Small Businesses Getting Social

"In June 2012, LinkedIn analyzed the countries where worldwide small-business professionals with accounts on the site lived and found that, not surprisingly due to the site’s headquarters, the US was the top country, with more than 6.8 million small-business professionals. The UK and India were the next most popular countries, with 1.06 million and 1.01 million professionals, respectively," reports eMarketer. "It is not only small-business professionals who are jumping into social media. Small businesses themselves are getting more involved on these sites. August 2012 data from Newtek Business Services found that Facebook is seeing more activity from small businesses. The survey of independent business owners in the US found that 47% of small businesses had a Facebook account." Read more; see charts. 

Throughout the semester, I rarely have mentioned small businesses, emphasizing the marketing campaigns of companies such as Toyota, Coke, and P&G. Small businesses, meaning companies who employ fewer than 10 people, represent nearly 80 percent of all employer firms in the U.S. They tend to be local companies with less resources for broadcast marketing, meaning tv and radio. As a result they become ideal candidates for the use of Internet marketing. They also lack the resources to maintain extensive contacts in the business community and its necessary services, such as accounting and legal. A social network, such as LinkedIn, enables them to establish or to improve their connections in the business community while Facebook can help them market to local customers, therefore accounting for the increased usage of both types of social networks by small businesses. 

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short report.

Virtual and Real Worlds Collide--Yet Again

"Exponential Interactive...and MasterCard Advisors...have announced a partnership that will enable Exponential's brands [marketers/advertisers] to target their digital ads to audiences based on their offline spending behavior," says ClickZ. "Data on spending behavior, which the companies say is anonymous and not linked to any individual, will be extracted from the more than 25 billion transactions that U.S. MasterCard holders carry out at retail locations annually. Some 310 million people hold a MasterCard in the U.S." Read more.

By integrating the virtual and real worlds of consumers, marketers discover a distinction about their potential customers: how people behave online differs from how the behave in the real world. In other words, an individual, while surfing the Web, may scout out luxury car brands but walk into dealerships and buy an economy brand. By discovering these types of distinctions, marketers can more effectively target ads or change their marketing messages. Now remember the concepts of conversation in the HD Marketing Report and the journey concept found in the Demystifying Social Media report. Then ask: How does this partnership work with those concepts? 

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short reports.

Getting Customers to Return

"Google has recently announced a beta program called Remarketing in Search, which aims to take the benefits of remarketing and leverage them within the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) environment. The idea is simple: create remarketing lists as you do with display, but leverage this customer knowledge to impact you’re messaging and bidding strategy within your SEM campaigns to improve performance," according to ClickZ. "Remarketing - or retargeting - is now an established tactic leveraged by many (if not all) digital marketers trying to maximize conversion activity. Retargeting, in its simplest form, is the practice of delivering display advertisements to users who have visited owned content in the past, in order to get them to come back and take action. Retargeting on its own has many layers of complexity, including, determining which pages to track and which to exclude, developing relevant “cookie pools” against the tracked pages, and what creative messaging to deliver to each cookie pool." Read more.

To understand how remarketing/retargeting affects marketers, you should read the remainder of the article. In summary and without detail, it dovetails into the Demystifying Social Media (DSM) report. Remarketing continues the "conversation" with the viewer as she/he continues her "journey" for purchasing a product or service.  Google's "Remarketing in Search" and DSM differ in one respect. Google's deals with search results, and the report covers social media.

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short reports.

While Trying to Lure More Advertisers, Facebook Faces Concerns about Privacy

"Following a recent uptick in data-driven ad offerings and a rapidly expanding ad exchange, Facebook is responding to fresh privacy concerns with new details about how it collects user data and how users can opt out of certain features. A series of mechanisms have been put in place to protect user privacy under the framework of Facebook Exchange (FBX), custom audience targeting and Facebook's now year-long partnership with data matching firm DataLogix," reports ClickZ.
"Almost four months have passed since Facebook launched its real-time ad exchange and it continues to grow the exchange with new partners, most recently Criteo and Rocket Fuel. However, with FBX enabling Facebook to connect its platform to third-party data for targeting ads, it was only a matter of time before privacy issues bubbled to the surface." Read more.

