Follow Your Formula for YouTube Success
October 19, 2011
If you look at the most successful YouTubers with consistently high video views, you may wonder how they achieved their status. The key to success on YouTube is to discover an individual formula that your fans respond well to & continue to follow it. In addition, these savvy self-marketers always have calls to action verbally & through embedded links in the video to favorite, like, subscribe or comment to increase fan interaction and their subscriber base.Switching a Personal Profile to a Page Using Facebook’s New Conversion Ability
September 20, 2011
Many business owners have made the innocent mistake of accidentally setting up their business page as a personal account. They may have been pioneers who saw the need to set up a page when there was no such option for businesses, or they may have given the task of setting up the page to an uninformed employee. For a quick review, a personal profile has the ability to approve and disapprove friends, email directly, chat, and add a variety of personal use applications to the profile. A business page gains fans without approval from the business page and has the ability to add different applications that are geared towards business objectives instead of Farmville and other games. Business pages also have the significant bonus of being able to advertise on Facebook, a vital & necessary option if you want to gain fans.What is the proper response for social media blunders?
March 16, 2011
Social media & marketing agency New Media Strategies has recently come under fire in the press & by their former employer, Chrysler, for a pretty big mistake made on the @ChryslerAutos Twitter account on March 9th. Chrysler engaged the services of New Media Strategies to manage their social media accounts for consumers. They have a new campaign focused on made-in-Detroit cars and spent a huge amount of money on Super Bowl ads with rapper Eminem, who is from the Motor City himself. During this particularly critical time, an employee of NMS unfortunately tweeted on the company account, “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f*ing drive."Find Out Your ROI with Call Tracking
February 08, 2011
Have you ever dropped a ton of cash on a billboard or radio ad and then wondered if there was any affect? Do you have an expensive print ad that you are locked into for a yearly contract? What about a one-time mailer that went out to 5,000 prospective customers? If you want to know where your advertising dollars are making a return on your investment, get a call tracking number. It’s easy and inexpensive in relation to your overall advertising costs.Do Something Good with Your Internet Fame
January 04, 2011
Generally people seeking success on the internet are seeking it for themselves. Occasionally however, these internet stars can use their pseudo-celebrity status to support causes they believe in. My favorite YouTube duo Pomplamoose has recently used their internet fame for good by supporting a local book drive.
Online Shopping Expected to Rise for Annual Cyber Monday
November 29, 2010
Now that Black Friday has passed with its flurry of shopping activity and sales, it is time for the online world to entice holiday shoppers. The Monday after Thanksgiving, dubbed “Cyber Monday,” is when online retailers release their biggest holiday deals. Last year, it was the second largest online shopping day of the year with over $900 million in sales. The largest online shopping day last year was actually December 15th, the last day that most major retailers guarantee Christmas delivery. An Awesome Example of Using Social Media for Cause Marketing
November 08, 2010
Instead of talking about how Facebook can make money for businesses, let’s talk about how social media can help charities and non-profit organizations in your community. Marketing to improve awareness or to promote a particular charity is called cause marketing. Some of you may be familiar with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure or the Live Strong campaigns. These are two very popular examples of cause marketing. However, these campaigns are run with huge budgets and tons of staff. How can you get awareness in your local community for a cause that you care about?
As a local example, the Often Awesome organization has been using social media for over a year to help raise awareness about ALS, sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or motor neuron disease in Great Britain. In 2009, Tim LaFollette, a graduate of Guilford College, was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of ALS. To give you a shortened version of what ALS is, basically your nerve cells waste away or die slowly, leaving the person in a paralyzed body with a fully functioning mind. His friends and wife organized what they call the Often Awesome Army to help raise awareness about Tim’s condition and raise money to improve his quality of life.
Monetizing Viral Videos – Are We There Yet?
October 22, 2010
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months, you have most likely heard the “Bed Intruder” song. This viral video started waves on the Internet back in the middle of July, and the star of the video is still making waves. So are we at a point where we can actually monetize viral videos? I bet the Numa Numa kid wishes his video had come out right about now.
The Social Network: Remember When Facebook Was Cool?
October 13, 2010
Our recent company outing to see The Social Network was a fun evening. The movie itself was well-paced and showed an insight into the beginning of the largest online social media site in the world. Others have interpreted the portrayal of Mark Zuckerburg by Jesse Eisenburg as dislikable or obsessed with making himself popular. He actually struck me as your typical genius programmer—somewhat socially awkward, prone to saying the wrong thing in an offensive way occasionally, and generally with his head in a computer at all times.
Facebook Places Causing a Stir
August 23, 2010
Last week Facebook announced a new application designed to let all your friends know exactly where you are by using GPS in smart phones. The blogosphere is already full of articles lambasting Facebook for privacy issues, debating whether Foursquare and Gowalla will stand a chance, and some even praising Facebook for considering privacy issues before the release of a potentially prickly service.
Already, the Internet is full of contradicting information on how the program will actually work. This Associated Press article on Yahoo gives kudos to Facebook for anticipating privacy issues and states, “If you're out and about with friends, you'll be able to "tag" them using the (at) symbol, much the same way you can already tag them in your status updates. Your friend will then be notified that you have tagged them and can choose to check in too, or reject it.” To me, this implies that I will get a new notification every time someone tries to check me in, which I can either approve or deny.
