Google Launches Full War on Facebook - Friend Connect May Force Marketers to Change Social Network Strategies

May 15, 2008 – 8:14 am

By: Mallory Dash

I am 100% convinced Google is trying to take over the world. Google recently announced the launch of Friend Connect, a service designed to turn any website into a potential social network. While previously believed to be a direct Ning competitor, Friend Connect is instead a way to Web-2.0-ize already existing sites. According to the release from the Googleplex, “visitors to any site using Google Friend Connect will be able to see, invite, and interact with new friends…”. With the added clout of Google’s API capabilities and affiliations with existing social networks like Facebook, Myspace, Plaxo, hi5 and iLike, Friend Connect has a lot of potential to aggregate the disparate social networks out there, while eliminating some of the more minor ones.

According to Google’s director of engineering, David Glazer, Friend Connect brings its own social magic to any old Web 1.0 site. “Many sites aren’t explicitly social and don’t necessarily want to be social networks, but they still benefit from letting their visitors interact with each other.” Good point- I’ve always wanted to know who looks at the same food porn sites I do. (Who needs JDate when you can have bacon?)

While there are obvious exceptions to the kinds of sites that would want to get down with the 2.0 (Dunder Mifflin Infinity, anyone?) Friend Connect could be pretty neat. Instead of having to make tons of different log-ins and passwords for random websites, Google handles these using OpenSocial, oAuth and OpenID, which allows users to bring their data with them wherever they go.

This could essentially spell the end for smaller social networks. The ability to view the activity of your Facebook and Myspace friends elsewhere on the Web could remove the need for individual, niche networks. Google is quickly becoming the Vladimir Lenin of the Internet era, socializing everything in its path (minus the serfdom and unpaid labor- that’s for Wikipedia).

For marketers, this could signal a huge change in current practices and market research. Many marketers already are using Facebook and Myspace to reach their target audience. However, Friend Connect may lead marketers to curtail their Facebook-only approach in favor of a more global strategy. Now marketers can focus on more targeted sites, and reach their desired demographic directly from those outlets, cutting out Facebook and Myspace’s networks as a middleman. Friend Connect could be a serious catalyst for change in any marketing strategy, should it take off.

For a more skeptical view on Google’s latest foray, check out Marshall Kirkpatrick at RWW. Regardless of the how selfish Google may or may not be- I, for one, am excited at the prospect of meeting more bacon lovers, online or off.

Posted in Digital Marketing, News, Social Networking | 1 Comment »

Firefox ‘Data’ Could Help Justify Blogger Relations

May 13, 2008 – 3:31 pm

By Matt Clark

As reported by TechCrunch, Firefox is working on a project called “Data” that will help track internet surfing habits and capture web analytics. This is great news for the PR professional. Often we are asked to justify blogger relations. I can’t tell you how often I hear “Yeah… but how important is this guy?” when asking my clients to speak with bloggers. Older executives still don’t see the importance of bloggers without numbers-backed credibility.

I can’t blame them as many bloggers just spew random thoughts at the screen and have no measurable authority (like pay for play bloggers). But those in social media know how important bloggers are, and need the numbers to show potential ROI to our clients.

Firefox will ask their 170 million users to opt into the reporting system (similar to Alexa) to have their surfing habits collected anonymously. The great thing is that only a small percentage of those users would have to agree to be tracked to get statistically relevant results.

Until the new product launches, PR pros need a way to gather similar data. We wrote a few tips on this a while back in post called How to Find Top Influencers and Blogs. But what else is out there? Here are a few:

Alexa & Compete
Both of these sites rely on users to install software on their computers which tracks web visits and estimates Internet-wide traffic. Alexa, used by many VCs, has many flaws (like what?), while Compete only tracks US users. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Blogs, News, PR | No Comments »

The Blogging Battle Continues - Flack Attack

May 12, 2008 – 9:27 pm

By Matt Clark

A few days ago Gina Trapani of LifeHacker published a wiki blacklisting PR firms who pitch spam bloggers. This has kicked up some great social media conversation. How do you pitch bloggers? What’s the best way to work with a blogger? Is a site as popular as Tech Crunch still considered a blog or has it morphed into a credible media outlet?

These are all great questions. At DigitalBlab, we have posted a few of our own thoughts through the past few months (here, here, here and here). Matt Haughey with A Whole Lotta Nothing also posted a few blogger relation tips I found helpful.