The exchange and privacy protection works this way. A viewer goes to a Facebook page. If the person has previously visited the site, then his/her computer will have a ID number. Facebook notifies the ad exchnage, which then tells Facebook which marketers want to show what advertisement. Facebook does not send personal information to the advertiser.

The question for marketers: How might privacy concerns kill the goose that lays the golden eggs? Two ways come to mind. First, surfers might opt for private browsing, which the major browsers now provide, thereby denying information to websites. Second, surfers might avoid sites such as Facebook. Should a vast majority of web surfers do either or a combination, then marketers will lose access to the information used for effective Internet marketing.

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short reports.

Jaguar Land Rover Chase Customers after They Close a Deal

"Leverage new marketing channels for after-sales retention," notes Digital Marketing  News. "Many automobile brands commonly use a blend of traditional and digital strategies to attract new customers. But a growing number of brands, such as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), are also leveraging cutting-edge technologies to retain customers in an after-sales environment." Read more.

Green Mountain Coffee Gets Its Buzz On

"Drive sales by educating consumers about fair trade and enhance their understanding of its benefits," goes the Digital Marketing News post. "Coffee drinking is often a social activity, which is why it made sense for Green Mountain to tap BzzAgent, the social arm of dunnhumby, when the brand embarked on a broad push to promote its fair trade-certified coffee line." Read more.

Investigate the Dark Knight

"A viral campaign orchestrated by Warner Bros. and DC Comics [for the recently released movie Dark Knight Rises] rewarded loyal Batman fans with a preview of a preview — if they were able to put the pieces together," reports Direct Marketing News. "In mimicry of a real investigation, visitors to the Dark Knight Rises site were given a series of clues in the form of fake police reports, wanted posters for an 'anonymous vigilante' known as 'The Batman' and other 'official' documents from the fictional Gotham City Police Department, including one mentioning that Batman-related graffiti had been spotted in cities across the globe. 'Citizens' who found and photographed the graffiti, and either uploaded the images to Twitter with the hashtag #tdkr07202012 or emailed them to tdkr07202012@gothampolicedepartment.com could help unlock the movie trailer frame-by-frame in advance of its theatrical release." Read more.

Nissan Goes Mobile To Show Off Park Assist

"To promote the park assist technology in its new Qashqai compact SUV, Nissan España tapped creative agency Plan Comunicación and media agency OMD to create multiscreen mobile ads that demonstrate the ease with which one can parallel park the Qashqai, even on narrow city streets." That's the start of a Direct Marketing News post. Read more.

Taco Bell and Doritos Team Up

"Taco Bell teamed up with Doritos to create “Doritos Locos Tacos,” a new product featuring Doritos-flavored shells," according to Direct Marketing News. "To promote the orange-encased tacos, Taco Bell called on Draftfcb Orange County, the brand's AOR, to spearhead a multichannel effort that included a midnight launch of the product at 5,600 Taco Bell drive-up windows nationwide on March 8. Consumers who scanned QR codes printed on drink cups and other packaging were prompted to download a branded augmented reality app that allows users to watch Locos Tacos-related tweets appear in real time. Some of the tweets were also broadcast live on digital billboards set up in New York's Time Square and on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles." Read more.

General Mills Takes New Avenues

"General Mills has taken to new avenues of social media to promote its Fiber One Chewy Bars," reports Direct Marketing News. "In addition to more traditional means of promotion, such as newspaper  coupons and television commercials, General Mills is using Pinterest for its latest campaign." Read more.

FTC Looks to Protect Privacy of Children Online

"The moves come at a time when major corporations, app developers and data miners appear to be collecting information about the online activities of millions of young Internet users without their parents’ awareness, children’s advocates say. Some sites and apps have also collected details like children’s photographs or locations of mobile devices; the concern is that the information could be used to identify or locate individual children," reports the New York Times. "These data-gathering practices are legal. But the development has so alarmed officials at the Federal Trade Commission that the agency is moving to overhaul rules that many experts say have not kept pace with the explosive growth of the Web and innovations like mobile apps. New rules are expected within weeks...The proposed changes could greatly increase the need for children’s sites to obtain parental permission for some practices that are now popular — like using cookies to track users’ activities around the Web over time. Marketers argue that the rule should not be changed so extensively, lest it cause companies to reduce their offerings for children." Read more.

