Alert Blog Reviews

We are always looking for new applications for social media outlets right? How can we get our message out to more people? How can we create community amongst customers? How we can get 40,000 people to follow us as we escape from the law? Whoa, wait a minute. That last one doesn’t seem very ‘marketing’ oriented does it? Well, that’s because it’s not and it is really a slow news day at least from this blogger’s perspective. So let’s instead follow the tale of the rocket scientist who escaped from a jail in England and has spent the last 4 months taunting police through his Facebook presence . I say rocket scientist because it wasn’t like he just went to jail and was getting ready for a long stint in the slammer (very 40’s gangster film sounding isn’t it?). No, in fact, he was getting close to the end of a seven year sentence for aggravated burglary but now he may have to find another way to work out his aggravation. Mashable reports A British man who has spent the four months following his prison break taunting police with clues and rude gestures on Facebook has finally been caught by Scotland Yard. After he disappeared from a minimum-security prison in Suffolk in late September, the man (named Craig Lynch) posted status updates about what kind of steak he was eating, the temperature, and his New Year’s plans, stopping just shy of giving police enough information to find him. He even posted profile pictures with signs mocking his pursuers. How about this for a marketing angle. You can breath new life into the Robert Downery, Jr. movie Sherlock Holmes with the obvious Scotland Yard connection. Maybe a little time travel for Mr. Holmes to the future could be in the works for Sherlock Holmes 2 as he tracks notorious villains and the like using social media. Heck, he already has the CGI stunt part of the future down so why not go all out? Turns out Mr. Lynch may have been more of a prophet than anything else The “About Me” section of his Facebook profile said: “You’ll have a laugh with me but it will end in tears. It always does.” Not the happiest of endings I suppose but what did he expect, privacy with Facebook?

Go here to read the rest:
Escapee Using Facebook to Taunt Police is Caught

The online space is certainly trying hard to cut the apron strings associated with traditional media techniques and practices. It can be hard though, to completely separate from something that may still have value. Think about how nice it was (or still is) to go back “home” and get that meal that you just can’t make on your own. While you never want to be back there 24 / 7 again there are certain things that are part of our past that will always have great value and we get to take the best of those things with us. The same concept may apply to the Internet marketing world as well. As much as we try to break away and create our own identity separate from the traditional world of content generation, advertising, PR and every other piece of the overall marketing mosaic, there may be some things that will always have a place. One of them might even be snail mail. An article in the Wall Street Journal talks about how there may be certain aspects of snail mail that carry importance even in the rush to digitize everything in our business lives. While not right for every business, part of the relationship building that we talk of as the most important aspect of the social web can be cemented with a good old fashioned handwritten note. For instance: Looking to cut costs amid the recession, Alicia Settle initially thought it would be a good idea to eliminate her company’s annual direct mailing. Spending about $20,000 on the personally signed letters, which offered customers a discount on early orders, seemed indulgent for Per Annum Inc., which sells city diaries, albums, and planners in the struggling corporate gift market. But after swapping snail mail for email last year, Ms. Settle saw a 25% drop in early orders compared with the same period the previous year. “We realized we had made a huge mistake,” says Ms. Settle, president of the New York firm. This is one of the dangers of taking established businesses and preaching that since online is the wave of the future that you need to go there. Damn the torpedoes and full steam ahead into the future! Sure businesses do need to evolve but to what extent is completely dependent on what kind of business it is, what their existing customers are used to and how new customers can be attracted to the offerings. As a result, you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater so there may be room to get rid of some traditional marketing that is certainly unproductive in the new world order while keeping others. These “old school” activities like handwritten thank you notes and other techniques now are part of the whole social marketing fabric that can serve to benefit the new and the old customers. They are actually part of social media. The idea is to send something that’s more appealing than “junk” mail and potentially more noticeable than an email message, says Eric Anderson, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. That allows business owners “to offer a personal touch the larger firms may not be able to have,” he says. Prof. Anderson says other business owners are trying to figure out how to integrate Web marketing—such as email campaigns, banner ads and social-networking sites—with direct mail. “The introduction of new media has forced [business owners] to go back and revisit the whole playbook on what’s the best way to communicate with customers,” Mr. Anderson says. Ms. Settle, for instance, plans to use e-marketing to complement the hand-signed direct-mail piece, not replace it. So how do you incorporate the best of the old and the new in your business? Have you made a “pendulum swing” adjustment and taken away too much of what was once effective? Did you then find that part of the old way of doing things could still serve you well? Where is the happy medium and what might it look like moving forward?

