Digitalia | Indianapolis Social Media Marketing | Indianapolis Internet Marketing

Using Social Media to influence "Influencers"

Interview with Peter Van Der Graaf, Net Society

Peter is my friend. He's run some of the most successful link building campaigns in Europe. He's not a high profile guy but I caught up with him a couple of months ago. Check out this candid interview with him. The essence is that link building is getting more social. You can identify people and understand them better before you connect with them regarding a link. Peter also mentions using Twitter to do research in real time.

Thanks for checking us out! We're Firebelly. Passionate about social media in indianapolis!

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Spark it! Interview with Craig Donato, CEO of Oodle.com

Craig Donato speaks with Duncan Alney about Social Search

Every few years we go through radical shifts in technology and the way people use technology. Social search is emerging as an important way in which people discuss brands, do their research, get validation, and a lot more. I had a chance to hang out with fellow bald man Craig Donato, CEO of Oodle.com, and Chad Richards just happened to be around with his camera. Craig points out how people are commenting and conversing online. He encourages us to get involved - by sparking the conversation, tracking the conversation, and figuring out how to participate into the conversation. This is relevant customer oriented conversation - it's word of mouth. And it's the best and oldest kind of marketing!

Yeah you know what I'm going to say next. I'm Duncan Alney, for Firebelly Marketing in Indianapolis, and its another lovely day for social media marketing here. It's sunny and we're going to see James Morrison in concert shortly.

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

The time has come

Yes, everyone. It's time. Time for this little intern to spread her wings and fly from Firebelly (or be pushed out of the next unexpectedly by Duncan. You choose the visual you prefer!) and venture back into the world where commoners don't understand social media and all of the opportunities it presents; back into the world where aren't thinking about what they need to Tweet or how they can update their status every second of every day; back to a world where I must defend my social media obsession and repeatedly explain why it's so important to thrive as a functioning human being in this computer-driven day-in-age. I have been so spoiled here at Firebelly and learned so much. 

What have I learned? Can I write a novel to answer this question? No? Well, then I'll summarize a few of the major things:

Social media is a conversation, not a lecture: As I've written in a previous blog, social media can't work as a marketing tool if there's no response. You can tweet or update your status all you want about what's coming up next or something new going on at your company, but if you don't respond to comments/advice/feedback from your followers/friends, they'll lose interest. They won't feel connected to you or your company, which is a major purpose of social media marketing. So respond. Be interactive. Take the time to reply to at least one response each day. It will pay off in loyal followers and more personal communication between producer and consumer.

Video is an extremely effective marketing tool: People read and comprehend. They see and comprehend. If they can do both at one time, that's most effective for the company marketing to people. Studies show that people remember 10 percent of what they see, 20 percent of what they hear and 50 percent of what they see and hear. Utilize that statistic by registering for a Youtube page and updating it frequently. Furthermore, people recall 80 percent of what they see, hear and do. So if you can make your videos interactive (i.e. instructing them to click links, get up and do this, anything at all interactive), your videos will be the most effective they can be towards your marketing goal.

Twitter is a legit obsession: Yeah, yeah, I know everyone said this about Facebook, Myspace and every other social media networking Web site that's out there and will be out there in the future. However, Twitter is a rare breed. When you learn how to use it properly, you can't live without it. My TweetDeck is my best friend. As a news junkie, I visit at least 10 news-based Web sites daily. Because I follow them on Twitter, TweetDeck allows me to collect all of those sites' updates in one place and have them fed to me as they are updated. It's pure heaven! I also RT people consistently as a way of giving mad props to someone's thought or Internet find. On the marketing side, #hashtags make searching for what your customers are talking about extremely simple. Learn how to use Twitter to your marketing advantage. You won't regret the time (and/or money, since time is money, as smart business people say) spent on the effort.

Lastly, and most importantly, I learned I love social media and wish to continue working with it in the future. Based on how popular it is now, I don't think that wish will be difficult to grant. I will be continuing my interning life in New York City this summer at an organization that is in the rookie stages of incorporating social media into its marketing strategy. I know I will take the lessons I learned at Firebelly to help that currently small component of the organization to grow into a driving force (like a heard of cattle, right Duncan?)

I send so many thanks to Duncan and the rest of the Firebelly team for allowing me so many opportunities and being so willing to teach me everything they know in the short time I was here. I hope to continue writing/editing/blogging/social media'ing for them in the future.