B2B Marketers Changing the Way They Use Video

"Online video is not only changing the way B2B [busienss to business] marketers optimize content for better search results, but it's changing the way businesses engage with customers, interact with key decision makers, and better understand the impact of their marketing efforts," goes the Direct Marketing News post. Read more.

Gimmicks Can Fail

"Engagement is a good thing, of course. The preference to be not bored is pretty universal. But with time constraints and information overload, getting and maintaining people's already short attention spans is harder than ever. So, marketers and content specialists are turning to gamification as the latest Holy Grail," according to Direct Marketing News. "Too bad they don't know what they're doing." Read more.

Promotoing Honda with Other People's Videos

J Barbush of the marketing agency RPA, in Santa Monica, CA, spoke with ClickZ "after he was heads down in a Honda campaign that involved local band Monsters Calling Home getting a special musical guest spot on Jimmy Kimmel Live last Wednesday. The idea for the campaign really came out of nowhere. Someone within the agency discovered that the band recently shot a music video inside their Honda vehicles and the message eventually found its way to Barbush. 'It would have been easy for us to click, like, or repost it,' he said. 'We thought this was a really great opportunity.'

"A Honda-branded video that tells the story of the band and its road to the late night talk show has been viewed nearly 1.3 million times. The story also follows Barbush's passion for finding authentic, regular people that can become a spokespeople of sorts for the brand. 'It really is about promoting this regular person with a lot of passion… When people see it, their passion comes through,' he said." Read more.

Social Media Drives Customers to Websites

"A report from Forrester Research relayed by Marketing Land suggests that social media marketing's value for businesses lies in engaging new prospects and driving them to a website. Even though few consumers make purchases directly after reading social content, including links and making a presence more engaging has helped businesses improve their overall web presence," reports Brafton News. "The study found organic search and direct site visits are most likely to result in more conversions on the web, accounting for 20 and 16 percent of sales, respectively. Still, a social presence helps cultivate stronger positions in organic search and aids brand awareness. It's difficult for companies with even the best products to make sales if. A multi-channel web marketing strategy will help companies appeal to larger audiences." Read more.

Content Marketing Playing Big Role in Internet Marketing

"Ken Barhoover, marketing manager for Park Place Technologies, uses content marketing to make his company stand out on the web. His company publishes news articles, white papers and other forms of written content that drive search standing and help attract relevant site traffic. To stay on top of web audiences' growing demand for visual content, Barhoover recently opted to add infographics to his content marketing strategy, and the company has seen a variety of benefits." That's part of the story from Brafton News. Read more.

Organizations Not Prepared for Criticism on Social Media

"A report from Ethical Corp. suggests that companies and other organizations using social media marketing experience criticism on the channel. However, just 28 percent of organizations included in the poll are prepared to deal with it. The study illustrates that brands must be ready to engage negative feedback as it's a social reality they can't ignore," according to Brafton News. "Ethical Corp. found 20 percent of respondents are "completely unprepared" to deal with criticism on social media, and another 18 percent are also unprepared. Roughly one-third fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to fielding negative brand mentions." Read more.

More Individuals Turning to Pinterest and Tumblr

"According to Compete.com, both Pinterest and Tumblr's users bases are growing, and visitors spend more time on these sites than ever before," reports Brafton News. "The data that Pinterest.com has seen steady growth in 2012, topping off at more than 21 million unique visitors in July, while Tumblr reached nearly 23 million in the month. For companies looking to diversify their social media marketing presences, these sites offer a new visual dimension for their strategies, especially those hoping to reach younger adult audiences." Read more.

Pepsi's "Uncle Drew" Goes Viral

"It's been an exciting two weeks on social platforms for Pepsi. The beverage maker announced a yearlong music-focused partnership with Twitter earlier this week and a new candid-camera-esque video for Pepsi Max dubbed "Uncle Drew" exploded on YouTube over the past week," notes Advertising Age. "That five-minute video from Davie Brown Entertainment debuts this week on the Viral Video Chart at No. 3 with 5.4 million views. It features NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving disguised as a sweatshirt-wearing, pot-belly-sporting elderly man named "Uncle Drew" who's attending an outdoors basketball game where his nephew is playing. When one of the players goes down with an injury, Uncle Drew takes the court and stuns everyone with a flurry of crossover dribbles, dunks, and three-point baskets, taunting his opponents all the while." Read more.