Howard Greenstein wrote a great piece on the PR/Blacklist battle today. I agree with Greenstein that this calling out of PR Pros is not helpful. The two industries need to find a better way to work together. Journalists need to be more receptive and PR firms need to better train their staff and the senior executives at these firms need to pass their relationships along to junior staffers.

The main problem seems to be that no one journalist or blogger is alike. A few journalists welcome calls and others prefer emails. Some editors want to filter pitches to their reporters, and others don’t want to be bothered at all. Many bloggers have limited readerships and use the medium as a personal soapbox while others try to inform and educate. Some bloggers use personal email, and others made the investment in a weblog email address.

It’s easy to say “do your homework,” but sometimes it’s almost impossible to properly research every blogger and publication. Blogging and blogger relations are still in their infancy and it will take some time before we all learn how to play nicely. Although I agree many of my PR colleagues are true flacks, 1947 Hollywood tactics won’t work.

This is a problem that I have been thinking about for a while. It’s one of the reasons I started this blog. Perhaps it’s time for me to enlist the help of men and woman smarter than I to really take action.

Posted in Blogs, Communities, News, Social Media | No Comments »

Marketing Through Twitter (Twarketing)

May 7, 2008 – 2:46 pm

By: Mallory Dash

You can call it “getting to the point” to an extreme level. If you can say what you want to say to your audience in 140 characters or less, then you’re ready for Twitter.

While the micro-blogging service is already popular among Web 2.0 enthusiasts, Twitter is also breaking new ground with marketers and brands like H&R Block and Technorati who are using the simple idea of “What are you doing now?” to reach tens of thousands of eager Tweeters. Even Hillary and Barack have joined the party, dispensing details of their race towards the DNC.

As with any kind of blogging, success in Twitterland (I am not making this one up, I swear) means participation in the conversation. Are your Tweets (I know, I know…) engaging? Are you following the “right” people? Are you commenting on relevant memes (Tweemes?) and providing content that is useful for others? Or are you just shouting to the world about the coffee you’re waiting on from Starbucks? (For a great example of this kind of Tweeting, follow me).

The exciting and attractive thing about Twitter for marketers is the fact that it is “opt-in”- that is, people choose to follow the brands/people/entities they wish. Therefore, companies are reaching potential customers that actually care about their brand or what they stand for. They can easily dispense new product information, news about the company, any promotions going on, and anything else that may appeal to their base of consumers. These messages are then fed into a Twitter user’s home page, which can also be routed to their phone via text message.

The challenge presented by Twitter is how to correctly and effectively pare down your message to 140 characters or less. This requires the bare bones- links must be TinyURL-ized, and no B.S. allowed.

It’s clear that by now, Twitter and the theme of “micro-blogging” have made their mark on the web community. Whether or not Twitter actually affects those people who don’t care about Web 2.0 or social media is questionable. Advertisers and marketers alike must keep this audience restriction in mind when designing campaigns that involve micro-blogging or any kind of blogging, for that matter.

For some other good tips for how to use Twitter for marketing purposes, checkout Marketing Profs.

Posted in Branding, Communities, Digital Marketing, Reviews, Social Media, Social Networking, Strategy, Web Video | No Comments »

To B-to-B Blog or Not to B-to-B Blog?

May 6, 2008 – 9:18 am

By Matt Clark

Blogging is one of the most common social media tools used today. Many marketers are in love with the idea of blogging. If you are a business owner with out a blog, you’re in the out crowd. “Did you see Johnny over there? Poor fellow doesn’t have a blog! I think he’s still using dial up as well, ahhahaha.”

But B-to-B blogging is still young. Many CEOs and some older PR pros still don’t see the value in blogging. I can’t disagree with them (although I do). Already these individuals should stay away from social media as enterprise executives should only blog if they want to blog. If you don’t want to blog, then please don’t - it will fail.

So why should a small b-to-b company start a blog?

• Blog content is conversational, allowing for readers (potential/current customers) to engage with what should be educational content, not sales or marketing.
• Blog readers can engage in direct feedback with company executives, giving them a sense of open-door communication. Now, when CEOs comments back to readers comments, that lets readers know the company has nothing to hide and is available for conversation.
• Blogs allow for direct customer feedback – better then any market research can give you.
• Blogs allow for better SEO and Google ranking (search engines love blogs) but you have to have it connected to your Web site for full search engine exposure.
• Blogs can help you gain expert status in your industry… only if you blog early, blog often, and blog about worthwhile topics.

