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October 27, 2008

Tumblon Community for Parents

Still in Beta, Tumblon is an interactive service providing a resource for parents during the important early stages of childhood development. Tumblon has tapped respected child doctors, authors and psychologists to develop content for the site. According to Tumblon.com, “The first five years are critical for a child's development, and parents play the most important role in their child's development during this time.”

Tumblon’s resources section provides parents with information on newborn, infant, toddler, preschool and school-age children. The site also gives parents the ability to blog and share photos. Guiding parents with parenting tips, product reviews and community activities, Tumblon hopes to encourage parents to participate more in their child’s critical development period.

Check out Tumblon here.

Posted by staff at 03:43 AM
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October 25, 2008

Social Media Influencers

The New York Times provides insight on the Rubicon Consulting study, “Online Communities and Their Impact on Business.” There is a current assumption among companies that extreme enthusiasts rather than average users dominate online community conversations, and companies feel that this causes a distraction when reaching for the real consumer. Rubicon Consulting warns that this is a dangerous view.

Rubicon agrees that, “about 80 percent of user-generated content is compiled by less than 10 percent of Web users. But despite the low content creation rates, online communities have enormous influence on almost all Web users. Online comments and reviews posted by the enthusiasts are second only to word of mouth as a purchase driver for all Web users.”

Read the New York Times feature on the study to understand the importance of client interaction with consumers via social media networks.

Posted by staff at 10:39 AM
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October 24, 2008

YouTube Airs TV Episodes

YouTube announced last week that it will air full-length episodes of old and new TV series like Star Trek and Dexter. CBS, HBO, Sony Television, Lionsgate and Showtime are supporting YouTube by providing the licensed content.

YouTube changed their 10-minute-video time limit in hopes of increasing its viewership. The site is also experimenting with movies. USA Today reported that, “YouTube last week showed its first full-length Hollywood ‘studio’ film on its Screening Room channel for independent filmmakers. Director Wayne Wang's (The Joy Luck Club) two-hour The Princess of Nebraska, from Magnolia Pictures, has attracted over 150,000 views already.”

YouTube has entered the TV-on-demand arena and, if proven successful, other network studios could eventually begin to make additional content available to viewers.

For more information, view this feature in USA Today.

Posted by staff at 10:47 AM
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October 23, 2008

Twitter, A Cheaper Way to Connect with Enthusiasts

By Nichole Mrasek

If Britney Spears can try to transform her image using social media, there’s hope for clients, too. CNET’s Caroline McCarthy reports that BritneySpears.com debuted Ms. Spears on a social level. “You can "Friend Britney" on Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Britney’s own "VIP" social network, and Twitter,” McCarthy said.. “For obvious reasons, it’s not actually Spears doing the Twittering. But you can still get updates like: ‘OMG!! 7 hours until Womanizer premieres!’”

Twitter’s effect on news goes beyond pop-culture and gossip sites. Technology, politics and mainstream news sectors are all using Twitter to deliver breaking updates and insider news to their followers. McCarthy makes the excellent point that, ”PR teams behind many celebrities, particularly bands and singers, have built ways for fans to subscribe to text-message updates and announcements for quite some time now. A Twitter account is a cheaper and easier way of doing pretty much the same thing.”

The article suggests that, as Twitter becomes more mainstream, we should continue to encourage our clients to understand and utilize it as a valuable social media tool. Read the full CNET feature here.

Posted by staff at 06:06 AM
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October 21, 2008

Personal Information Sharing in Web 3.0

Internet users are currently sharing their information with various social media, banking, shopping sites, as well as hundreds of others across the Web. According to the Web 3.0 Conference and Expo held last week, educating consumers about what and who controls their private information will be essential to expanding future Web 3.0 opportunities.

Read Write Web editor Lidija Davis says, “The basic requirements would be a clear, robust and simple-as-possible model that is based on consensus rights and responsibilities, making everything predictable for all parties, and gives shared control to the originating parties.”

Developing more effective targeted ads will help Web 3.0 connect with users on a repeated basis. The article also discusses how vendors will handle data portability and the monetization of consumer information in the Web 3.0 environment.

View the full article and learn more about the advantages and risks associated with Web 3.0 here.

Posted by staff at 02:31 AM
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October 20, 2008

Price-Comparison Sites & Coupons Codes Peak in Popularity During Hard Economic Times

For Internet shopping fans, there are hundreds of Web sites that provide coupon and deal information, helping consumers save money. USA Today highlights the top online sites for price-comparison shopping and provides tips to help consumers find coupons for online and in-store use.

Posted by staff at 04:15 AM
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October 19, 2008

How Companies Like Twitter Make Money

Twitter’s boom in popularity and the speculation that it could someday be worth more than $1 billion has industry experts anxious for the company to finally unveil its business model. Silicon Alley Insider reports we’ll have to wait until early next year to see what Twitter has planned for their financial future.

Posted by staff at 11:52 AM
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Leveraging Your Linkedin Profile

Keeping your Linkedin profile up-to-date, finding new contacts through your current contacts and participating in meet-ups are just a few ways to make sure you’re fully marketing yourself on the site. You can read more on the “15 Ways to Market Yourself on Linkedin” here.

Posted by staff at 10:40 AM
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October 17, 2008

The Good & the Bad of Pizza Hut’s Facebook Ordering Service

Pizza Hut’s recently launched Facebook application, which allows users to order a pizza directly from the social networking site, seems like a great idea. However, blogger Harrison Hoffam of The Web Services Report, feels that the application falls short.

Harrison is a fan of Pizza Hut’s online ordering, but was disappointed to see that the Facebook application mirrors the exact function on Pizza Hut’s Web site, offering nothing new to users. “The worst part of Pizza Hut’s app, however, is not the fact that it offers nothing new in terms of functionality, it’s that it spams all of your friends with advertisements,” said Harrison.

More users were complaining of the identical spam issue, which prompted Pizza Hut to remove the notification of fans logging into the application, and gave them the ability to opt out of receiving additional notifications from the application.

Check out the Pizza Hut Facebook application and read more on “Pizza Hut misses the mark with new Facebook app” here.

Posted by staff at 10:28 AM
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October 15, 2008

Social Media Now a Default for Clients

Social media is an obvious area where brands want to increase their participation, and based on recent studies, we encourage clients to keep pursuing these avenues. Mashable’s Tom Smith discusses the recent study conducted by Universal McCann entitled: “When did we start trusting strangers? How the Internet turned us all into influencers.”

The report surveyed over 17,000 Internet users in 29 countries. Smith said, “It conclusively proves that as we thought, social media is now directly impacting the way we buy products and services.” Smith added, “This has huge impacts on the way that advertisers and brands have to think about social media - moving involvement from a ‘nice to have’ to an ’essential to have.’”

Currently, the trend is for consumers to primarily post comments on brands to communicate good experiences, and they do so mostly via e-mail and Instant Messenger.
We encourage you to read additional essential findings on the study here.

Posted by staff at 05:07 AM
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October 13, 2008

Google Gives Voice to YouTube

Google continues to launch new features, one of latest being the audio preview capability on YouTube comments. A text-to-speech button provides users with the ability to hear their posted video comments before they are published. This audio tool was created to help improve the quality of comments featured on YouTube. Read more here.

Posted by staff at 10:17 AM
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October 11, 2008

Verizon Wireless Additional Text Charges

Beginning Nov. 1, Verizon Wireless will increase the per-message fee for companies sending text messages to its subscribers. The New York Times reports that they will charge 3 cents for each message sent. With text messaging continuing to rise in popularity as a way for consumers to receive information, other wireless providers may follow suit.

Posted by staff at 03:08 AM
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October 08, 2008

The Science of Advergaming

By Ann Stofflet

Ever wonder if placing a branded game on a site produces a measurable impact on the player’s/consumer’s attitude toward your brand?

Well, the researchers at The University of Missouri’s PRIME Lab have studied the effects of advergame themes on consumer attitudes and have discovered that the consumer manifests a strong positive relationship towards a brand when they play advergames with thematic brand connections. “Advergaming” is a term that describes the practice of using video games to advertise a product, organization or viewpoint.

The ‘thematic connection’ is the degree to which the object of the advergame relates to the brand’s product or services. For example, a highly thematic connection would be an online basketball game branded by a sporting equipment company. During the study, participants played two advergames, both with either high or low thematic brand connection.
Kevin Wise, assistant professor of strategic communication at the MU School of Journalism explained,

“While games that related to the brand were not inherently more enjoyable than unrelated games, the transfer of enjoyment from the game to a positive attitude towards the brand was stronger when the game and brand were thematically related. Game enjoyment led to positive attitude toward the brand when a high thematic connection existed between the game and the brand.”
View the full feature here.

Posted by staff at 10:04 AM
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October 07, 2008

Google, The New Phone

Google is finally ready to compete with BlackBerry and iPhone heavyweights by introducing the new Google Phone. The much anticipated T-Mobile G1 finally makes its debut in the United States on October 22. CNN reports, “Android, the free software powering the G1, is a crucial building block in Google’s efforts to make its search engine and other services as accessible on cell phones as they already are on personal computers. The company believes it eventually might make more money selling ads that get shown on mobile devices than on PCs, a channel that will generate about $20 billion in revenue this year.”

Posted by staff at 02:05 AM
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October 05, 2008

MySpace Working Toward A Cure

As October begins, so does Breast Cancer Awareness Month. MySpace is helping the cause with a special Pink Together profile, showcasing survivor stories, ways to get involved and even a Pink Together store, with 100 percent of the profits going to the Susan G. Komen For The Cure organization.

Posted by staff at 09:32 AM
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October 03, 2008

Consumers Feel Companies Should Have Social-Media Presence

By Ann Stofflet

Below are some interesting consumer survey responses from the "Business in Social Media" study conducted by Cone:

*93% consumers believe companies should have a social-media presence
*85% consumers feel companies should interact with customers through social media
*60% consumers interact with companies using social media
*56% consumers feel a stronger connection with, and better served by companies when they interact via social media
*41% consumers believe companies should solicit feedback on their products and services via social media

*37% consumers think companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand through social media
*25% consumers feel companies should market to consumers using social media

Note: The survey sampled 1,092 online American consumers (525 men/567 women, 18 and over).

“All of this is great news for marketers,” said Mike Hollywood, director of new media for Cone. "This is really a license to put more energy and resources into this medium and do it effectively.”

Another great resource for clients is a table showing online user expectations of companies’ social media presence. View the information by clicking here.

Full story and additional tables can be found here.

Posted by staff at 11:24 AM
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October 01, 2008

General Mills Partnering with Univision

By Nichole Mrasek

General Mills recently announced a one-year partnership with the Univision Network to complement the third year of their "Qué Rica Vida" ("What a Good Life") campaign. Univision, the nation’s largest Spanish language television network, will feature 30-second “Que Rica Vida” vignettes, hosted by popular Univision’s Wake Up America host Karla Martinez.

Martinez will showcase cooking and lifestyle tips through the spots, which are hosted by Qué Rica Vida. General Mills has also populated the site with blogs and podcasts.

The site and campaign are another extension of General Mills’ efforts to target a growing, important demographic. Kimberley Bow Sundy, manager of PR and multicultural marketing for General Mills, said, “Some of our brands are not available in many countries of origin. When Latina consumers come to the US, they are not familiar with our product, so we needed to make [our products] emotionally relevant."

View the full PR Week profile story here.

Posted by staff at 09:17 AM
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