Go here to see the original:
Can Snail Mail Be Part of Social Media?

And I don’t mean job security for Carol Bartz. Yahoo’s BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) is a popular, free way for developers to access the Yahoo index and to implement Yahoo search for your site. With the pending Microsoft-Yahoo deal outsourcing the search business, there has been some concern over whether BOSS will be discontinued. Never fear, says Yahoo—BOSS is sticking around. Like the main search results, the BOSS results are slated to use Bing’s index as well. But the bad news is that BOSS may not continue to be a free offering. Ashim Chimbra addressed developers’ concerns in the Yahoo Tech Group and alluded to possible pay structures in the future (emphasis added): Under this agreement, Yahoo! is permitted to continue offering the BOSS web service, with search results that would integrate Yahoo! services and content with algorithmic results provided by Microsoft. As always, our intention is to provide a BOSS offering as long as it makes business and economic sense to do so. We are still examining what the BOSS offering will consist of, with some services powered by Microsoft, unique content that Yahoo! currently provides, and the potential for additional Yahoo! content in the future. Prior to the announcement of the Yahoo!-Microsoft search agreement, we’d already shared our intention to explore a fee-based structure for BOSS. We continue to explore an appropriate fee structure or other revenue model as we work through the future of BOSS. As you know, we must receive regulatory clearance before actual implementation of the search deal with Microsoft can occur. Only then can we finalize the future shape of BOSS. Of course, we will provide additional clarity and certainty when we can. So clearly, they’re keeping their options open for pricing. What do you think? Will they be able to keep it free, or is the deal with Microsoft underlying evidence of the need for revenue? via

Follow this link:
Yahoo to Keep BOSS under Microsoft

In an attempt to give our readers some real world application of all this social media theory swirling about we will be occasionally speaking with some real people who do the real work. How about that? Today we look at social media and the sports world. Regular readers of this blog know that I am a bit of a sports fan. I say a bit because I am no longer playing any fantasy leagues etc so I am not a sports fanatic. I am primarily a New York area sports fan but not the usual kind (Giants, Mets, Devils. I could care less about the NBA). People in that area are pretty passionate about their sports and that’s how I learned to be a fan. Now times have changed considerably. It is difficult for the everyday fan to afford attending actual games (especially if a family is involved). As a result the connection to sports is changing and social media is creating a whole new channel for the fans to interact and be a part of the action that they may not get at the stadium or the ballpark. Pat Coyle of Coyle Media has been involved in the social side of sports for quite a while now. Pat has worked as the Director of Marketing for the Indianapolis Colts and helped create MyColts.net, which is an active online community for the fans of the NFL franchise. I talked to Pat about this and other social media projects he has underway. Frank : Since most people in the social media industry came from somewhere else what is your background? Pat : I have always had an interest in ways technology impacts human communication. I am a Chicago native came out of a direct marketing and sales career to be the Director of marketing for the Colts. I left to start a company and returned to the Colts after five years to be the Director of Digital Business for four years. Coyle Media, my consultancy to the sports industry, is now 2 years old. Frank : So tell us about Coyle Media and what you are doing? Pat : Coyle Media has two legs at this point. One is Sports 2.0, which has its own community at sportsmarketing20.com . The focus of my sports practice is to help teams (and other properties) make money through digital media. The main revenue sources we assist with are sponsorship, ticket sales and community building. The other part of Coyle Media is a social media platform called SmallerIndiana.com , which is a hyper-local online community we launched 2 years ago. It has grown to 8,000 members, and is driven by a sponsorship business model. The consulting business keeps me very busy so the communities, while growing, could use more of my time. That’s the nature of the online community business but I’m not complaining. Frank : You started and have grown MyColts.net. Tell us about that. Pat : The theory is simple: connect fans to each other and you connect them closer to your brand. Colts fans want to socialize with other fans. They want to be seen and recognized and they want to feel like they’re getting inside access. MyColts.net was designed to give fans all three of these things. We figured if we could engage fans through social media, it would give us another way to help sponsors engage with fans and it would give us another channel through which we can sell merchandise and tickets. So far the site has over 28,000 registered members. Research showed as well that while there are ticket buying fans that are in the Indianapolis region the greater number of Colts fans actually reside throughout the country. This site gives them a chance to become more involved in the team without ever likely being able to attend a game. Frank : What are your thoughts on the NFL and their attempts to limit social media interaction with the athletes and fans? Pat : I run a little counter to the “let it be wide-open” crowd. I can see the side of ownership and the need to protect their investments. While most think that the owners are just rich guys getting richer, they are actually taking on all the risk so their desire to keep things contained to protect the brand are less about being “old school’ and more about doing good business. I do, however, think ownership must face the fact that fans are gaining control, so their habit of controlling content may have to evolve rapidly in order to allow fans to do what they do. While it will be an interesting transition it will be best for everyone in the long run. Frank : How will social media effect how sports are marketed and sold in the future? Pat : There is a HUGE opportunity to tap Facebook and Twitter in combination with team social communities in order to add value to fans’ experiences, create opportunities for sponsors and make money for the team. But these things won’t happen by accident. Teams need to make them happen. So far, most teams do not have anyone running their digital channels. I think that needs to change if teams are going to tap the full potential of digital. I hope to see teams begin to optimize their sites for sponsorship and ticket sales. In fact, that’s the focus of my Sports 2.0 service…to help teams optimize their digital channels to drive profits. The biggest idea in my brain right now is a way to help teams sell tickets through the social graph. I am working on this one and will let you know more when it’s ready. I am really excited about the prospects for sports teams as a result and I think the future of sports marketing will be heavily concentrated here. Frank : Thanks for your time. We look forward to seeing how the sports industry embraces social media and how you will help shape the way we interact with sports teams in the future. You can see more of Pat’s thoughts on these subjects at patcoyle.net

