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2
Feb 12

Crossing the Social Marketing Rubicon

When the history of the social marketing revolution is written, I bet that this week will be viewed as THE watershed moment.

Facebook IPO - pix 01There are two massive vectors which have intersected each other, symbolizing the fall of one paradigm and the rise of another.

On the fall side, you have the announcement by P&G that it is laying off 1600 marketers because it realizes that its model of “spend more on advertising to generate more sales” no longer works.

And on the rise side, of course, you have the filing of Facebook S-1 announcing its IPO.

There is probably NO company in America (maybe even the world) that rode the wave of mass, traditional advertising to behemoth status more than P&G. It’s as iconic a marketing org as there is and this week will be recognized as the one where the balance of power finally-and forever-shifted.

- Jeremy Epstein, VP of Marketing at Sprinklr.  Find him on twitter at @jer979

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31
Jan 12

The Pros and Cons of Google+

While the addition of Google Search Plus Your World (SPYW) has made a big splash in the digital community, G+ is far more useful as a social network than it is as an augmentation of search on Google.com.

Here are a few pros and cons that are worth exploring:

Google+ Pros

As a social network, there are inherent social engagement benefits of Google+.  The Google+ shares, pluses, comments and overall interaction behaviors necessary to improve Google+ inspired search visibility also benefit social network development and community engagement.

Google+ can definitely serve as another spoke in a hub and spoke content distribution and social engagement model.

Google+ Cons:

Is Google+ participation mandatory? The clear advantages of Google+ presence and activity in search make it impossible for companies that value online visibility not to join in. But that incentive is not the same thing as joining a social network because you know that’s where customers and influentials are.

Learn more about the pros and cons of Google+ at toprankblog.

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26
Jan 12

Who Are The Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers?

The following list was compiled using PeekYou‘s social pull metric – which measures the number of people in your second degree networks who are identifiable and active.

Top Social Media Influencers:

#1. Chris Brogan @chrisbrogan – Chris, President of Human Works

#2. Ann Handley @marketingprofs. Ann manages the contributory blog at marketingprofs

#3. Guy Kawasaki @guykawasaki, former Apple evangelist

#4. Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee, video king

#5. Scott Stratten @unmarketing

#6. Robert Scoble @scobleizer, long term blogger and trend setter

#7. Glen Gilmore @glengilmore of Gilmore business network

# 8. Liz Strauss @lizstrauss, of Sucessful Blog

#9. Jason Falls @jasonfalls, Social Media Explorer

#10. Mari Smith @marismith, Facebook expert

View the full list and more on how the top influencers were chosen at Forbes.

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20
Jan 12

The Global Perspective On Social

Of the five pragmatic steps that Jeremiah Owyang suggests in the January Altimeter report (recommended read), A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation, I think the most important is number 3 “Select vendors based on business needs, not marketing.”

Frankly, you can drop the “vendors” part because the real point is that it’s not about social media, it’s about what happens as a result of the arrival of social media.Enterprise Class Companies, on Average, Have 178 Social Media Accounts

When you think about social MEDIA, you naturally gravitate towards marketing, but it’s deeper than that.

When you think about SOCIAL media, however, you recognize that the arrival of the social/mobile/network-empowered consumer affects every single aspect of the business.

Social has no regard for silos, business units, or geographies. It transcends all of those.

The question then isn’t “how does social media fit into my organization?“

The question is, “how do we adapt our organization’s realities to the realities of social media?”

A very different pivot.

Chris Bailey may have written that, “Creativity is an act of open disobedience against the norms. Creativity is an act of courage,”
HOWEVER, when you are talking about a Brand that has anywhere from hundreds of dollars to BILLIONS of dollars worth of equity, you can’t have people, units, teams, or divisions just “going rogue.”

The risk to the brand is just too great…

You can’t “control the conversation,” we all know that, but you CAN coordinate activities to make sure that the company speaks in a unified voice…thereby delivering a unified experience which is, ultimately, the primary driver of brand value AND do it in a way that allows for creativity within the spectrum of experience.

This type of holistic, comprehensive thinking that Jeremiah put forth is really the next wave of social media adoption and represents the inevitable transformation towards social-centric organizations.

- Jeremy Epstein, VP of Marketing at Sprinklr, find him on twitter at @jer979

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17
Jan 12

How SOPA would affect you: FAQ

How much do you know about SOPA? Here are some FAQs On SOPA and how it would affect you:

How would SOPA work?
It allows the U.S. attorney general to seek a court order against the targeted offshore Web site that would, in turn, be served on Internet providers in an effort to make the target virtually disappear. It’s kind of an Internet death penalty.

What will SOPA require Internet providers to do?
A little-noticed portion of the proposed law, goes further than Protect IP and could require Internet providers to monitor customers’ traffic and block Web sites suspected of copyright infringement.

Who’s opposed to SOPA?
Much of the Internet industry and a large percentage of Internet users.