Still, a few executives and PR pros might not buy into b-to-b blogging. It’s still in its infancy, and early on, more things are apt to go wrong than right. A blog will only be successful if the content changes often, giving your customers a reason to revisit the site. Also, if a marketing department takes of the duties of blogging for an executive, then the blog should fail. A blog (especially b-to-b) has to be done by an executive; they are the industry expert and the ones customers want to hear from.

Happy Blogging…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Blogs, Communities, PR, Social Media, Strategy, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Flying the Digital Skies with Southwest

April 29, 2008 – 5:47 am

By John Cantwell

Things may not be going so well for the airlines right now, but at least there’s one bright spot – Southwest Airlines has a great, multi-pronged digital marketing campaign going.

The discount airline, famous for its cheap flights and “Wanna get away?” television spots, has entered the digital marketing space in the right ways, shrewdly establishing a digital footprint across a number of platforms while extending its core image as an affordable, easygoing alternative to the major airlines.

Southwest’s blog, Nuts About Southwest, is a example great of how corporate blogging can extend brand identity and spur action. Employees from all different areas of Southwest post on the site, talking about the company’s culture and the ways they’re improving the airlines. The posts are short, personal, entertaining and – perhaps most importantly – never feel forced. Notably, “Nuts” looks like a normal blog, not a slickly produced corporate affair. The cumulative effect of content and design make the blog accessible and engaging.

Just as Southwest’s blog shows how to reach a general market through digital marketing efforts, the company’s Facebook page shows how digital marketing can be used capture a more focused demographic. Geared toward college students, the page features updates on campus recruiting and internships, merchandise and various goings-on at Southwest. Users’ relationship with the page and the brand is the important thing here – actual flight information is hardly discussed. The page is a big success – so far more than 40,000 people have registered as friends.

The digital marketing efforts get more comprehensive still. There’s the Southwest Twitter page (Company Bio: “The LUV Airline”), which features blog posts and promotions. There’s the Wanna Get Away video contest (also featured on YouTube) that gave fans a chance to send in their own commercials, with the winning commercial being featured during the NBA Playoffs.

And then there’s the Ding widget, which sends discount offers directly to users’ desktops.

Southwest’s multilateral digital marketing efforts allow them to establish relationships with different customers by reaching them on different platforms. Internet users have a bunch of favorite sites and social networks – if you can reach them in their favorite places (and make your own site one of their favorite destinations) you can build a far deeper relationship. Southwest doesn’t overthink their digital marketing. They know who they are, they know who they want to reach. They make it all seem so simple.

Posted in Ads, Blogs, Branding, Case Studies, Digital Marketing, Facebook, Social Media | No Comments »

Adidas Cheats on MySpace with YouTube

April 14, 2008 – 11:33 am

By Matt Clark

Adidas launched a YouTube marketing campaign to promote their new microbounce and megabounce shoe line. The YouTube channel, CanYouBounce, is fully branded and attempts to engage users in a fake competition where users vote for the King of the Bounce Champion. Adidas has loaded five videos of these Bouncer videos so far, each of which seems to be straight from Adidas’ TV ad campaign.

Launched at the end of March, the CanYouBounce channel has about 167 subscribers and 25,820 channel views. Their five videos, only about a week old, have a total of 822,530 views. That’s a great number and in most cases I would call it a success, however over 700,000 views came from their initial video launching the campaign. Since then views have dropped to around 11-40k. I also attribute much the initial success to Adidas strong cult brand.

Adidas set the bar for social media marketing with their original MySpace campaign, but The King of the Bounce leaves something to be desired. The channel does nothing to engage the users or make it their own. It’s a static page with only five videos to watch and a chance to vote for the fake Bounce characters.

This idea had the potential to be a nationwide marketing event, such as Red Bull FlugTag USA. Adidas should have put some money behind it and opened the competition up to the fans. They could have put up a small $10,000 reward to find a true King of the Bounce Champion. They could have let users (in their Adidas megabounces of course) submit videos to be part of the competition. They could have selected 50 finalists and sent out bounce suits to them for further video submission. They could have let channel subscribers vote on these finalists.

At the moment it’s nothing more than a grand prize drawing where Adidas and Foot Locker collects personal information for future marketing efforts. But they could have brought the top 10 together for what reminds me of a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots meets fake sumo event.

Adidas could have done a lot of things, but they didn’t. I’m not saying this is a bad campaign. It’s not a low-budget campaign, as the video advertising and YouTube channel probably cost a lot of money. But there were a few things they could have done differently. If you are going to set up a You Tube Channel, at least find a way to engage the user via online video.

