Digitalia | Indianapolis Social Media Marketing | Indianapolis Internet Marketing

Michael Jackson Tribute "Eternal moonwalk" has global participation

MJ Fans upload moonwalking videos

I saw Pete Cashmore's tweet and followed the link. Transfixed I watched videos of people on this site moonwalk in one direction almost seamlessly for hundreds of meters. So what's the story - Studio Brussel aka Stu Bru, a Belgian readi station has created this website called the "Eternal Moonwalk". Fans from all across the globe - of all ages, both genders, a variety of age groups - have filmed themselves and uploaded videos of themselves (in some cases animations - home made, videos from Second Life, and more - all in honor of the "the king of Pop". To keep the flow, all videos are in the same direction and hands and feet are visible. All kinds of moonwalkers you have to see it to believe it. You'd think that the fact that people have plan something, execute it, shoot video and upload it would be a barrier to entry - but obvioulsy not!

Note: 697 m of moonwalking at the time of this screenshot!!

My friend Mark Juleen has been saying this for months - "social media ain't new" - whether its websites or email or itunes - its been around for a while. This site is about shared values - a love for Michael Jackson's dancing. I can remember being 15 years old - wearing a glove, white socks and jacket and shades - and moonwalking at a party on Woodland Terrace with my pals from La Martiniere for Boys.

As Pete says and I paraphrase - come on baby - ain't you gonna moonwalk for the whole world to see! BTW there are some MJ remixes on my profile at Blip.fm

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm

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)

Jimmy Fallon boosts TV audience engagement with social media

SNL-star-turned-late-night host Jimmy Fallon is a new kid on the block in the talk show community, but he’s already using the latest and greatest in online, interactive media to gather a loyal audience.

Fallon began using video blogs to build hype for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” long before the show’s debut Monday, March 2. Fans could go to his NBC page and watch his preparation process for his late-night debut. He was also in the social media world but wasn’t using it for marketing potential (His Twitter account gave endorsements for Waffle House and requests for tech support).

Now that the show has aired, Fallon has spread his digital wings further into the social media world and is using outlets like Twitter and Facebook to start a real conversation with his audience and get tech savvy with the show’s segments.

For example, with one of his first guests, Cameron Diaz, Fallon Tweeted his followers, asking them to submit questions for Diaz. The questions weren’t hard-hitting journalism, but they did create instant audience engagement by helping audience members feel like a part of the process using social media.

Yes, this could always be done with e-mail, but using Twitter is a way to focus in on the hottest trends in his strongest demographic of college-aged viewers in less than 140 characters.

And so far, it seems to be working. 

At the end of January, Fallon had a mere 25,000 followers and now has more than 250,000.

Fallon also invited Facebook to the game, having fun with the always-interesting Facebook statuses. A camera scanned the audience with a digital screenshot of Facebook, giving names and statuses to random audience members.

Fallon hasn’t incorporate Twitter and Facebook since, but it’s only the second week of his show. He is, however, constantly updating his accounts, replying directly to fan Tweets and adding videos of backstage footage.

What are your thoughts? Is the use of social media in Fallon’s style a smart way for TV shows to boost viewership by softening the barrier of the TV screen? 

Alyson (@ Twitter)

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

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

Video Syndication Made Simple With Tubemogul

I don't need to tell you that the world today is a busy place; anything that kills two birds with one stone is often a welcome relief. When it comes to online video distribution, Tubemogul kills a lot of birds. Simply upload your video to Tubemogul and it will automatically syndicate it to your accounts on YouTube, Revver, Vimeo, Veoh, Google Video, Myspace, Viddler and many more of the Web's top video sharing sites.

Of course any good Internet marketing strategy involves measuring results or ROI. Tubemogul makes this easy with analytics that aggregate video-viewing data from multiple sources to give publishers improved understanding of when, where and how often videos are watched, track and compare what's hot and what's not, measure the impact of marketing campaigns, and share the data with colleagues or clients via Excel spreadsheets.

It's a great way to save time, increase reach, and gain an improved understanding of viewer base.

- Chad Richards

PHOTOSHOP EDITS VIDEO?

That is exactly what I thought when I stumbled upon an article that was a short tutorial on how to edit video in Photoshop. At first I thought there is no way that Photoshop could have the same qualities as Premiere or Final Cut. I had to see for myself. Why would you ever want to edit video in Photoshop and would it be the same as using a pro editing suite? As I fumbled around I realized it wasn’t so bad! If you can use Photoshop then you can easily create really good-looking video!

