Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
#SocialMedia meets #QR code: Make your code, then I'll put them on your T-shirts, Totebags & Mugs..then go!
Amplify’d from socialqrcode.com
BUILD SOCIAL QR CODE CAMPAIGNS
Create Social QR Codes in minutes. Decide which Social medium to connect and print your Social QR Code on Brochures, Billboards, Bus Stops and other marketing materials.
WHO CAN BENEFIT?
Local businesses: Retail, Restaurants, Night Clubs, Dentists, Lawyers, Day Spas, Hair Stylists, Coffee Shops, Cafe’s, Book Stores, Gyms, Realtors, Sports Teams, Doctors and many More! Marketing and Public Relations Agencies: Do you manage your clients Fan Page? Help them get more fans!
Read more at socialqrcode.com
Monday, December 27, 2010
2010 is a wrap, moving forward where would you like to see technology go in 2011?
Amplify’d from www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk
10 Technlogy and Internet predictions for 2011
2010 was the Social Media explosion. Instead of focusing on search engine optimisation (SEO), in 2011 we’ll see social media optimisation becoming a priority as businesses continue to see ’social’ close the gap on referrals to their sites. That’s not to say you can ignore SEO (in fact if you don’t know what you are doing you should enroll on our SEO Training course in Brighton, Sussex) but that you will need Social Media to compete in business.
Complete strangers will start coming together to benefit from massive bulk-buying schemes, and advertisers will find a way to capitalise on this trend. Google has already recognized this trend and a deal to collaborate was turned down by Groupon earlier this year. Only two years old, Groupon is now a one-billion dollar company with hundreds of employees.
Groupon is leading the way but many more brands will emerge in this sphere over the coming year.
Near field communication chips are nothing new but we predict that their time is now. Your mobile phone will become your credit card. The NFC mobile-payment application is currently in trials in the United States, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and a few other countries, with transportation ticketing as a primary use. Google’s Nexus S already includes this technology, and rumours are that Apple’s new iPhone will follow.
Whilst Foursquare and Facebook pages are nothing new, people are becoming more comfortable sharing where they are indiscriminately with complete strangers. It is becoming just too attractive to be able to “check in” to unlock discounts and participate in competitions for the “checked in”.
In the UK there has been an explosion of digital TV services being delivered over a Broadband Internet connection , including BBC iPlayer, BT Vision, Virgin’s On Demand service, Sky Anytime+, Seesaw and YouView.
The drive for digital TV has been driven in the UK by the release of YouView, timetabled for launch by mid 2011 and is expected to be the ‘next generation’ of Freeview. TV schedules can go backwards as well as forwards in time. This will be the hottest technology shift during 2011, with Google TV soon to arrive in the UK.
I know this is in the news all the time, so much so that we are all getting a bit blasé about the threat. Sooner or later a huge social network – probably Facebook, will accidently share everyone’s information with everyone. Already with a simple hack, everything listed in a person’s “Basic Information” section is visible, no matter what their privacy settings are. This information includes networks, sex, birthday, hometown, siblings, parents, relationship status, interested in, looking for, political views and religious views.
With Social Networking exploding advertisers have only just scratched the surface of what is possible. Despite the complex issues of privacy social networks such as Facebook will find ways of capitalising on the fact that users are sharing huge amounts of information. We are not the consumers – all the information these sites have about us is a priceless commodity.
With the introduction of a camera and mic to the IPad or Google android tablet video conferencing will become ever more popular. Prices will come down and tablets will be as commonplace as laptops.
Nintendo Wii started the ball rolling and took the world by storm down to the motion-controlled gaming interface which put players inside games for the first time. Now Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 takes centre stage, your body is the controller. Kinect games and apps use the camera and microphone to work out what you’re doing and what you’re saying, and to interpret your commands in the appropriate fashion.
Again not a new concept but this trend will accelerate throughout 2011. Every device, from your television, phone or fridge can have a web address. Home automation will allow lights, energy heating and more to be controlled remotely. The technology is now widely available and affordable. A bit worrying though – what happens when your internet connection gets disconnected?
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Your 2011 Social Media Strategy, Review 2010, Plan 2011 then go...