Alyson (@ Twitter)

Social marketing boosts book sales

Move over Harry and Hermione. Edward and Bella are the star couple in the young-adult section of bookstores now. 

The “Twilight” series has sold more than 22 million books. It spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list in 2008. It has helped author Stephenie Meyer step into the shoes of J.K. Rowling . But Meyer’s success can’t be completely attributed to her detailed imagination for vampire romance. (Vampires are old hat for the novel world.) A large portion of her success is due to her use of online social media to generate hype for her stories. 

Photo courtesy of hstoutzenberger/Flickr.com

While using the Internet to boost sales is nothing new in the book industry, Meyer took it beyond the traditional videos and Web site to get fans as involved in sharing news surrounding the book as her marketing team. When advertising for the original novel, “Twilight,” began in 2005, Meyer did the usual interviews with bloggers and her publisher, Little Brown, created, in true vampire fashion, a dark and spooky Web site. But Meyer wasn’t satisfied, so she started a more cheerful and personal site of her own and filled it with personal pictures of her family and stories of her own teenage years — that are strangely opposite to the teenage angst reflected in her novels, by the way. Most importantly, Meyer engaged with online readers by providing her personal e-mail to create a detailed Q&A session about Edward Cullen, Bella Swan and their eerie romance. 

After the release of “Eclipse” in 2007, the popularity of the series forced Meyer to remove her personal e-mail address from her Web site. But the conversation didn’t end. Instead, Meyer used the several popular blogs dedicated to her writing to connect with readers. On TwilightMOMS she wrote, “Hi, my fellow moms. It’s just so cool that I’m not the only 30+ mom and wife in love with fictional underage vampires and werewolves.” 

Book publishers are following Meyer’s lead in the hopes of garnering the same epic response. “Her success has inspired other authors,” Jennifer Northcutt, fiction buy at Borders Group, told BusinessWeek. “They’ve learned you have to be active online.” But as they say, success comes with sacrifice. Prior to the release of “Breaking Dawn” in the summer of 2008, Meyer was ending the very online conversations that sparked her success. She asked her top fan sites to close their forums three weeks prior to the book’s release date so that none of the juicy details were released. Extreme fame caused the once open author to close her forum door (or leave it ajar instead of wide open). 

What do you think Meyer can do to balance the interactive social media tactics she pioneered in the publishing world and her extreme fame?

Alyson (@ Twitter)

Social Networking Sites Surpass Email In Popularity and Facebook Continues Its Wildfire Growth

A new study by Nielsen Online revealed that 66.8% of global Internet users accessed social networking sites in 2008, compared to 65.1% for email. Users also spent 63% more time on online social communities in 2008 than they did in 2007. 

Facebook, the top social network in all countries except Brazil, Germany and Japan, saw growth of 566% in time users spent on it. Facebook also saw 12.4 million users aged 35-49 join in 2008 - making "older" users their fastest growing demographic.

Myspace is still in the game, however, and remains the most profitable social network. It generated an estimated $1 billion in revenue last year - compared to Facebook's $300 million.

- Chad Richards facebook | twitter | linkedin

Sherwin-Williams Names Zig.marketing Digital Agency for Three Brands

Zig.marketing has been named the digital agency of record for three Sherwin-Williams brands, Dutch Boy®, Krylon® and Pratt & Lambert®. Zig is helping Sherwin-Williams make a commitment in the digital space to stay ahead of a changing media landscape, and do an even better job of talking to and inspiring new and current customers.

I must commend Sherwin-Williams for this move. While I don’t know the work of Zig.marketing, I applaud Sherwin-Williams for recognizing that standard advertising doesn’t work, and for understanding the value of reaching and engaging their customers. This is another major brand that has axed a significant amount of traditional media to move into a space where purchase decisions are being made.

And yet, so many mid-market brands, continue to resist the benefits of internet marketing. Of course, the marketing director who doesn’t understand it is afraid of it – but the advice I have for you is simple: Adapt or you will become redundant anyway. Its just a matter of time. Your internet marketing strategy should include micro-sites, landing pages, banners, organic and paid search, blogging and micro-blogging, and email.

The truth is mid-market firms are more mobile, should take more risks to compete with larger brands, and should use every advantage they can. What do you think?

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Quotes for a Brave New Digital World

thought-provoking quotes on the future of marketing

"In five years, the idea of broadcast will be gone"

TIm Kring, Creator and Executive Producer

NBC's Emmy nominated show, "Heroes"

"I suspect the near total meltdown of capitalism as we know it might just pose a pose a couple of interesting challenges to marketers. When we've cracked that one, we can get back to the fascinating task of how companies like ours...are going to prosper in an era where people are not prepared to be interrupted by uninvited messages."

