It seems that it wasn’t enough that Old Spice came up with a few clever commercials, but now closer attention is being paid to those of us who already spend countless hours on YouTube looking up ridiculous cat videos as well as self help videos. Thanks to some clever marketing by Old Spice, countless businesses and entrepreneurs are recognizing the sheer power that social media, social networking and viral marketing can have on an audience.
In a recent (and clever) marketing campaign, Isaiah Mustafa used Twitter to respond in real time to tweets set forth by Old Spice followers on Twitter. The result was a hilarious string of YouTube videos complete with props and sarcasm. But in the bigger scheme of things, a marketing genius was born.
It is only a matter of time before others start following suit with similar campaigns. And at the end of the day, we may just have Old Spice to thank for it. Check out one of the videos below, after the break. You can also read more about the Old Spice marketing campaign and how the videos were made on ReadWriteWeb.
Qwitter- This is a great Twitter tool to use (and one that I personally adore). Signing up is free, and once you’re Twitter account is linked, Qwitter sends you an email notification when someone stops following you
TwitBlocker- This is a nifty little tool that helps you manage the tweets of those folks you follow who are a little “chatty” (to put it nicely). You don’t want to delete them from your Twitter list, but you also don’t want to be receiving updates from them every two seconds. TwitBlocker to the rescue.
My Tweeple-This tool allows you to check stats on the people who you follow and/or who follow you. You can review other peoples latest tweets as well as see the date of their last tweet (which may help you decide whether or not they are follow worthy).
Twitterholic (aka: Twitaholic)- As the name may suggest, this tool allows you to search the most popular Twitter users out there. You can also obtain stats about your own Twitter account.
Friend or Follow- A clever play on words, this tool allows you to find out who is not following you back on Twitter. You can also find out who you share friends with.
MrTweet- A great tool that helps you find relevant followers by offering up recommendations. You can also check stats on your account as well as see who else is out there that might be worth following.
A Poken is a small USB device that allows you to store your social networking info and share it with other Poken users. Essentially, it is akin to having a social business card because it makes sharing your contact details and online social networking info incredibly easy (not to mention paper-free).
How do you Poken?
To activate your Poken, you have to pull apart the body and hand (yes, they look like little people) and pull out the plastic tab. If you see a flashing red light, then this means that your activated and read to go. When you meet up with your boss for lunch or with other business prospects, instead of handing them your business card, simply connect your Poken to theirs. You can choose what sort of information you would like to share with other people before hand. Remember, your poken card only shows whatever information you want to share with people.
Where Do I Get One?
Pokens can be purchased in packages or individually from official resellers found here. Pokens can come in sleek and sophisticated designs (for those of you who like to keep things super simple) or you can purchase them in one of the many characters that they are popular for. Most of them average between $20-$35 depending on the style that you get. To get an even better idea of what Poken is all about, check out the following video:
Tiny futuristic techno creatures, some with oversized eyes and cartoon-like disguises, have entered the US at strategic points. They have been identified as Poken. Their point of entry two years ago was Switzerland. They transmit short range wireless code to accomplish their mission of interpersonal information gathering. They are reported to be proliferating in Europe, and now seem to be multiplying quickly in the U.S., having been observed in increasing numbers, especially at networking gatherings around the Triangle, NC area.
Success coach Martin Brossman says not to be afraid. He advises: “This is the wave of the future. It’s time to be prepared. The Poken™ come in peace, bringing a new electronic form of networking communication. I see a day in the not-too-distant future when everyone who wants to expedite and improve their human connections will own and carry a Poken™ on their keychain.”
For those who are eager to early-adoopt a Poken™, Brossman has been authorized to reveal the inner workings , as follows:
How information is transferred and stored via the Poken™
The Poken™ is a fun way to share your social media and contact information with someone you meet who also has a Poken™. When two Poken are touched together, they give off a green glow which indicates the information has been successfully transferred. Information can include your photo, all your social media sites, your websites, phone, address–whatever you want to add.
The Poken HUB is the website you use to maintain and keep all your contact data. Since it is web-based you can view and update it remotely. To see more about the HUB:http://www.poken.com/website
A Poken™ is essentially a dynamic electronic business card. There are two different models.
* PokenSPARK™: Humorously designed little characters with a big hand, plus key chain hook.; they have no extra memory. Cost about $20.00 + shipping. To see the SPARK: http://www.poken.com/spark
* PokenPULSE™: Looks like a USB memory stick and had 2Gig of re-usable memory as well as the Poken™ electronics and storage for the Poken data. To see the PULSE: http://www.poken.com/pulse
Poken™ have the following benefits
* You don’t have to type in a person’s contact information or re-check scanned information like you do with business cards.
* If your contact changes their content information, their information is automatically updated on your Hub site.
* Your Hub storage includes the time / date when you met them on a timeline.
* Their photo is included.
* You can easily export the data to other electronic devices.
You can find Poken™ to order on-line, or it is available locally at events related to www.inside919.com and www.LinkingRaleighNC.com or contact the Martin Brossman to find out where to pickup one in the Raleigh NC area.
I’ve just started reading a book entitled Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day by Dave Evans. And over the course of the next few weeks, as I finish a new chapter, I’m going to try to incorporate it into a blog post for discussion.
Chapter 1- The Backlash
Person-to-person connections have always been valued. In the first chapter of Evans’ book, he goes into detail about how social networks came about with the introduction of the Internet as well as the impact of advertising on consumers.
The Internet that many of us are familiar with today would probably not have come about if it wasn’t for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in conjunction with the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET). According to Evans, it was the NSF who championed the cause of an “open” Internet- in other words a network that any entity (whether it be a person or business) could use for any purpose. However, problems would later arise.
Pushing Too Hard
To the average consumer, people who work in advertising and those who work in marketing are one in the same: sales people. Any time you turn on the television and try to watch your favorite show, unless you have a DVR or have otherwise pre-recorded the program, you’ll more than likely end up sitting through commercials that wind up being as long as the program! The challenge in advertising on television is to target a particular message to the viewer. However, the ability to succesfully do so is infinitely limited. Looking back, when television was fairly new, commercials made up less than ten minutes of each one hour show. However, today commercials have doubled- perhaps tripled that. Don’t believe me? Take a look at all of the hoopla that is involved with Super Bowl ads!
If you ask any relatively sane person what their opinion is on commercials, they’ll tell you how much they can’t stand them. After all, that’s why the DVR was invented, right? Well, in the same way that commercials were beginning to intrude on people’s ability to enjoy television programs, a similar thread was happening with the Internet. The arrival of spam brought about many issues. Here was this network in which people could communicate and exchange ideas freely, targeting specific people in their niche, and now their conversations were being interrupted by pop up messages while their email inboxes were filling up with emails from people they didn’t even know who were trying to sell them something. Keeping this in mind, Evan states:
In their purest form, all conversations are participative and engaged in by choice. This simple premise goes a long way in explaining why interruption and deception on the Social Web are so violently rejected.
All of the aforementioned items have played (and continue to play) a vital role in how social media is evolving. Consumers are in control of what content gets shared; not the advertisers and marketers. Need evidence? DVRs were introduced so that consumers could skip over the annoying advertisements that were disrupting their programs. And let’s not forget about telephone marketing. If you’ll recall, in 2003 the telemarketing industry felt the backlash of consumer control as the Do Not Call Implementation Act passed. In summation, Evans highlights several points related to this media backlash below:
According to Evans:
The emerging role of the individual as a source of information which is then used to influence purchase decisions is increasing as the role of the marketer and traditional media programmer in establishing the primary advertising is lessening.
The “backlash” developed when the practice of pushing ads to consumers moved to the digital platform, which consumers have control over.
Trust is essential if you want to succeed as a marketer.
This video was inspired by a discussion a few of us started on Facebook. It’s only 3 minutes and 42 seconds long. After a 30 second or so introduction, it gets right into the topic:
Professional Networking On (& Off) the Web – Part 2 of 4:
Your E-Comfort Zone
One online network has been launched by Triangle resident Pat Howlett, It groups local networkers by telephone area codes. Triangle residents are included in www.inside919.com, a user-friendly way to enter on-line networking if you are just beginning. It is also a great resource for all types of information from local businesses in the 919 area code. You can fill out your profile, join in the forums. and practice online networking skills with the local business community.Howlett has a vision of supporting the web activity with solid face-to-face interaction, having already hosted two social evens for Triangle 919 members.
One woman who attended the first Inside919 after-hours said she was amazed that people she had connected with on-line were seeking her out to find out more about her business. Another person at the same event was hesitant to meet people since he is “more at ease relating at the keyboard.” Although some people tend to be more comfortable in-person and others on-line, it is worth the effort to push your comfort zone boundaries since the combination of personal and computer-based connections can bring powerful results.
Understanding the unique utilities of in-person and online networking and how they apply to your objectives gives a real competitive advantage. Just as with in-person networking, when networking online lead with contribution, not with selling.
You know the saying, “One bad apple can spoil the bunch”? Well, it’s true. Recently, I read an article that talked about how marketers are ruining the Facebook experience by creating fake groups in order to “conduct research”. This article was one of a few that have popped up in the past few days in response to Andrew Careaga’s post about the Facebook debacle.
According to Careaga’s post, Brad Ward uncovered some disturbing information about Facebook with regards to fake groups and pages that were being set up in order to lure unsuspecting students- much like a stranger tries to tempt a child with candy. Ward realized that something was amiss after examining hundreds of “Class of 2013″ groups that popped up and realizing that they were all created by the same person/company. Careaga writes:
According to Brad’s investigation, a cadre of Facebookers are either setting up unofficial “Class of 2013? pages that purport to represent various colleges and universities, or they’re joining already-established pages and becoming co-administrators. (These types of pages are usually created by students who have been accepted into a college and want to start networking with their fellow classmates-to-be. Some colleges and universities encourage the development of these pages, while others just let it happen.) Brad discovered that certain names appeared over and over again in the category of page administrator for many of these pages. In his post, Brad suggests that someone — or some organization, or group — has set up a ring to create Facebook pages in order to connect with “easily 1,000,000+ freshman college students.”
Updates
Brad’s original post, entitled There’s Something Going Down on Facebook. Pay Attention, created such a buzz that after a relatively short period of time, people were leaving a ton of comments on the blog post wanting to get to the bottom of the matter. After all, why would someone want to purposely dissuade Facebook users? Who was behind this? Brad had traced several of the names he found in the fake Facebook groups to a site called College Prowler, a company based out of Pennsylvania that publishes student-written guidebooks about colleges.
Figures.
Before long, the chief executive officer of College Prowler, Luke Skurman, confirmed that his company was directly or indirectly involved in the creation of the “2013″ Facebook groups when he left the following blog comment on Ward’s blog:
Yes, College Prowler has been directly or indirectly involved with the creation of multiple Class of 2013 groups. The original purpose was to use these groups as a way to inform students that they can access a free guide about their new college on our site. No employee or anyone else associated with College Prowler has used these groups to send out messages or wall posts.
Until about an hour ago, I was unaware that College Prowler was working with another company that may have been using fake aliases to create to these groups. The groups that College Prowler was responsible for creating were set up with real accounts. Here are the names that are associated with College Prowler, and they will all be removed immediately from the Class of 2013 groups(all other names are not controlled by College Prowler):
• Mark Tressler
• Ron Tressler
• Brenna Young
• Lisa Young
• Lauren Plavchek
• Jessica Lash
From a big picture perspective, having a marketing strategy using social networking sites (like Facebook) is something that is necessary to be effective in our business. We do pride ourselves on being forward thinking and aggressive. In this instance, in its current form, we have crossed the line and to reiterate, we will be removing our administrator privileges from all of these 2013 groups immediately.
You can read more about it the following blog post published on The Chronicle of Higher Education website. While the issue seems to have temporarily resolved itself (with this particular matter), it makes you wonder how many more groups like this one there are on popular sites like Facebook. Additionally, while the dust may seem to be settling, I can’t help but think that increasing numbers of people are feeling more unsettled with how they view and/or value marketing when things like this happen.
It’s no secret that people all over the world are being negatively affected by the economic downturn. With all of the job loss and worries, more people are looking for new and innovative ways to help their businesses stay afloat- not to mention keep money in their bank accounts.
According to a recent press release, Stockopedia, a London based startup, has announced the launch of the first social network for private investors in the UK stock market. The goal is to use social media to help investors make better, more well-informed investment decisions.
Not a bad idea.
Similar to other social sites like Wikipedia, Stockopedia takes advantage of tagging, wikis and forums to help foster discussion and communication among people. Stockopedia monitors users investment interests, thereby recommending pertinent companies to users where applicable, much like Amazon.com recommends books and music to you based on what you’ve been searching. This really seems to be a novel idea. The article goes on to quote Edward Croft as stating:
The site allows users to easily follow themes and investment trends. By using tagging to categorise the market, we are challenging the traditional top down hierarchy of sector categorisation. We aim to introduce our users to more laterally related companies which they would otherwise miss.
The news of Stockopedia’s ideas and plans is exciting in a time where there is so much economic uncertainty and job loss. Many professionals are turning towards social media with the hopes that it will level the playing field, not to mention soften the blow that’s being doled out by the current financial crisis.
I’ve just started reading a book entitled 
Professional Networking On (& Off) the Web – Part 2 of 4: 
You know the saying, “One bad apple can spoil the bunch”? Well, it’s true. Recently, I read 