Amplify’d from www.squaremartinimedia.com
Reviewing Your Social Media Strategy To Ensure A Successful 2011
Honest Benchmark – It starts with an honest review of where you are at in Social Media. I am assuming if you are reading this post you are one of the many businesses which implemented Social Media this year. If I was meeting with you in person I would ask if you followed through with your Social Media strategy and goals this year. So many businesses jump into Social Media with great plans and a minimal strategy only to decide to abandon Social Media because they realize it takes more than just setting up a few profiles. Even some of our clients at Square Martini Media after creating a detailed Social Media strategy discovered in the process that Social Media is a big of a commitment and had to reconsider moving forward. Social Media takes someone within a company or a firm like ours actual hours, time, and money to make successful.
Review Analytics – Use Google Analytics or something similar to review your site traffic for the year. If you are using Social Media as a marketing tool to bring traffic to your hub (website or blog) you should clearly see what areas within Social Media are working and which one are not. This is a great way to discover opportunities while having some reality checks at the same time. What worked and what can be improved on? Are there areas within Social Media that you are spending a lot of time yet not getting the desired results? Make the decision to change or abandoned what is not working and focus your resources on new strategies or expanding what is working.
Blogging and Facebook Business Pages – Are you creating new content? Did you commit to a certain amount of posts this year and did you follow through? Have you adjusted your posting calendar for both your blog and Facebook business page this year and have your reviewed the results? Are there certain topics, themes, or discussions that seem to be more successful than others? For many businesses their blog can be the majority of the traffic for their site. Take some time and discover the posts that are still driving traffic to your website and how you might expand on them for 2011.
Social Media Profiles – When is the last time you updated your Linkedin Profile? And speaking of profiles have you seen your Facebook profile lately? Many business owners set up a profile and never look back. Business goals and messages change, make sure your message is congruent with both your personal and business brands. Block out time to review and make needed adjustments to your main Social Media profiles.
Show me the money! – Let’s talk about sales! If you are using Social Media to create sales make sure to review your sales and see where they are coming from. Is the time, effort, and money you are spending on Social Media bringing new sales to your business? I have to make it clear that I am assuming you are tracking your sales. Not kind of tracking or broadly tracking, but really making sure that you and every employee is making every possible effort to identify where each and every sale is coming from. I have talked to many business owners this year who swear they are tracking their sales. Typically when I dig deeper and ask more questions about their sales they realize they are not tracking as well as they thought. This is one of the biggest mistakes made in business today. You must have great sales tracking to know if Social Media or any marketing strategy is working. If you cannot clearly identify sales from Social Media it is time to adjust your tracking methods.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Facebook puts a new spin on Tagging Photos: Facial Recgonition
Very Cool stuff! My advice when there are changes made to FB, REVISIT YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS. http://anisesmith.posterous.com/this-is-how-private-your-facebook-profile-sho
Amplify’d from mashable.com
Facebook Brings Facial Recognition to Photo Tagging
This release is part of a bigger effort to upgrade Photos. Earlier this year, Facebook launched a slew of upgrades, including bigger thumbnails, group tagging and drag-and-drop photos.
This may be the biggest upgrade for Photos yet, though. Photo tagging is considered a chore by many users, yet it is the company’s most popular product. “Photos are by far the most engaging content Facebook has ever had,” Cox told us earlier today. By vastly simplifying the tagging process, Facebook expects that its millions of users will tag more photos, which will create millions of new engagement points and social connections, making it that much more addicting.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
New Facebook Profile Pages
If you haven't upgraded you, take a look at the image below to give you a bit of a sneak peak. If you'd like to upgrade before tomorrows release you can do so using the link, http://www.facebook.com/about/profile.
Amplify’d from mashable.com
Mark Zuckerberg to Unveil New Profile Pages Tonight on “60 Minutes”
It looks like Facebook (
) is getting, well, a facelift. All week we’ve heard buzz about Mark Zuckerberg’s impending appearance on 60 Minutes, and now it’s come to light that he will be showing off the social networking site’s new Profile Pages tonight on the news show.
This morning, 60 Minutes released a preview of the show that will be airing tonight at 7 p.m. EST. We’re embedding that video below.
In perhaps the most dramatic change, tabs like “Wall” and “Info” are now located to the left of the page under the profile picture, instead of at the top of the page.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Social Media in Education
We all know that the US is losing the battle to other countries in regards to educating our kids in our current school systems. Although we are currently losing the war, do we have to throw our hands up and lose the battle as well? Shouldn’t we be creating out of the box and non traditional techniques to reach our kids and level the playing field. Social Media has changed how we view life, friends and the work place. So, could Social Media Play also be a key factor in revamping the failing education system? Do you think Social Media could be the answer? I would love to know your thoughts?
