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September 30, 2008

MySpace Music Offers Possibilities for Marketers

By Alicia Dorset

EMarketer has an informative Q&A on the recent MySpace Music deal with leading music labels last week. The deal will allow MySpace users to listen to entire songs for free on the site. Take a look at the eMarketer review and see how some of the already-secured promotions work.

Posted by staff at 10:57 AM
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September 27, 2008

Study Shows Companies Should Have Social Media Capabilities

According the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, “Almost 60 percent of Americans interact with companies on a social media Web site, and one in four interact more than once per week.” Industries are learning the value of incorporating social media into business plans and the Cone research results justify the need to stay ahead of social trends.

Forty-three percent of those surveyed stated that companies should rely on social networks to solve consumers’ problems. Views on social media are changing and no longer is the medium looked at for only marketing to young adults. Consumers are growing their brand connections online and are more open to receiving information via social media platforms.

Read additional information on the study findings here.

Posted by staff at 05:10 PM
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New York Times Launches Green Blog

Green Inc. discusses “energy, the environment and the bottom line.” Energy and environment reporters contribute to the blog and “track the high-stakes pursuit of a greener globe.”

Posted by staff at 09:11 AM
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Evolution of Social Networking

Social networking is booming and with millions of users interacting daily with sites like MySpace and Facebook, consumers are wondering what is the next natural step for networking. Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake said, "There’s a sort of wisdom of crowds and collective knowledge that’s actually the product of sociality, but isn’t directly related to that person being connected to you. So the social systems are much more interesting in many ways, and will be in the future."

Social networking will also venture more into real-world sociability. Companies are already connecting social network users via mobile applications, which alert them when another network member is in their vicinity.

For more information on social networking emerging technologies, visit CNN’s “Face to Facebook: social networks hit the streets.”

Posted by staff at 01:16 AM
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September 26, 2008

Yahoo Advertising Change

In an attempt to remain competitive against Google Advertising, Yahoo announced last week plans for a new platform, APT, to help simplify the purchase of display ads. APT, formerly known as AMP!, aims to connect key market influencers, including publishers, advertisers, agencies, networks, partners and developers. Full New York Times article here.

Posted by staff at 09:29 AM
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September 25, 2008

Importance of Even the Small Blogs

With clients looking for high traffic and big results, BusinessWeek’s Sarah Lacy discusses the impact that small, but truly dedicated, blogs bring to the blogosphere. Lacy highlights the value that should be placed on smaller blogs and outlines three types of bloggers: professional, amateur and early adopters. Professional bloggers blog for money; amateur bloggers blog for the love of their site; early adopters began blogging because they were fascinated by the platform. Check out “Blogging: In Praise of Small” here.

Posted by staff at 09:09 AM
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September 23, 2008

New Facebook, New Outrage

By Nichole Mrasek

Facebook has been transitioning users into new designs since early this year. But in the past week, more than 100 million Facebook enthusiasts might have logged in and noticed the full integration of the new layout, look and feel. Facebook Project Manager, Mark Slee states, "We set out to make Facebook simpler, cleaner, more relevant, and easier to control. With your feedback and participation ... we believe we’ve gotten to the best Facebook yet.”

Facebook might feel as though they have created a prime product, but many users are very disappointed in the redesign and have taken their comments online and to Facebook groups to protest. According to USA Today, “Several groups requesting a return to the old design have surfaced, including one with 1 million members.” CNN has also received more than 200 e-mails discussing disdain about the social network site changes.

Read more from CNN on how users are adjusting to the new Facebook changes.

Posted by staff at 08:48 AM
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September 09, 2008

Mobile social networking getting ready for growth spurt

Last week, eMarketer reported findings from ABI Research on the proposed 140 million mobile subscribers who will be using social networks on their smartphones by 2013. eMarketer also predicts, “More than 800 million registered site members will use their mobile phones to access social networks by 2012.”

While growth will be steady for the next three years, according to the study, it’s expected to jump dramatically after that time period. Take a look at the eMarketer article for the full report.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:58 PM
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September 03, 2008

My Summer Internship: Not What I Expected

By Lindsay Callahan

I’ve been assigned to follow in Mr. Schottelkotte’s “intern footsteps” and write a blog post about my summer as the Digital Intern at MS&L in New York … so here goes.

I’ll start with a brief intro. My name is Lindsay Callahan and I am going to be a senior at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. I’ll be receiving a degree this spring in Information Design and Corporate Communications, with a second major in Global Perspectives (translation of long and fancy degree names = PR and IR).

When I first got the call saying I had received one of MS&L’s coveted intern positions, I was beyond excited. Then I heard I was in the Digital group, and I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed (sorry. guys, it gets better, though). I had spent the previous summer working at a media agency as a Search Marketing Intern. I learned a ton about new media, but I mostly spent my days pulling weekly and monthly campaign reports from the various ad networks. As I drowned in Excel spreadsheets each day, I thought, “I am a PR major! Where’s the creativity?!?!” To say the least, I was dreading spending another summer counting click-through rates and conversions.

However, within just a few hours of starting work at MS&L, I realized that this summer would be nothing like the last. I was part of a team full of smart, hard-working, passionate, and very creative people, who all treated me with a level of respect that not all interns get to experience. I was assigned to meaningful work and allowed to take my own initiatives on projects. For the first time, I wasn’t staring at the clock all day and waiting for 6 p.m. to roll around. Some days were crazy, and sometimes I was really intimidated by the level of responsibility the team entrusted me with, but I loved every minute. So what have I learned from it all?

I learned that, these days, Digital PR is the most efficient and effective form of PR.

The first thing they teach you in any and every PR class is the definition of the profession; “PR is the method by which companies communicate with their publics.” Well, how are you supposed to communicate with someone who has Flo Rida blasting through the iPod ear bud in her left ear, her BFF yapping through the Bluetooth in her right ear, while she’s fast forwarding through commercials on TiVo and stalking people on Facebook?

In a world where everyone is bombarded with messages from all angles, all day long, how do you ensure that your message is heard?

This summer, I learned the answer to this question. You help your client join the conversation the consumers are already having by creating content that speaks WITH them instead of TO them. Consumers are already talking about products and services, so instead of bombarding them with messaging, why not just engage them in a conversation?

Now I am not saying that I think traditional PR is irrelevant, but even with all the research that goes in to choosing the right media outlets, dollars are still wasted on impressions of people who just don’t care. With digital, you are reaching the people who care, making the most of every dollar spent. Sure, the numbers are a lot smaller, but they are the right numbers. Furthermore, any traditional outreach without digital support behind it becomes a lot less valuable, because the people who do care will be going online to find out more.

In my opinion, if PR is all about communicating with a company’s “publics,” Digital PR gets it right because it can target those publics better than any other method. Sure, I might be biased after two summers working with digital media, but I am really surprised by the resistance from both clients and colleagues to acknowledge where the industry has already gone (some people say “where the industry is going,” but let’s face it, we’ve been there for a while).

To wrap up, I just want to say I am extremely grateful to everyone I worked with for all the responsibility I was given. My fears of being locked in a room with Excel for hours on end were dispelled the moment I started here. I’ve learned so much and can truly say that this is the best group of people I have ever worked with.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 11:40 AM
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