Unilever's Marketing Plan: Safe Drinking Water to 500 Million

"When Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan in late 2010, perhaps the most ambitious goal was to provide safe drinking water by 2020 to 500 million people -- more than currently live in South America. Now the consumer packaged-goods giant is tapping Facebook's 900 million global users for help," according to Advertising Age. "Unilever Global Marketing and Communications Officer Keith Weed was expected to announce the not-for-profit WaterWorks partnership with Facebook and Population Services International during a presentation at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes on Friday morning." Read more.

Internet Marketers to Spend $37 Billion + This Year

"eMarketer estimates that marketers will spend $37.31 billion on digital advertising in 2012. Digital ad spending will rise 16.6% this year, and will experience double-digit growth through 2014," says eMarketer. "Based on the Interactive Advertising Bureau/PricewaterhouseCoopers data for the first two quarters of 2012, and because the digital ad spending market is approaching maturity faster than expected, eMarketer has lowered the projected rate of increase for US digital ad spending slightly from its earlier forecast of 17.7% in 2012. However, eMarketer’s outlook remains optimistic—despite slower percentage gains, big dollar growth will continue." Read more.

It's a First. Google Dominates Display Advertising Market. Meanwhile Facebook Goes Mobile with Marketing

"Google will earn more US display advertising revenues [money paid by companies to place an image/video ad on a website] than any other company this year, topping the market with a 15.4% share, according to new estimates by eMarketer. The milestone means Google now holds more share than any other company in each of the US search, display and mobile advertising markets," according to eMarketer. "Google is expected to take home $2.31 billion in US display ad revenues this year, up 38.5% from $1.67 billion in 2011, eMarketer estimates. Facebook, by comparison, will earn $2.16 billion in US display ad revenues this year, up 24.4% from $1.73 billion last year. Yahoo!—the longtime leader before Facebook topped it last year—will see its share fall further." Read more.

Background: Google got its start in search ads, those ads that appear with search results on the right hand side of the screen. The company's revenue grew quickly. Then people got bored with the text ads. Meanwhile Yahoo dominated the marketplace for placing display ads, ads with pictures/video. Yahoo dominated the field until 2011 when Facebook took the lead. This year, Google will speed past Facebook and earn about eight percent of all money spent on Internet display advertising. As has been mentioned in class, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and many other sites have divisions or separate companies, called ad networks, that use their respective companies' demographic data to help would-be advertisers to place advertisers on the best possible websites, at the right time, and going to only the best potential customers.

Meanwhile, Brafton News reports that "companies...[that use] Facebook for social media marketing can now launch Sponsored Posts campaigns from smartphones....[In other words,] Marketers can select the content, control the maximum daily views they'll pay for and even access analytics information related to their campaigns. While the mobile measurement tools and capability aren't as robust as they are from desktop or laptop computers, this level of access helps social strategies keep pace with fans' social consumption and activity." Read more.

VW Starts New Campaign and Media Platform

"Volkswagen of America launched a new brand campaign and social media platform. The Why VW campaign will feature user-generated content on both a website and Facebook, along with brand content in a new voice," notes ClickZ. "The campaign began today with a new commercial called "Smiles," produced by Deutsch LA, that shows diverse people laughing out loud. The tagline: "It's not the miles. It's how you live them. Discover more at WhyVW.com." Volkswagen is airing the commercial during the presidential debates, Comedy Central's Indecision, and the season premieres of a variety of network sitcoms." Read more.

Are Viewers Turning from Search Engines to Social Media?

Marketing Pilgrim reports that "every marketer would like to see their brand land in the top spot on a search engine, but is top worth what it used to be? Experian Hitwise UK just released some interesting numbers concerning search in the land of Lords. What it shows is a slow decline in the number of people using search engines across the board. They say overall visits are down by 40 million since August of 2011. That means this past August was the first time this year that search didn’t show a year-over-year gain." Read more.