Simon Clift

Chief Marketing Officer

Unilever

"Before they figure out where to put their money, your marketer clients will hire and fire agency after agency, seeking someone, anyone,

who can tell them where they might go next."

John Stratton

Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Verizon Communications

Got your own predictions? Think you know what's next? Give us your opinions? We'll share them in a separate blog post with a credit to you and your website/blog. Bring it!

Source: Ad Age

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Rock'n'Roll Focus: Cracker community thriving

Social Media enables content, conversation, and community

As the founder of Camper Van Beethoven, the alternative rock band (when alternative really meant something) and Cracker, David Lowery is no stranger to innovation. David’s first band - Camper Van Beethoven - was eclectic and fused elements of country, pop, ska, punk, world music and acid rock. David’s second band - Cracker, as my friend GP, and I were discussing over a Triple De Ripple at lunch a couple of days ago is a smart-alec, driven, countrified, and virtuoso rock group – all at once. And as you listen to Cracker in concert – in their various configurations and in different places – that their sound is big, yet scalable, moving and almost tends to build its audience up for Johnny Hickman’s ejaculatory, gratuitous, yet welcome guitar solos. Anyway back to David. He's produced records for Sparklehorse, Counting Crows, Lauren Hoffman, September 67, Wormburner, L.P., Tea Leaf Green, and others.

Recently, Cracker played in Indianapolis at the Kessler House Concert Series, and I caught up with David. David has the rare ability to define things in clear and simple terms. We spoke about internet marketing, using social media and how CVB and Cracker communicate, collaborate, and generate content with their fan community. They meet their fans regularly through out the country. This usually culminates every year with a large concert over several days with a family of related bands - CVB, Cracker, its contemporaries and followers. You guys taking notes? And its natural, feels right, and not at all deliberate.

Check out the interview and a clip from the concert.

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

The evolution of black hat tactics and the skinny of twitter

Interview with Dave Naylor and Todd Friesen

I've had some interesting interviews - educational, academic, and oh-so-polite. This is a different interview. It's sort of exhilarating to listen to these two big dogs' almost stream of consciousness dialogue on what black hat was, and how its white hat now.

The activities discussed ranged from buying links, hacking .edu sites and placing links, 301 redirects from expired domains, resurrecting old sites with key word relevant content translated from English to German and back to English add some ad-sense blocks and more, DNS poisoning, spreading rumors about the competition, and much more. No question that what was black before is grey now, if not white; and that the eastern bloc and India are the churners and burners in 2009. I agree completely, by the way, with the declaration on full client disclosure. The take away point is clearly that smart marketers are here for the long term and don't engage in dangerous tactics that can get a site banned and even result in jail time.

Anyway, here's the background on these fellows:

David Naylor (DaveN) is a Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing bad ass. He's led huge campaigns for all kinds of companies. He leads Bronco Internet. And he's an engaging guy - in a presentation or one-on-one.

Todd Friesen, Position Technologies, is considered by many to be an SEO pioneer. He's worked with top-name clients and is co-host of the popular SEO Rockstars on WebmasterRadio.FM, as well as a regular speaker at Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld Pubcon, SMX and other conferences.

And, by the way, the video is mis-labeled. David is labeled as Todd and vice versa. Whatever. The content is what matters.

On a lighter note, Dave and Todd both "blame Google for everything",  theorize that "Twitter's in bed with Google" and agree that Twitter is the new instant messenger. Neither care to be assailed by rubbish third-party applications on Facebook.

Enjoy!

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

How to rank higher in search

Interview with Brian Halligan, CEO, HubSpot

Recently spoke with Brian Halligan, CEO, HubSpot. HubSpot is an internet marketing company and their product is B2B Inbound Marketing Software that helps their client attract more visitors using SEO, social media and blogs, as well as, capture more leads with landing pages, lead intelligence and marketing analytics. Whew what a mouthful! What's even more interesting is we're working with HubSpot on one of a project.

Both Brian's presentation (which I'd watched earlier) and our interview (which you can watch below) confirmed my strong beliefs in content. Its clear that companies that are leading in the search race are producers of great content. Great content includes copy, photography or illustrations, video, and applications. Good content can be on your website, your blog, and on other places on the web with links back. Brian actually believes in "remarkable content" (coined in this context by Seth Godin who coins everything that already exists with cool little phrases) which is content that people dig (pun only slightly intended) so much that they are compelled to remark on it. Yeah I know you didn't really need the explanation.