Amplify’d from chris.pirillo.com
In the age of Web 2.0, why aren’t students using social media in the classroom? We already know that Twitter is the fastest way to find information on breaking news stories. Blogs can be used to encourage creative writing and proper grammar skills. Cramster is a Q&A board much like our new Lockergnome site. However, its sole purpose lies in bringing together pupils of all ages to help each other with homework and research. Sites such as Box and Dropbox allow learners and educators to share files together quickly and easily.
At the very least, sites such as Twitter, Facebook and even (*shudder*) MySpace can be used to create discussion in the classroom. Teachers can pull news stories from any of those sources. Students can ask questions and facilitate deeper discussion after reading something on one of the thousands of SM sites. Professors can institute peer reviews on writing projects. Kids can locate an expert in a field they are interested in, and “shadow” them on the Web. Geotagging can be used to target and find information about places that are being studied.
The possibilities are, quite honestly, endless. I certainly hope that my quick Twitter poll is not indicative of the use (or rather – the lack) of social media in an educational setting. Will someone prove me wrong? I’d love to hear your stories of how your school or college has been incorporating the use of social media into the curriculum.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
More than 250 MILLION people use Facebook DAILY
One of the reasons that your BUSINESS NEEDS to be on Facebook is that you have the potential of reaching 250 MILLION people daily. Why are YOU NOT trying to reach these people?
Amplify’d from mashable.com
More Than 250 Million People Use Facebook on a Daily Basis
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg just shared that his company has more than 500 million members, and more than half of them use Facebook every day, with growth accelerating thanks to mobile.
Zuckerberg shared this incredible metric with Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle in a panel discussion at the Web 2.0 Summit. The Facebook CEO believes most industries are going to be redesigned around users’ social activity; he used this metric as a foundation for that statement.
For companies that are not social, Zuckerberg emphatically told them, “Get on the bus.”
Read more at mashable.com
More than 250 MILLION people use Facebook DAILY
One of the reasons that your BUSINESS NEEDS to be on Facebook is that you have the potential of reaching 250 MILLION people daily. Why are YOU NOT trying to reach these people?
Amplify’d from mashable.com
More Than 250 Million People Use Facebook on a Daily Basis
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg just shared that his company has more than 500 million members, and more than half of them use Facebook every day, with growth accelerating thanks to mobile.
Zuckerberg shared this incredible metric with Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle in a panel discussion at the Web 2.0 Summit. The Facebook CEO believes most industries are going to be redesigned around users’ social activity; he used this metric as a foundation for that statement.
For companies that are not social, Zuckerberg emphatically told them, “Get on the bus.”
Read more at mashable.com
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Social Media contribution to New Media Marketing Technologies
Traditional Marketing is a thing of the past.
Amplify’d from mashable.com
How Social Media Has Radically Altered Advertising
Social Media started out as a bit of a novelty — a playground for the “geekerati.” But it has taken hold as a game changing force that will reshape advertising at its very core.
Marketing has traditionally focused on the four “Ps”: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Social media has morphed into the fifth, and possibly most important “P”: People. A people strategy is at the center of today’s dynamic and fluid social marketing mix. John Janitsch of Duct Tape Marketing has another take on the four Ps, and has turned them into four Cs for the social age: Content, Context, Connection and Community.
Social media has changed the way people interact amongst themselves and with their media. People play multiple — sometimes simultaneous — roles as receivers, creators, critics, advocates, transformers and transmitters of messages. Brian Solis’ conversation prism helps to put this mash-up into perspective.
- Lighten Up. Stop lamenting the end of advertising as we know it. Celebrate the emergence of advertising as the consumer wants it and as it was meant to be — the art of one-on-one persuasion.
- Listen Up. Take Chris Brogan’s advice. Grow bigger ears and become an expert at listening to what people feel. Value response and engagement skills as much as creative abilities.
- Loosen Up. Get comfortable with giving up control to gain confidence and traction with clients and consumers. Client relationships ought to be rooted in trust, transparency and creative programs that are built on a strong positioning and responsibly deliver what is promised.
- Ladder It Up. Embrace “collabetition.” Resist the urge to say “we can do it all” and openly collaborate with like-minded competitors to add value to an idea or program.
- Live It Up. Everyone at an agency has to immerse themselves in the “social circles” in which consumers live and move everyday. Observation and understanding have been trumped by participation and engagement.
Now is the time to be magicians.
Read more at mashable.com