Grey Poupon Goes Retro with Social Media Campaign

"The scene is imbedded in TV commercial history. In the English countryside, one Rolls Royce pulls up next to another, in which a middle-aged patrician is dining on a roast. A jar of Grey Poupon perches prominently on his backseat dining tray. The gentleman in the first car asks the diner, in a high-toned British accent, 'Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?'  'Of course,' replies the diner, and motions to his chauffeur to drive away," reports Direct Marketing News. "Since that spot last ran in the1980s, several upscale competitors have joined Kraft Foods' aspirational mustard in the condiment aisles of American supermarkets, yet consumers still recall Grey Poupon's aristocratic heritage. Indeed, its awareness level is 97%, according to the brand's stewards. ...This week Kraft reprises the theme for a new generation with the launch of a Grey Poupon Facebook page that investigates a visitor's pedigree before allowing him or her to become a fan. " Read more.

Say It Ain't So, Jimmy Double O

"Heineken is flirting with the wrath of James Bond die-hards with a new $74m global ad campaign starring actor Daniel Craig," reports B&T. "The Dutch beer giant is heavily teasing the new 60 second TVC and “interactive experience” ahead of the global release of the new campaign on Thursday. But, a paid placement of Bond drinking from a Heineken bottle rather than his traditional “shaken not stirred” Martini has already incurred social media backlash. Facebook groups including “Boycott Heineken because they make James Bond drink their piss” and “Boo James Bond's Heineken Scene” have already sprung up." Read more.

L'Oreal Succeeds with Digital Marketing

"After spending as much on digital in 2011 as it did the prior two years combined, L'Oreal is devoting more than 10% of its marketing to digital in the U.S." So starts the Advertising Age post. "Now L'Oreal USA CMO Marc Speichert, who has made developing the company's digital-marketing capability a centerpiece of his work since joining from Colgate-Palmolive Co. in 2010, is taking some time to evaluate how that effort has paid off. The verdict: He's pretty happy." Read more.

Toyota Uses Mobile Sites for Lexus

"Toyota Corp.’s Lexus is drawing eyes to its new model through mobile banner advertisements on The New York Times mobile site," according to Luxury Marketing. "Likely in an attempt to engage with the New York Times’ affluent smartphone and tablet audience, Lexus chose a banner ad on the homepage of the news publication’s site. Lexus’ placement on the site follows on banner ads that the automaker has placed on other mobile sites." Read more.

Securities Trading Company Improve Social Standing

"As a company that focuses on assisting clients with commodity futures trading management, Daniels Trading realized social marketing has potential to demonstrate expertise and engage new audiences. Still, the brand was new to the social spaces, and felt it was in its best interest to enlist Brafton for help with establishing a stronger online presence," reports Brafton News. "At the beginning of Daniels Trading's relationship with Brafton, the focus was creating a robust website marketing industry-focused custom news content. Consistently updated, timely news articles related to the ever-changing trading market showed an increase in web traffic for Daniels Trading. As the company won more social traffic and started seeing brand mentions around shared headlines, Adam Nicholson, Daniels Trading's vice president of marketing, realized that it was time to bring his company’s expertise to social media to distribute the content more effectively." Read more.

B2B Marketers Prefer Content Marketing

"A report from Optify found that successful B2B [business to business--meaning companies marketing products/services to other companies] marketers are heavily focused on the creation of website content to improve visibility and niche authority [meaning defining the company as a leader in a small but important segment of a market] for their companies. Actively developing articles, white papers and other kinds of content to attract prospects or keep existing customers and clients engaged [blogs are simply but common examples] helps businesses consistently add to their sales pipeline and drive conversions," goes  Brafton News. "According to the study, 30 percent of marketers said content marketing creation and management occupied the most time, 17 percent pointed to various lead generation tasks and 16 percent named managing their websites as their most time-consuming activity. Each of these tasks are part of a strong inbound marketing strategy that focuses on developing a robust web presence, with content at the crux. Relevant site content pushes a brand's authority, while focusing on generating leads helps engage prospects and convert them effectively. Moreover, managing a website well helps ensure site pages are in line with SEO standards." Read more.

After GM Drops Facebook, Ford and Chrysler Stick Around

"General Motors famously pulled ad dollars from Facebook earlier this year, but the other two big Detroit automakers have stuck with the social site,:" according to  ClickZ. "Today, Chrysler is running an ad for its Town & Country minivan on Facebook's logout page, the largest paid ad unit on the site. The car company last week launched a campaign for the vehicle, one that includes a video-centric website touting the van's suitability for real family use." Read more.