So, while I believe there is a place for paid search, invest in good content FIRST. Whether its on your website, blog or social media assets. Doesn't matter. If you know what you're doing, write it up, get some photos, get some video, develop an application. And if you've got chops - develop it yourself, if not, hire a professional. Remember your content is a reflection of who you are!

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

The Web Is Top Marketing Tactic in 2009

Web marketing will be the most popular tactic among advertisers and marketers in 2009 according to executives surveyed this month by the business development consultants at Reardon Smith Whittaker. 

If you look at the chart from eMarketer above, it is interesting, but not at all surprising, to see those uber low (and no) numbers for TV, print and radio. Those three combined garnered only 7%. They're hurting just as much as the other Big 3 in Detroit.

Marketers rated these tactics based on client interest and perceived effectiveness. When asked which tactics interested the marketers most themselves, 70% said web marketing and 25% said mobile marketing.

What about you? Do your tactics for 2009 match the ones illustrated above?

- Chad Richards facebook | twitter | linkedin

Being Found: The importance of Search

My top 5 realities of search

I wonder if you watched my recent interview with Jonathan Ashton from Agency.com. It's a short, yet thought-provoking piece. The subject matter really merits a longer discussion on the importance of being found online. It's not just about search. More importantly, its about being found!

Here are 5 realities of organic search marketing:

First page or bust. #1 or you're not a contender
If I'm looking for a product or service that your company sells. Your home page is no longer the main page on your website. Its whatever comes up on the first page of Google, Yahoo or MSN, and even YouTube. Are you represented? That's what people will read. My new friend Jon from Infinamic argues that if you're not #1 on the SERPs, you're not really a contender. Wow, not even first page but #1.

Create multiple interaction points on your website
The main page may not even be the most  important page. Especially if you're serving several markets with several products or services. A landing page approach with more content and functionality is a growing trend. The urgent need is to get people to the right "interaction point" - whether its to download a white paper, watch a video, read some important research and so on. That way you can measure it. Plus then you can market these different points instead of just one main page.

It is measurable
Even the most basic analytics packages can tell you which search engines are performing, and specifically which keywords are producing for you. So if you're trying to keep the boss of your back, here's an easy way. Especially if you've got a budget to protect - whether its search, social or email. Analytics can help you. Plus you can really breakdown keyword-based behaviors.

Conversion matters more when it leads to ongoing engagement
Regardless of whether you are selling products, services, or ideas – people need to come to your site or social media outposts. If you have a killer site that no one visits – its useless. Traffic leads to conversion. But, traffic is focused on a single engagement. Getting people to join your community is the beginning of a potentially life long relationship. So one time conversion isn't enough. The goal should be ongoing engagement.

Content is king
Regardless of who says what. Content rules baby. Whether its duplicate content across multiple sub-domains or unique content in different places across the web. Fresh, unique and relevant content is still preference #1. So compelling copy, vibrant imagery, and captivating video is a great investment. If this list was organized by importance, this point would be the most important. Different people absorb and scan content differently. So look at your users and think through their cognitive patterns. Then plan the site accordingly. That’s the good part. The best part is that the content will also help your company be found!

At the end of the day, search is about being found. If you're not being found, go back to the drawing board.  Or call a professional!

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Brand Control is dead

Social media optimization is about how to make your brand relevant

Talked recently to Jonathan Ashton, Vice President of SEO & Analytics at Agency.com. Now I should say up front that I've admired this company since the mid nineties. They're the digital marketing agency in my mind. Uncompromisingly dedicated to strategy, creative and technology, they've worked with some of the best clients in the business and have been rated as one of top 10 digital marketing players numerous times. Check out the interview with Jonathan. It's also amazing to experience Jonathan's quiet, accessible confidence. Definitely enjoyed doing this one!

In case you want a synopsis before you commit to watching the video - conversations are happening. Big brands have the option to get involved. Brand identity is being forged by the people that experience these brands. The challenge that the brand faces is how to bring relevance to these conversations

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Mobile SEO: Is 2009 the year?