Read more:
Social Media and the Future of Sports

When Google’s Matt Cutts makes this statement on Twitter: “This is important. Google provides webmaster tool to see how fast your site is…” You can pretty much take to the bank that Google is getting ready to add site load speed to its complex search algorithm. In fact, Cutts points us to this Google announcement : On Site Performance, you’ll find how fast your pages load, how they’ve fared over time, how your site’s load time compares to that of other sites, examples of specific pages and their actual page load times, and Page Speed suggestions that can help reduce user-perceived latency. Our goal is to bring you specific and actionable speed information backed by data, so stay tuned for more of this in the future. So, why is Google adding “speed” to its algorithm? The clue is given by Google: Studies have repeatedly shown that speeding up your site leads to increased user retention and activity , higher revenue and lower costs . Oh, you thought Google was talking about your revenues and costs? No, silly, it’s Google’s. PS. Want to check your site’s performance? You’ll need a Google Webmaster’s account , then follow this navigation path: yoursite> labs> site performance (thanks NC_SEO )

See the article here:
Google REALLY Wants You to Speed Up Your Web Site

When most people hear the word exploit they automatically think that you are doing something unethical or illegal.  However, exploit actually means to take advantage of a situation or to use or develop something in order to gain a benefit.  Thus, exploit is actually the perfect verb to describe how you should approach the online business because you want to take advantage of the fact that the web offers easy access to millions of potential consumers and you want to develop the recession proof business venue to produce high sales figures.  The only thing you need to know now is how you can exploit the online business world in four easy steps, and believe it or not it’s not that hard! Find your target audience- First off; you need to discover where your target audience is located on the web and what their interests are.  It is much easier to see results from your advertising and marketing campaigns if you start by aiming them directly at the crowd of web browsers who are most likely to purchase your product or service.  You can conduct your own research to find their tastes or simply hire a consultant, but you will see much higher sales profits if you go out and find them instead of waiting for them to come to you. Utilize social media- The largest advertising tool on the internet right now is also conveniently very low cost and easy to use, social media websites.  Social networking is becoming the ‘IT’ thing in pop culture even more so every day since you are not somebody until you have a Facebook and Twitter account.  Take advantage of the easy exposure and free advertising venue via status updates by joining and offering users easy access to your company.  Additionally, this is a great way to collect consumer feedback which can help you improve your business in the future. Develop your website- If you had an actual store you would never let the door way and front side look as if it were ancient, so why would you leave your website looking this way?  Your homepage on your website is the first thing that people see when they head over to take a look at your product or service.  In this increasingly technical age people are highly critical of website design, webpage usability, and overall current information.  If you are lacking any of these elements potential consumers will move on to another website that has them, even if your product is great.  So remember, your sale starts with your homepage, not with the actual product introduction. Delegate!- Finally, this is the key to any group project or large business project, in order to accomplish all of your business objectives you cannot be afraid to delegate.  The truth of the matter is that people who try to handle every aspect of their business on their own are doomed to fail because there is not enough time in one day to handle mundane tasks and still have time left for future development and expansion.  Hire a virtual assistant or outsource some of your smaller tasks and web tasks that are outside your area of expertise and you will be surprised with how much time to put your energy where it really counts, into the future progression of your business!

See the original post here:
How to exploit the online business world in four easy steps