Posted in Branding, Digital Marketing, News, Web Video | No Comments »

South Park’s Rant on Online Video

April 3, 2008 – 6:12 pm

By: Matt Clark

After covering South Park’s new South Park Studios, I have become addicted to the site. I am starting to engage the brand again as I did during college. A recent episode poked fun at online video (and Canada) but made some interesting points regarding online video as a revenue stream for businesses.

Although it was meant to be funny, I think Kyle’s comments should be listened to by all digital marketers. Digital distribution and online video is new and fun, but it has not fully matured. Make sure to offer a full plan that supports new media outreach with traditional PR and marketing efforts…

I have embedded the clip below thanks to South Park Studios…

Posted in Digital Marketing, Social Media, Web Video | 1 Comment »

South Park Gets on Board with Free Content

March 27, 2008 – 9:19 am

By Matt Clark

South Park has followed in the footsteps of jackass by providing free online content to fans. South Park Studio allows fans to watch any episode of the show free online, thanks to a deal between show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Comedy Central’s parent company, Viacom, as reported by Wired News.

This is technically a re-launch of the site. South Park Studio has been up and running since last summer, but without the free online content.

As I said when jackassworld first launched, the free model works for younger audiences. jackass went through the growing pain of an emerging medium while South Park was able to sit back and watch. As a result, South Park seems to have avoided many of the mistakes jackass made.

South Park Studio allows fans to engage with games, forums, news, updates, stills and mobile content. South Park Studio has also teamed up with 65 Media to offer the Official Avatar Generator, where users can choose from millions of combinations to create South Park characters in their likeness. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Digital Marketing, News, Reviews | 2 Comments »

Mark Cuban on Marketing Newspaper Blogs - Don’t Call them Blogs

March 20, 2008 – 11:54 am

By John Cantwell

Mark Cuban wrote extensively last week about how newspapers have made a severe marketing error by embracing blogs. His basic points:

• Blogs still have, in the minds of many, a reputation for inaccuracy and unprofessionalism
• It is difficult to qualitatively credential newspaper blogs over independent blogs
• By simply referring to their blogs as blogs (and not branding them in a substantively different way), newspapers cede one of their primary competitive advantages – namely, that they are newspapers and can provide levels of coverage that most blogs can’t. Cuban goes so far as to suggest that newspapers should call their blogs anything but blogs.

Saul Hansell of the New York Times responded a day later in defense of newspaper blogs:

• Times blog posts must follow the same standards as any New York Times article
• Blogs extend conversations between journalists and their readers
• Blogs extend coverage of print stories

I’ll add a few more positives to Saul’s list:

• Blogs allow journalists to respond to stories in real-time
• Blogs allow newspapers to generate new ad revenue by increasing overall pageviews, trackbacks, etc.

So, yes, there are legitimate advantages to newspapers having blogs, and I think blogging will become an increasingly important aspect of newspapers’ businesses as blogs gain wider mainstream acceptance and more dollars are devoted to online instead of print.

Further, it’s incorrect to argue that newspapers should simply call their blogs something else in order to gain a brand advantage. This could easily backfire – knowledgeable readers would say, “Hey, this is a blog – they’re just coming up with a new name for an old thing,” and newspapers would end up looking like a bunch of old fuddy-duddies trying to co-opt blogs as their own, which is precisely what they should avoid.

Still, Cuban makes some valid points, particularly when he argues that newspapers don’t fully utilize the potential of blogs:

I would also market it as an extension of the print version. All the news that cant fit in print. In the sports world, I think this is where main stream media really has dropped the ball. There is no shortage of speculation and opinions on the net. There is an incredible lack of depth when it comes to game and team coverage.

This is a matter of content implementation. Your average newspaper still has more resources at its disposal than almost any blog. Why aren’t newspapers using blogs to extend their coverage (more than they already do)? Readers still perceive newspapers to be of a higher editorial quality than blogs – why not capitalize on such a competitive advantage? Validate what your readers already think. Provide superior content. Offer in-depth analysis. Leverage your press passes to give readers levels of access that bloggers can’t match.

There’s no way to guarantee people will share your content. But offering high-quality, unique content is a HUGE marketing advantage. Print may be dying, but the people, processes and standards that created great newspapers still have applications online. The papers that survive these transitional years will be the ones that leverage their existing strengths in the new marketplace.

Posted in Blogs, Branding, Digital Marketing, Strategy | 1 Comment »