The plus side of using Photoshop to edit video, besides the cost, is that you can use all of the filters that Photoshop has to offer and apply them to your video. This gives your video an almost “Waking Life” effect. For businesses, you can take a low budget project and give it a high price feel! Most businesses have at least one copy of Photoshop for one of their departments, so using Photoshop to edit video is a cheap and easy solution. If you are just shooting video for the web, you can edit and export using Photoshop.

A plus side for the pro-sumer is that you can kill two birds with one stone. The pro-sumer can use Photoshop for their photography and edit video without buying two different programs. On the high end spectrum, you don’t want to substitute professional grade editing to save a little money, but you can create quick time-saving effects. Some nifty effects are that you can drag and drop in Photoshop where as it might take longer if you were to create it in After Affects. I don’t think I am going to start editing all my videos in Photoshop but it’s something I am definitely going to start using. Check it out!.

- Lain

VIDEO FOR YOUR AVATAR: INTERNET MARKETING FOR FILM STUDIOS

Paramount will soon be extending its VooZoo application to virtual worlds such as vMTV and Makena’s there.com. VooZoo was launched on Facebook last month and was available on mobile devices soon after.

The difference between VooZoo on Facebook versus these Virtual Worlds is that while on Facebook you can use VooZoo to display clips on your profile along with sending them to your friends, members of virtual worlds will be able to express themselves with the seconds-long excerpts and one-liners that will be displayed in windows floating above their avatars head. The clips, called VooHoo’s, are inserted into an avatar’s conversation – much like a smiley face emotion would be. Users can purchase these clips for around a dollar fee per pg-13 and tamer clips.

In there.com, the clips will serve to cement the world's relationship with its socially active 20-something user base, says Ben Richardson, Makena's VP of Business Development. "Socializing is the number one thing people do in our world," he said. " We think there is a very viral effect that's going to happen instantly once people see them being used ... our users use pop culture as a form of brand identity."

Perks for Paramount? VooZoo was developed by FanRocket, an agency focused on viral marketing within social media hubs. They plan to market DVDs through a button that appears after each clip is played and hopes are to eventually promote upcoming releases through the application. And if for nothing else, VooZoo will be a great word-of-mouth internet marketing tool, combining users need to interact socially with the fact that the application itself is a message that is directly connected to sales through a small button at the end of each VooHoo that allows you to order DVDs right then and there. Each time the clip is sent out, it acts as an advertisement for that film.

- Julia

RICK ROLLED ON APRIL FOOL'S DAY

Observing April Fool’s Day has become a tradition for many web companies. Much like changing their logos on holidays, pulling a prank on their users on April 1st is becoming commonplace.

YouTube has a good one today. All of the featured videos on their home page today, when clicked, actually link to the music video for Rick Astley’s 1980’s classic Never Gonna Give You Up.

This phenomenon actually has a name. It’s called being “Rick Rolled.” I was “Rick Rolled” last week, when a friend sent me an email saying I needed to watch this video of Barack Obama making disparaging remarks about Hillary Clinton when he thought the cameras were off. “Hurry, before YouTube takes it down” was tacked on to the end of his message.

I obediently clicked the link to watch the video and was brought to the Never Gonna Give You Up video. Huh? I emailed my friend back saying that he had sent me the wrong link, to which he quickly responded “LOL. You’ve been Rick Rolled.”

Random, I know. But some of the best things in life, and online, are random. It’s fun to see YouTube itself is in on the joke today.

For a more in-depth explanation of the phenomenon, check out Urban Dictionary definitions of “Rick Rolled” here.

- Chad

2007 YOUTUBE VIDEO AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Today YouTube announced its 2007 Video Award winners. Winners from 12 different categories will receive “bragging rights, a trophy, and a special invitation to an event later this year.”

Many of these videos went viral in 2007 and most were already familiar to me. Chocolate Rain by Tay Zonday, winner in the Music category, never gets old however.

All 72 nominated videos are available for your viewing pleasure here.

- Chad

YOUTUBE SHOULD BE PART OF INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGY

comScore released January 2008 data on Friday, March 14th that shows that YouTube accounted for one-third of the 9.8 billion videos viewed online in the U.S. for the month. Some worthwhile points to ponder:

• 2-3% decline in viewing between December 2007 and January 2008.
• Google sites continue to dominate U.S. video properties.
• YouTube accounted for more than 96% of all video viewed at Google properties.
• 78.5 million viewers watched 3.25 billion video (that’s 41 videos per viewer)
• The average online video duration was 2.9 minutes.
• The average online video viewer consumed 70 videos.