Mobile Marketing Tips and Thoughts

Talked recently with Cindy Crumb from Rank Mobile about Mobile Search. Here’s an encapsulation:

• Start with traditional SEO and all the things you’d do normally.
• Don’t create a separate mobile domain, instead use a sub domain or sub directory OR have only one page and use multiple style sheets – so when you’re on a computer it pull a traditional style sheet and when you’re on a mobile phone – it pulls the mobile style sheet.
• Focus your content on what people need when they’re mobile. If you’re in the restaurant world, help people find you or order something. This bridges the gap between online and offline behavior.
• For 2009 – the iPhone has changed the mobile browsing experience and more entrants in the space. Browser handset combinations will affect the experience. Rendering standards will help standardize things across browser handset combinations.

Of course, we’re based in Indianapolis, home of ChaCha, the giant mobile search tool powered by humans. So hopefully this will be an exiting year for ChaCha as some of their new offerings change the mobile search experience into a mobile “find” experience that will offer next steps such as recommendations and the offer to purchase as well. They already have a robust advertising option that uses the “powered by XYZ” that is based on several variables.

We’re integrating mobile into everything we talk about and work on. So stand by for more on mobile marketing from me! Meanwhile if you’ve got thoughts on how you’re using mobile in your marketing mix, please do share your experiences.

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Social Media Marketing: How to understand what people are saying about your brand

A conversation with Rob Key from Converseon

We've discussed social media optimization or making the most out of social media. Here's the future and it's here now. Recently I talked to Rob Key, CEO of Converseon. This is a guy that is brilliant and is out there ahead of most of his peers. His company is focused on analyzing the massive amounts of data being generated by people online about brands. The sheer volumes of data have become impractical for manual analysis. Enter sentiment and text analysis aka conversation mining technology. This is Babel on exponential steroids. Blogs, micro-blogs, forums, p-to-p sites, social networks, YouTube, and more. Capturing the conversations is the first part. Next you've got to understand what's being said. Converseon, Rob's company, actually utilizes sentiment and text analysis (which is algorithm-based) to understand what simple conversations mean. Humans add the finishing touches with more sophisticated conversations, which might have slang and more complex nuances. At the end of the day, the power of social media continues to snowball. The question isn't whether conversations are happening and if you're a part of them. It’s about what's really being said and whether you can process this mass and understand it. Because, before you can talk, you've got to know what's being said.

Check out the interview.

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Myspace Launches Self-Serve Ad Service: MyAds

Facebook has made do-it-yourself advertising very simple with its Facebook Ads program. Today Myspace is jumping into the DIY advertising arena with the launch of its own self-serve ad service called MyAds.

The MyAds platform will allow anyone to create an account, choose from among 1100 niche categories, build or upload a banner ad, and start a campaign targeting 76 million MySpace users in the U.S.

Targeting parameters include age, sex, and geographic location - combined with user interest categories including specific keywords within each category.

MyAds is a cost-per-click (CPC) system. There is no fee for these ads to appear on MySpace. Advertisers only pay when someone clicks on their ads and visits their profiles to learn more about their offer. Ads will continue to be displayed until campaigns have reached their expiration date, or they have reached their spending limit. CPC rates start at $0.25 and there is a $25 minimum for campaigns.

The effectiveness of paid advertising on social networking sites is questionable. People visit these sites to interact – not to be interrupted. However, you may want to consider adding it to your social media marketing mix to supplement existing interactive methods as a way to generate awareness and put your product or service in front of people’s eyes instantly.

- Chad Richards facebook | twitter | linkedin

The India Online Marketing Report Part 1

As many of you know, I recently visited India to visit family and review the business and marketing landscape in preparation for a potential Firebelly presence. While we've worked with contracting teams in India for several years, this last month has been the first time that we've seriously considered launching an internet marketing company in the sub-continent. Most of my time was spent doing research, doing meetings, and, of course, eating (those of you who follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook know this is one my passions). India's economic growth continues at a remarkable rate. You'll be seeing a lot more from us on social media specifically, and internet marketing broadly, in India. To start, here's some interesting facts on the growing online audience and some mobile trends:

According to JuxtConsult India Online 2008 Report:

• There are 50 million people online in India

• 56 percent of the online Indian audience h as clicked on a sponsored search advertisement

• 53% have clicked on a banner ad

Clearly, mobile is the dominant medium in this country with 290 million mobile users. While ads and marketing typically have a call to action that offers a website in the US, Indian advertising and marketing usually ask viewers to SMS (text) a keyword to a branded short-code. I saw an article in a magazine that suggested that 8.5 million users came into the mobile market in one month. Mobile is being used in sophisticated ways to accomplish awareness, loyalty programs and much more.