Volvo Takes a Spin on Pinterest

"When most consumers think Volvo, they think safety.: That's the start of the Direct Marketing News post. "But Volvo Cars of North America also wants them to think design and aesthetics. Consequently, the automaker has revved up its social marketing, inviting Pinterest users to plan and share their ideal "joyride" by re-pinning their favorite images of the Volvo S60 T5, along with comments on where they'd like to go on a road trip, where they'd stop along the way, what they'd wear during their trip, and what music would enliven their travels." Read more.

Facebook Releases Its Marketing Exchange

"Three months to the day after it announced a beta round, Facebook has announced general release of its Facebook Exchange (FBX) real-time bidding (RTB) option," reports Marketing Vox. "FBX enables advertisers and agencies to use cookie-based targeting through Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) to reach their audiences on Facebook, with what Facebook promises are 'more timely and relevant messages.' For brands and agencies, it is a way to drive direct response goals on Facebook." Read more.

FYI: An exchange works similarly to the stock marketing (also called an exchange). Advertisers and/or advertising agencies bid for advertising space geared to individuals with specific demographics. In this case, it is based on the cookies that viewers' computers have collected, which frequently would reflect the type of products, movies, and even readings individuals view.

Social Image Goes with Images

"Images are one of the biggest trends of social media for 2012. While we often talk about the sites that are trending and the “next big thing” of social media, we seem to forget about the broader trends that have implications to our current and future strategies," according to ClickZ. "Images are the hottest thing is social media right now. Visual content is the consistent thread across the sites and tools that are growing." Read more.

How Adobe Uses Search Data

"Adobe SEO manager David Lloyd discussed how the company uses search data and content optimization to inform print collateral, advertising, social media and web design," writes ClickZ. Read more.

Yahoo Search Continues to Trail Thriving Competitors

"As part of its August search rankings analyzing American web queries, market research firm comScore found that Yahoo has seen a considerable drop in the last year. According to the report, Yahoo fielded 16.3 percent of all search queries in August to 2011, however, it's share fell to 12.8 percent of searches last month," according to Brafton. "In fact, Yahoo was the lone engine of the five measured by comScore that lost market share this year. As Brafton reported, Bing reached an all-time high in August 2012, and Microsoft has added 1.2 percentage points to its market share in the last 12 months. Google, Ask.com and AOL also made improvements in their shares of the market." Read more.

Social Media Finding New Ways of Presenting Ads

Brafton reports that "paid social content has changed substantially in 2012, with Facebook, Twitter and others finding new ways to present ads to users without disrupting their experiences on the site. Twitter rolled out Promoted Tweets, which insert ads into activity streams much like normal Tweets, differentiated only by text indicating they’re ads. As a result of this move, Twitter has seen a massive increase in ad revenue, which eMarketer said will reach $288.3 million by the end of the year, compared to the $139.5 million last year." Read more.

Letter Assignment Tips

After yesterday's class, a student requested a critique of the letter she had begun writing for the assignment due Monday at 11:59 pm. I do not critique assignments before a student submits them.  I want the student to discover his/her own thoughts and how to express them without my influence. However, I will respond to specific questions about an assignment. The student's draft of the letter surprised me. On Monday I noted that reports and letters to strangers must not use first or second person--unless you are talking about your own experiences relevant to the topic and the reader. The student started the letter with "I."

Use of First/Second Person: A student reading this post may ask, "Then why did you use I in this post." In this environment, meaning the classes in Dana 238 on Monday's and Wednesday's between 1:30 and 4:15, students have recognized an expert in writing. When a group of individuals (readers, listeners) recognize an individual as an expert, then the individual has earned the right to use first (I, we, me, my, mine, our, ours) or second (you, your, yours) person in his/her presentation. When writing about Internet marketing, no one in Dana 238--including the teacher--has earned that right because no group recognizes any individual in that classroom as an expert in Internet marketing.

Focus on the How, Not the What: English 202 concentrates on the fundamental skills of writing (and thinking) effectively so that another individual will acknowledge the writer's credibility. The class is not teaching students about Internet marketing--at least not in the same manner as a marketing professor would present the material.