On November 15, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, eBay, Mozilla, Yahoo, AOL, and LinkedIn wrote a letter to key members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, saying SOPA poses “a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation’s cybersecurity.”

Learn more about SOPA and its implications at cnet.

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13
Jan 12

Gizmodo Declares Bing The Best Search Engine

Gizmodo has declared Bing the best search engine due to recent changes on their search.  Google changed the way search works this week. It deeply integrated Google+ into search results. It’s ostensibly meant to deliver more personalized results. But it pulls those personalized results largely from Google services—Google+, Picasa, YouTube.

It seems pretty transparently designed to drive traffic and users to Google Plus, and to make Google Plus brand pages the go-to place for a company’s social media presence. And it’s true that results from Facebook and Twitter in particular have been noticeably kicked down.

Read more on why you may want to switch to Bing at Gizmodo.

Disclaimer: Microsoft is a Sprinklr Client.

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16
Dec 11

10 Tips for Promoting Your Events With the New LinkedIn Events Tool

The LinkedIn Events Tool is the most recent application to receive an overhaul as millions of members have been increasingly utilizing the tool to source and sign up to attend local or industry-related events. The new features of the LinkedIn Events Tool benefit event organizers, marketers and professionals alike.

5 Tips for Creating and Optimizing Your LinkedIn Event:

1. Upload an event logo

2. Get creative with your event title

3. Include a short but powerful event description with a strong call to action

4. Consider using an offsite registration page to capture attendee information

5. Don’t Forget the details

5 Tips to Successfully Promote and Share Your LinkedIn Event:

1. Promote your event on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook

2. Promote your event weekly in relevant LinkedIn Groups

3. Promote your event on your LinkedIn company page

4. Send direct and personalized invites

5. Run ads on LinkedIn to promote your event

Read more details on each of these steps to promoting your LinkedIn event at socialmediaexaminer.

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15
Dec 11

A CEOs Guide to Social Media in 2012

With 2012 and the New Year upon us, countless strategy and planning sessions are likely on the calendar. Below are some common social media questions (and answers) your brand may have.


“Every department is telling me they own social media so it feels like it has 12 owners. How do I think about it?”

Thinking of social media as a separate effort will lead to failure and you’ll lose a year. Social media is simply an overlay that must be applied to existing business functions.  CEOs should understand this and ask to see specific plans to achieve business results through collaboration and smart planning.

“I get pitched by 5 gurus a month. Do I need a social media leader for the business?”

Many companies have accelerated success by creating a funded internal group to lead social media across all business functions. Early adopters including Dell, Intel, and Coca-Cola are good examples. This group should be centrally funded for a minimum of 2-5 years depending on the size and complexity of the company.

Read more of these social media strategy Q&A at fastcompany.

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13
Dec 11

Important Lessons Learned From The 10 Biggest Social Media Blunders of 2011

This week AdAge released their list of the biggest social media blunders of 2011 and it was truly a banner year for the misguided. This year’s list includes a politician, an actor, a comedian and several major brands (see below).

1. Twitter Contest “Grounded” – Australian airline Qantas launched a Twitter contest in November asking followers to share their dream luxury in-flight experience using #QantasLuxury. Unfortunately customers angry from the prior month’s grounded flights hijacked the contest’s hashtag by tweeting out thousands of angry responses.

2. GoDaddy Finds Itself Staring At The End Of A Barrel – After GoDaddy’s CEO Bob Parsons tweeted a video link of himself shooting an elephant in Zimbabwe, the company found itself in hot water. This resulted in the Ethical Treatment of Animals calling for a boycott and competitors offering discounted transfer rates.

Top Lessons Learned From This Year’s Biggest Social Media Failures

Think Before You Tweet – This should be a no-brainer however the nature of Twitter’s fast moving conversations can result in users tweeting out messages they later regret. If you are going to participate in Twitter be sure to review these best practices.

Brands Don’t Own Earned Media – The call it “earned media” for a reason and it is very difficult for brands to try and control this especially on Twitter.

Read more on these lessons and the top 10 social media blunders of 2011 at business2community.

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13
Dec 11

The Social Media Top Four

Here are some of this weeks product launches, platform upgrades and new marketing campaigns that dominated the social media and marketing spheres:

1. Google:  Google went a little launch crazy last week. It put Google Schemer into private beta, bowed Google Currents, Google Carousel and Find my Face, and integrated Google+ Circles into GMail users’ accounts.  Here are earned and owned looks at Google Currents for Android and iOS users:

2. Apple: Never to be outdone, Friday was the day Apple opened its biggest store yet on the balcony in New York City’s landmark commuter hub Grand Central Station. Smartly, the company gave journalists a sneak preview the day before. Apple apparently didn’t see the need in posting its own owned video of the opening. The earned media coverage was over the top.

Read and see more videos on the top social media campaigns and upgrades this week at forbes.

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