As your company devises its internet marketing strategy, building emotional connections and ongoing online relationships will become an increasingly important component in both online web marketing and online web branding. Why? People commit to watching video online. Every video is worth thousands of words. It is immersive and experiential. It offers basic feedback and depending on the analytics set up can offer more sophisticated feedback. So whether you’re internet marketing strategy is focused on awareness or lead generation, video is an important tactic to consider.

- Duncan

HULU OPENS TO THE MASSES TOMORROW

Hulu.com, the joint venture between NBC Universal and Fox, will begin offering most of the two network’s popular shows online tomorrow, in addition to free, ad-supported shows from more than 50 additional media companies – including Sony, Warner Brothers, Lionsgate, and MGM.

Sports fans will be able to view highlights from N.B.A. and N.H.L. games, and full-length N.C.A.A. men’s basketball games from the last 25 years.

Hulu will also distribute videos on Myspace, AOL and Yahoo - among others. Users will be able to embed shows into their own websites, blogs and social networking pages.

Hulu’s high-quality video and professional content is expected to be more attractive to advertisers than sites like Youtube.

- Chad

YES, IT CAN!

This video, called the “Yes We Can Song,” is being used as support material for the Obama campaign. It features various celebrities signing and speaking over the Senator’s “Yes We Can” speech, given in New Hampshire during a political rally. Although this video is certainly political, my blog entry is not meant to be such. Rather, my blog today is about the power of video, and its awesome ability to inspire, motivate, and make a last impression. Video can cause change. Yes, it can. And……Don’t forget to VOTE!
-Margaret Henney

INTERVIEW WITH FANISTA FOUNDER DAN ADLER

I had a chance to catch up with Dan Adler and interview him on his new venture Fanista. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him, Dan’s been integrating talent and technology for nearly twenty years and his career runs the gamut from head of Creative Artist Agency’s (CAA) New Media Division to founding Media Eagles, a boutique consulting firm, to heading up The Convex Group, a media network and entertainment company, and of course, the Walt Disney Company.

While I originally wanted to present a short, yet sweet interview ala the New York Times Sunday Magazine, the content was so engaging – it seemed worthy of being read in totality. Plus in the spirit of authenticity, you can listen to it as well.

The transcript: FirebellyFanistaInterview.pdf and the audio/video:

- Duncan Alney

WHOPPER FREAKOUT = GENIUS

In Burger King’s newest marketing campaign, “Whopper Freakout,” one BK restaurant informs customers that they have discontinued the Whopper while a hidden camera documents their reactions.  The result- some very hilarious and very real freakouts. 

Burger King has used the footage captured from this little experiment in both television ads and on the web through the microsite whopperfreakout.com. This is great viral video material for a few reasons. First off, it’s inventive, clever and fresh- not necessarily something people have seen before.  It’s also humorous- always a plus when you want videos to catch on.  But most importantly, it’s 100% authentic.

The distraught, confused and even pissed off reactions of real customers being denied their precious Whoppers are priceless- when it comes to marketing and entertainment. To me, the beauty of this campaign is that I don’t feel like I’m being sold to. Burger King took a big risk with this campaign, but I think it paid off and has gotten people to ask themselves, “what IF they did away with the Whopper?!”  FREAKOUT!!!

-Margaret Henney

JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER CREATES YOUTUBE CHANNEL

In an effort to each a younger and more global audience, the prime minister of Japan, Yasuo Fukuda, has developed his own YouTube channel. Through the channel, called the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) channel, he discusses his views and plans for the future. In a Time Magazine article, LDP multimedia chief Taro Kono said, “The LPD is the very first Japanese party to launch a channel on YouTube. I hope you tune in when you have nothing else to do.” Not exactly the words I would have chosen, but still a progressive and strategic move on their part as they are also currently attempting to gain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

-Margaret Henney

MORE ON VIRAL VIDEOS

Check it out: people are actually teaching classes on how to get your message (or your name) out by way of the Internet. A class organized through Parsons The New School for Design in New York City focuses on students gaining online fame, or as they call it, “famo." The students track their progress through their blog, “Internet Famous.” Jamie Wilkinson, the creator and teacher of the class, knows the Internet is the future of marketing for his students and recognizes it as a place where nearly everyone is “trying to become viral, and constantly confronting savvy online audiences that have razor-sharp bullshit detectors.”  Well said Wilkinson, well said.   