People don't naturally turn to the online medium to look for information. Most small to medium sized companies don't have significant web presences (if any) while large companies like Pepsi, Coke, Citi, American Express, Kingfisher Airlines, and Hindustan Unilever have all moved online. One thing is certain, this market is experiencing explosive growth and has great potential. Firebelly has 
been watching this market closely for some time now.

More to come...

- Duncan Alney

GazoPa to Change the way we Search Online

Just like most girls in this 2.0 world I do a great amount of browsing and shopping online. Modista just made things a little easier by allowing you to find shoes, handbags and eyewear by similar styles. In addition, you can put limits on your results based on color, price and brand.

This year’s TechCrunch50 Conference presented a similar concept with GazoPa, a search engine that uses features from an image to find similar images. These features include color and shape and allow a user to even search using their own photos and drawings. This engine breaks free from the confinements of keywords to allow for an extensive photo and video search all over the web.

The launch of GazoPa will create yet another a shift in the ever-changing Internet. Marketers will need to alter their Internet marketing strategies by adding photos and videos that are functional instead of just flashy.

GazoPa isn’t live yet but check out the demo!

Julia Yoder

 

How to Feed the World with your Internet Marketing Strategy

FreeRice is dedicated to ending world hunger by raising awareness and donating grains of rice the UN World Food Program through the FreeRice website. To do this they have developed an impressive internet marketing strategy, which draws traffic to the site via apps and widgets on Myspace, Facebook, blogs and other social media outlets. The website itself has engaging content including a video, simple and easy to understand text and a word game.

What makes it unique is that FreeRice does not ask users to donate money. Instead, the combination of large amounts of traffic to the site and the overall good cause is sold to sponsors. Sponsors buy ads on FreeRice and that money goes to purchase the rice that viewers have earned. What’s even better is that the sponsor ads are small and unobtrusive as to keep the focus of the site on the cause.

Rice is earned through a word game that contains multiple-choice English vocabulary questions. You can set your desired level so that even kids can play and not get overwhelmed with words like “popinjay”. With each correct answer rice is added to your bowl, and as rice is added to your bowl someone is being fed.

Want to see FreeRice in action? Watch the Video:

Julia Yoder

Must-Reads for Social Media

We can all agree that social media is ever-changing, evolving, and here to stay. Staying on top of your Internet marketing strategy can be an exhausting feat, requiring you to shift through endless articles, blogs, and beta versions of the newest thing.

The president of Twist Image Agency, Mitch Joel, has decided to help us out with seven must-read social media-centered blogs. We think it’s a solid list:
Chris Brogan
Seth Godin
GrokDotCom
How to Change the World
ReadWriteWeb
TechCrunch
Web Strategy

At Firebelly we are always monitoring our feeds to stay in-the-know. Here are a few blogs that top our list:
PR Squared
Mashable
Influential Marketing Blog
Interactive Marketing Professionals
Proactive

Watch for updates as our list evolves!

Tell us - what are you reading?

Julia Yoder

Internet Marketing Strategy - User Generated Content

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be turning 75 next year and to celebrate they have created a website dedicated solely to this event.

The website features history, news, and a calendar with virtual tours displaying the activities planned for the upcoming year. They’ve taken their Internet marketing strategy even a step further however, creating an interactive Family Album, which mixes memoirs and technology to create a unique social aspect. By using the user-generated content approach, the site will hopefully have fresh content - exactly what the ‘spiders’ are looking for. Although it’s not clear what the motivation is for users to post their family photos.

In the Family Album users can upload and share their own stories and photos of their experiences at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Once a story is submitted, an email with a link is sent to the author. The author can then forward this link to their friends, increasing site visits and raising awareness of the upcoming 75th anniversary. 

In addition, this UGC approach will bring a high level of personalization, authenticity, collaboration, and participation (people commenting on each others photos).

Julia Yoder

Press Release Grader

HubSpot Internet Marketing has created Press Release Grader – a tool to measure the effectiveness of your press releases.

You simply copy and paste your press release into the given area and are instantly returned your grade out of 100, general statistics such as word count and readability, suggestions, link analysis and a word cloud. The information is both displayed on the website and e-mailed to you. While I don’t know how effective a piece of software can be at grading press releases, it was interesting to see how my releases measured up. In creating this tool, HubSpot is also maintaining a good example of how to up your SEO by providing links to articles on their website, the ability for you to easily link back to your press release grade and instructional YouTube videos.

