Archive for December 2008
The business case against selling out
The ethics of traditional journalism forbid the practice of trading favorable copy for money, goods or services. Should the same code of ethics apply to bloggers? Blogger Ben Kunz offered a lighthearted take on this question in BusinessWeek. On his blog Thought Gadgets, Kunz makes the case that it’s not purely an ethical proposition — [...]
Andy’s Answers: How do we get better online product reviews?
Grouchy customers are quick to complain on review sites. But the happy customers–the other 99%–don’t think to do it. Create a program to systematically ask them to post a review. Make it easy by sending links to review Web sites. Don’t insist on positive reviews (that’s sleazy), but don’t worry, because most people are happy [...]
Widgets — a primer
Today we continue our primer series with an excerpt from the IAB’s User Generated Content, Social Media, and Advertising – An Overview. Widgets, portable applications that allow both users and sites to have a hand in the content, have recently become a popular form of brand or news distribution. The publisher is able to control [...]
Andy’s Answers: What do we do about employees who are already using social media?
It’s funny to watch big companies struggle with a social media strategy–because one-third to one-half of your employees are already using Facebook, MySpace, and blogs. Trying to figure this out inside an isolated marketing meeting doesn’t make sense, because your most experienced social media people are scattered throughout the company. Your employees are the engine [...]
Is journalism’s future in crowdsourcing?
Mark Glaser’s roundup of Top 10 Mediashifting stories of the year focuses on news about how media consumers are getting information in new ways, and from new sources. For some media junkies, 2008 was the year Twitter went mainstream, via reporting from the Mumbai attacks and live plane-crash tweets. For traditional journalists, the biggest story [...]
Andy’s Take: Is your Christmas card forwardable?
The secret to word of mouth marketing: Give people something to talk about and make it easier to share. This time of year companies are sending out hundreds of holiday cards, most of which get a quick glance on their way to the trash. When designing a card, ask yourself: Would anyone show this to [...]
Your Social Media Resolutions for 2009
What’s the No. 1 thing you’d like to achieve in the realm of social media next year? Will you start a new blog? Create a clever viral campaign? Tackle Twitter? Integrate social networks into your marketing plan? Do tell! The 10 best resolutions – contributed via comments below – will receive a $50 Amazon gift card and [...]
What is working…and what’s to come
The 5 most-clicked links in Social Media this past week: 14 trends on tap for social media Dell tweets bring in $1 million Create a marketing gift that keeps on giving How not to look like a fool on LinkedIn JibJab partnership amps up OfficeMax’s elf campaign