The article from Time Magazine that details the course also brings up an important point: no matter how clever your online efforts may be, the best way to gain “famo” is through “quality, tenacity and persistence.” And, might I add, an in-depth understanding of your target audience.

Wilkinson says, “If you want more than temporary fame, it's still about putting feet to pavement, about going out there and making a million MySpace friends and developing a following. There's a reason that the people who were online first are the ones with the larger networks - who have crazy famo."

-Margaret Henney

A QUARTERLIFE CRISIS?

Quarterlife, the 36-part series released in 8 minute chunks twice a week on Myspace and Youtube, is not doing as well as producers had hoped.  The first episode recieved over 700,000 views, but many other episodes have failed to receive even 100,000 views.

The series has been touted as the first television-quality production for the Web, as well as the first to be introduced online as a warm-up for its network debut. NBC will broadcast Quarterlife in one-hour increments beginning in February.

Low traffic numbers are a turnoff for advertisers, but, despite the hurdles, other companies are also exploring Web-to-television options.  Micheal Eisner, former Disney chief, has backed Prom Queen, an 80-episode series that will air online 12 hours before it airs on television.  FremantleMedia, the production company behind The Price Is Right, is pitching a television series based on the Atomic Wedgie brand of humorous and raunchy Internet video clips. The clips, which were originally designed for mobile devices, were introduced months ago on MySpace and have been viewed more than 3 million times.

These early experiments have not successfully replaced television, but as audiences continue migrating online, we're going to see more and more media companies creating original content for the Internet.

- Chad Richards

VIRAL VIDEOS...CATCH ON

Time Magazine recently named the Top 10 Viral Videos of the year and here are the results:

1.    Leave Britney Alone
2.    The Landlord
3.    Miss South Carolina Teen USA
4.    Hillary 1984
5.    Prison Inmates “Thriller” Video
6.    I Ran So Far
7.    Can’t Tase This
8.    Dan Rather Collar Up
9.    Clark and Michael
10.    Daft Hands

The #1 video, “Leave Britney Alone,” features a young Britney Spears fan, passionately defending the fallen pop star and scolding America and the media for “using her.” The video, which was filmed using a personal camera, had 18 million downloads on YouTube!  As a part of the digital marketing world I can’t help but say, “imagine the possibilities!” 

If some disturbed, Britney-loving boy can get his message out to 18 million people, why can’t companies harness this revolution and use it to their advantage?  The answer is they can and do.  Ever heard of a company called Jack Links Beef Jerky?  Well I hadn’t until Jack Links created a series of videos called, “Messin’ with Sasquatch” that feature campers playing practical jokes on the legendary monster.  Although these humorous videos have little (let’s face it, nothing) to do with beef jerky, they get hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and even more on their microsite, messinwithsasquatch.com.

Viral videos such as these can:
•    Increase name recognition
•    Build and extend online branding
•    Increase awareness of businesses and products

For all you non-believers out there, stop scoffing at these videos and start embracing them.  They can be cheap, easy ways to revitalize your business.  Trust me, this is one viral trend you want to catch.

-Margaret Henney

A VIRAL VIDEO PRIMER

There are dozens of viral videos on the web right now spawning a growing list of “cewebrities.”  The team at Cakke have put together a video that runs through all of them in about 4 minutes.  Consider it a viral video primer:

- Chad Richards

OPRAH EMBRACES YOUTUBE

She has her own television show.  She has her own magazine.  Now Oprah has her own YouTube channel.  I'd post her video greeting here, but "embedding has been disabled by request."  You can still check it out at:

www.youtube.com/OPRAH

On her show tomorrow she will have YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen on as guests, in addition to the people behind some of the most popular videos on the Web.

-Chad Richards

WRITERS STRIKE OVER NEW MEDIA RESIDUALS

In case you haven't already heard, Hollywood writers have staged their first walkout in nearly 20 years.  Why?  Because the WGA and TV/film producers failed to come to an agreement over royalties for programs distributed over the Internet.  As of now, writers do not receive extra compensation when ad-supported programming is streamed online for free. 

Late night talk shows are expected to be the worst hit because they have no one to write skits and comedy monologues.  Re-runs are expected to air throughout the week.  This has got Amy Winehouse fans up in arms as she is to make her SNL debut this Saturday. 

John Stewart, on the other hand, is not letting the strike put the brakes on his Daily Show or Colbert Report, which he produces, by paying his writing team out of his own pocket for the next two weeks.  I always knew I liked that guy.

-Chad Richards