Watch the video to learn more about Press Release Grader.

Julia Yoder

Internet Marketing Strategy: user-generated content

Stumbled upon this interesting site tonight – its called the age project. Essentially it’s a website that is built around people uploading the photo, their real age, and what they’ve learned. The site offers users the chance to guess the age of other users based on a photograph.

It’s like a more interesting hot or not with an interesting snippet. As part of your internet marketing strategy: its worth considering a user generated content strategy.

   

Internet Marketing Strategy: Twitter to build emotional relationships.

Popeyes Chicken is a twitterer. Not only do they strategically put thoughts of fried chicken in your head around mealtimes (of course), but they actually monitor their follower’s tweets and reply.

Sure, these responses are chicken-flavored, but they’re also funny and entertaining, almost making fun of the fact that they are using twitter to promote themselves. They are appealing to the twitter crowd full on with their clever posts, a perfect example of how even the most random forms of internet marketing strategy and social media can be outright magical for a brand when used correctly.

Julia Yoder
 

Females are dominating Social Media

Looks like females have the lock down on social media according to a new study by RapLeaf. The RapLeaf statistics along with an article in Business Week point out that while men are a part of social media, however they are more likely to engage in gaming and gambling online.

Why do you think women dominate? When speaking to my colleague, and social media whiz kid, Chad, he thinks women are naturally more social.  Chad also pointed out that he has noticed in our some of our ongoing social media campaigns, women are the first to respond and usually in a positive way. I thought about this question myself and noticed that I have more women friends then men (on MySpace and Facebook). I also recall that am sometimes frustrated when I send shout outs to my boys and get nuttin back (no response). There is an unwritten code with my girls that you always send something back - even if you really have nothing to say (unless you are mad). So maybe it is because we (women) are more social or maybe we want are just trying to be polite. Either way we are taking over this medium, and the men that are savvy will have an advantage in the future.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this please comment or email me.

Angela

Internet Marketing Strategy: Social Media: Social Networks vs. Social Communities - Part 1

Since life online and social media mirrors reality - I've been thinking a lot about the essential differences between a community and a network.

Perhaps it's my inherent skepticism in overt self-interest moved forward in a rapid sense. a.k.a. networking. Networking seems more like speed dating with binary outcomes based on superficial analysis (if you can call it analysis). Relationship building, on the other hand, is the basis of community. Grounded in the common interest and multi-dimensional variables, relationship building is less about amassing personal equity and more about the general good. It' also based on complex variables - rather than gain vs. no gain. Variales lik compassion, understanding, etc. etc. and maybe even gain, and no gain. The point being it's a lot of variables versus just the two.

"I don't want to use up all my social equity", said a friend recently. For some reason, this really rubbed me the wrong way. It reduces the complexities of human relationships to the worst possible level - gain and loss. While simplification can be important to make a point - this is not the type of relationship building that trust can be built upon.

Relationships are based on interactions, experiences and outcomes. Things go well, go wrong, and sometimes just go. It's the quality of these engagements that ultimately make up the relationship. Communities are made of like-minded individuals or groups. Our communities - real or virtual can be better places if we focus on relationships  on adding value when possible, but more importantly - engaging. I'm interested in keepin' it real (authenticity), I'm interested in storytellers, and I'm suggesting that we strive to make our overall engagement be made up of more good experiences than bad ones.

I'd rather have a smaller community of friends than a large network of people I barely know. To be continued as part of a bigger story on social media and our internet marketing strategy focus.

- Duncan Alney

The 6 C's: Collaboration in action: Twistori

This site is just really beautiful and captivating - from the standpoint of emotions. Of course I believe deeply in emotions and the value of exploring them through individual's experiences with them. I even based my first two documentary short films on this notion - Happiness and Hope.

“… the first step in an ongoing social experiment, based on twitter. inspired by wefeelfine and drawing data from summize, hand-crafted by amy hoy and thomas fuchs.”

Amidst the chaos of everyday life of working on web marketing specifically social media strategy - our firebelly crew is often stopped in its tracks by beauty, authenticity, transparency, and the fragility of life.

 

We're more than our work. We're more than the sum total of our parts. We're people first.

- Duncan Alney

Internet Marketing Strategy: The Pillars of Social Media – 6 C’s

I’ve received some emails asking about internet marketing strategy and specifically for the essential aspects of social media. Here are the pillars of this genre. The C’s make is more accessible and easier to remember for me.

