28 Aug 2008
To partially quote from Wikipedia, Astroturfing is when an individual disguises the efforts of a commercial entity as an independent public reaction to a product, service or event. It’s an orchestration of overt outreach tactics by covert means. More to the point, it’s something you don’t do as a responsible marketer. The thing is, the rules are easily bendable, the tactics are highly tempting and the ethics are typically questioned. After all, what “harm” can it really do? Well, actually a lot — and I have a fresh and unfortunate story to share with you about it. To give some background: One of the main activities we do as a social media company is key influencer identification and blogger outreach. Our outreach efforts are always about approaching people on a personal level. In other words, asking for permission, being short and sweet about our agenda, and even apologizing up-front in the event…
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26 Aug 2008
Listen to our Podcast: Show Notes: Room 214 Co-founder, Jason Cormier, discusses community website platforms with John Kembel, CEO of HiveLive. We talk about: 1. What a community platform provides 2. Potential trends in community websites (community sites with typical website attributes vs. websites with bolted on community attributes) 3. Challenges with the technology 4. Businesses now focusing beyond the technology, and at the real business value of online communities Final Note: Thanks to John and Tracey at HiveLive for allowing me to pick up a discussion directly after John's interview with Jeremiah Owyang.
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12 Aug 2008
Last week, my wife conspired with my business partner to crush my Verizon phone, literally. Her text messages weren't getting through to me. Before long, James had my phone in one hand and a hammer in the other. The new iphone was its replacement, happening the same week of giving my Dell to Stepan as part of forcing my use of the new MacBook Pro that had been sitting on my desk unopened for two weeks. BTW, Stepan has his own MacBook Pro, and is only keeping the Dell until somebody here needs a better PC. Supposedly, I have been thrust into "the brave new world." Each day is getting easier, but there is still pain (enough for me to blog about it here). I'd like to think I'm somebody who embraces change. But as I look at this ultra small type on my new higher screen resolution, and consider…
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04 Aug 2008
Rumors of Google's free media planner have been buzzing around the interactive community for at least a year. When Googleannounced the beta version, I immediately signed up to be a beta tester for the product. My initial reaction? It can't compete with Nielsen's @plan or ComScore's Media Metrix. At least not yet. Most interactive media planners would agree that having a free planning tool would benefit our industry tremendously. Google has already released updates for Ad Planner, so I have hope that they will continue to improve the product to compete with larger, subscription-based tools. Until then, below are three reasons Ad Planner will not put Nielsen or ComScore out of business any time soon. Why Google Ad Planner Can't Compete 1. Target audience definition is limited. Media planners love to define niche audiences for their targeted marketing messages. These target definitions usually contain a mix of both demographic and psychographic qualities (such as…
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BrettGreene:
jo_rogel:
peterahall:
Room_214:
allisonmoore526: