There's no doubt that the crisis we face today financially and otherwise will test our mettle as small business owners and brands.So in tough times what can we do? Well, if … [Read more...]
Owning Up
Social media technologies can be a powerful tool, but it's important to know who within your organization should be taking the lead for your social media marketing strategy, which includes responsibility for everything from budgeting to staffing.It's commonplace for executives and managers to ask about social media leadership and inquiries stem from the growing desire … [Read more...]
Show me the Money
Currently, looking for the money in social media marketing is like asking directions in a foreign land when you don't speak the language and don't know how the locals connect and communicate.Social media is commonly defined as comprising "primarily Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings."As an online marketer you want to hear about … [Read more...]
Leagues of Their Own
Since the days of the gladiators, sports fans have had an irrational bond with their favorite athletes and teams. Feats of athleticism evoke eruptions of euphoria or a tidal wave of tears as a game's final play unfolds.These strong emotions create an indelible brand loyalty that remains long after the season ends.Marketers are learning to exploit these relationships in new ways … [Read more...]
Video + Twitter = Seesmic
I recently had to stop Twittering. It was awful. The doctors said I would go blind.Seriously folks, even for as big of an Internet geek as I am, I was completely overwhelmed by the massive flood of 140-character messages from friends and colleagues that bombarded me 24 hours a day. So at the time of this writing, I'm off the Twitter-pipe, for now.But just when I thought I was … [Read more...]
Fracas over Facebook and Trepidation with Twitter
Since Facebook was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine less than a year ago, it's been called everything from the social platform that would revolutionize marketing forever, to an overblown and overhyped experiment.Industry watchers say the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Although Facebook certainly offers marketers global reach, desirable demographics and powerful … [Read more...]
Searching for Alternatives
It was a cold night in Pennsylvania when Leila Crooks was on Digg.com, the community-based popularity site, and came across a story about a "slanket" - a fleece blanket with sleeves that offers the freedom of arm movement so people can play video games or surf computers while snuggling under a blanket. Crooks was intrigued, bought one, loved it and sent the link to … [Read more...]
Natural Born Storyteller: Q & A with Steve Rosenbaum
Steve Rosenbaum made his name on MTV and doing documentaries. So it's natural that he's into Web video. Rosenbaum is the founder and CEO of Magnify.net, which powers user-generated video (UGV) channels for Web publishers, media companies and video bloggers. The Magnify. net platform searches and sorts virtually all video available on the Internet based on a site's interest … [Read more...]
Sweet Charity
If you think getting people to shop online is tough, consider the plight of nonprofit organizations. They ask people for their time and/or money, but instead of receiving goods, these donors simply get the satisfaction of doing good.Although nonprofit organizations may have a different agenda from the for-profit online marketers, many of the goals (building relationships, … [Read more...]
Sell Green to Make Green
For online marketers, green could be the new gold. The events of the past year opened the eyes of many consumers to the importance of being Earth-friendly, which in turn has created an unprecedented opportunity for the sellers of green goods. Hurricane Katrina, the popularity of the global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" and President Bush's epiphany … [Read more...]
Get a Second Life
Living in a virtual world may lead to innovation in the physical world.Innovation is the lifeblood of business. Failure to innovate is a common problem among businesses and even more common among big corporations where it is hard to turn on a dime and internal politics tends to slow down rapid thinking and change. This means that smaller marketers, boutiques and niche marketers … [Read more...]
The Social Security
Sites that rely on user-generated content are altering the human fabric of the Internet and the way that performance marketers reach out to customers and merchants and communicate with each other. Online marketers are testing all of the new communication methods - blogs, social networking sites, wikis, and photo and video-sharing sites - to see if these platforms can help them … [Read more...]