Communication
Enabling people to communicate efficiently and effectively and in ways thought impossible only a few years ago.

Community
An online manifestation of the real world and there are norms and protocols – from basic to sophisticated. People are here and they organize themselves into groups.

Choice
People want choice. It’s the basis of all successful web enterprises from Amazon to Netflix. The technologies enable the collecting and searching of information in a meaningful way.

---

---

Collaboration
It makes working together on fluffy and deep issues and ventures possible.

Complex (multi) media
It includes photographs, audio, and video (in a variety of formats and presentations).

Context - Virtual Worlds
People interacting in deep

Depending on whom you talk to - you’ll hear that the social media is new (O’Reilly and Batelle at the first Web 2.0 conference) or that its been around for ages (Tim Berners-Lee). How I see it – it's people to people, but in a deeper and more meaningful way.

- Duncan

Know your city. Know your market.

I love my city, and I often defend it proudly to any of its detractors. I stayed here for a reason: Maybe Austin is hip, San Francisco is the best and New York is the only city that matters, but Indianapolis is home. It’s not where you live, I’d claim, it’s what you make of it.

All of this changed when I learned of Richard Florida’s “Who’s Your City”. Florida debunks the myth of a “flattened world,” where an Internet connection is all one needs to be connected to the global market. Instead, Florida writes, "where we live affects every aspect of our lives," from dating to job markets to marketing and PR. He even offers a quiz to determine the top city for you, all with great visuals. My favorite is the personality type maps:
 
For marketing and PR strategies, it’s important to know what your market is. Understanding a city's personality and how it trends will maximize your efforts. Who's Your City is a great place to get a feel for the importance of place. My town, Indianapolis, is nowhere on his list of top cities for anything, but I’ll take it! Is there a map of inter-connectedness, how anybody worth knowing in this town is less than two degrees of separation away? Not yet on whosyourcity.com. But if there were, Indy would probably have a good showing.

Internet marketing Strategy: Don’t discount the brand experience

At a conference last week, I heard a successful entrepreneur talking about the death of choice. He spoke passionately about how consumers want to be able to make an instant decision online about leasing apartments. One of his former customers went on to point out that women in America make all life style oriented decisions and men account for budget decisions and that if companies don’t recognize this in their internet marketing strategies – they’re sunk. My first reaction was one of annoyance – men in American, even transplants like me, don’t need this sort of elitism or reverse discrimination. As my mind raced through the flawed logic – I realized that I was thinking about the wrong side of the equation. Making choices with products or services and more specifically considered purchases that will impact your life for several months or years – cannot be thought of a binary choices. These are deeply complex decision with many variables.

While we’re in a down turned economy – the fact is that people’s buying habits are more likely to be focused on price but don’t discount the brand experience. Experiencing, feeling, touching your favorite brand can change your price sensitivity. The reality is whether we like it or not, we have emotional relationships with our brands. Whether its evangelical in nature like an Apple user or a Mini Cooper driver or certain growing religions, or whether it’s based on price – like Walmart or CostCo; people have a strong sense of loyalty. The price-alone based model doesn’t allow for this consideration: experience-based emotional relationships.

But the brand experience has so many more facets and dimensions. Service, delivery, design, support, philosophy, and many more. Not to mention the fact that people do turn to the web first – thus the importance of internet marketing strategy and ensuring that your company includes traditional media and social media. To reduce the value of the human experience to price is the sign of a short sighted and unaware approach. Perhaps I’m not evolved or devolved enough to live in a post-human world driven by price alone. But I prefer to think of myself as a humanist that continues to survive (and even thrive based on the indicators you choose) in a massively Darwinian global economy. The Firebelly brand is fueled by passion. We care and love our clients like Yats – that continues to expand in a restaurant industry with slim margins and closures, or the International Film Festival with miniscule budgets, or our larger corporate clients that demand a higher level of service in general. Does that passion fueled brand experience translate into a pure price based decision? Usually not – people expect fair pricing but it’s far from being the only variable. The brand experience is alive and well. Ignoring it could be a fatal error in your business approach.

Notes:
1. This post has inspired me to write more on C Words. Look for more on this in coming weeks. Choice. Community. Collaboration. And more.
2. The overall strategy I recommend is a convergence strategy – one that is uses a combination of traditional (print, billboards, direct marketing) and online media (search engine marketing, social media – blogs, micro-blogs, video, social networking, and bookmarking among others)

- Duncan