A few students have expressed concern about what they should write. After more than a dozen years in most education systems, students have learned--effectively--to repeat what they have heard or read. That method of "learning" will not work in English 202. What a student writes about Internet marketing will have little impact on his/her grade. How a student writes about Internet marketing will dramatically affect the student's grade.

Grades: Finally, a few students are concentrating on getting an A. The approach will not help. The fastest way to learn any subject comes from wanting to learn, from a willingness to endure the frustration that comes with learning a new task, from a desire to improve. Taking that tack, a student will achieve the grade he/she deserves, and more importantly, will leave the class in December with the skills that will help him/her achieve her goals in business.

By concentrating on a grade, a student sets himself up for failure. Should a student earn a B+, an excellent grade, but he wants an A, then he has failed--a silly notion. Should a student focus on learning, then in all likelihood, he will earn the A, at least on the undergraduate level.

Students also should remember that they can revise their assignments. They will receive the higher of the two grades for the assignment. In other words, should a student get a D on the first submission and earns an A on the revision, then the student will receive an A for the assignment. Should a student get a B on the first version but a C+ on the revision, then the student will receive a B.

Facebook "Button" Gets People to Vote

"A Facebook message, distributed during the 2010 United States congressional elections, influenced the voting behavior of millions of recipients and their friends," says NPR radio. "New research in the journal Nature highlights the potential of online social networks for shaping real-world behavior on a massive scale. Melissa Block talks to Shankar Vedantam." Listen to the story.

The story also appeared in the New York Times: "A study of millions of Facebook users on Election Day 2010 has found that online social networks can have a measurable if limited effect on voter turnout. The study, published online on Wednesday by the journal Nature, suggests that a special 'get out the vote' message, showing each user pictures of friends who said they had already voted, generated 340,000 additional votes nationwide — whether for Democrats or Republicans, the researchers could not determine." Read more.

Bing--The Next Collegiate Search Engine?

ClickZ reports: "Dorm decor, fall school fashion, and search engines? Microsoft wanted to show young women that its Bing search engine is worth checking out, so when it threw down the gauntlet last week, encouraging people to test its search engine against Google's, it worked with HerCampus.com to get the word out to influential collegiate women." Read more.

Timing Hype the Cycle of Social Media

"In 1995, Gartner introduced its renowned hype cycle to show different stages of introduction of new technologies. Gartner's hype cycle provides a research-backed antidote to what is often a searing level of hype surrounding many new technology and media products. The value for marketers is even clearer: The hype cycles serve as an objective guidebook for measuring the success (and inevitable downfall) of new-product launches," notes Advertising Age. "One market that has yet to receive the hype cycle treatment is social media. What might that hype cycle look like if it examined one of the fastest growing marketing sectors in history? It's time to examine what I call the "Social Media Hype Cycle." Doing so will help brands and marketers better understand the seesaw pattern of how social networks and platforms rise and fall in popularity and usage and how that affects companies' advertising spend and online engagement strategies." Read more.

Google Fiber Offering Gigabytes of Broadband Service

"The impending arrival of Google’s new Internet service highlighted a racial divide, spurring a push to expand Web access in poorer, mostly black neighborhoods." That's the post from the New York Times. Read more.

Different Groups Use Social Media Differently

"A report from the Association of Magazine Media found that varying demographics behave differently on the social web, which can help marketers inform their efforts more effectively. Much like other web strategies, social content's value for a business is heavily predicated on reaching the right audiences," according to Brafton. "The AMM studied the use of a series of social networks and broke down their user bases. According to the study, Facebook use is common among both American men and women across different age groups, while men are more likely to use Twitter than women. Moreover, younger adults are more active on Twitter than older generations." Read more.

LinkedIn, the Business Person's Facebook, Drawing Marketerers

"LinkedIn announced this week that it has rolled new Company Pages for businesses using the site for social media marketing. The adjustments place greater emphasis on articles and other content companies share on the website, as activities from the brand take up a majority of real estate on the new Pages. Moreover, the site borrows an idea or two from Facebook, with a cover photo for brands and a spot for the logo," notes Brafton. "In recent years, LinkedIn's user base among marketers has blossomed, and people turn to the site for more than just job postings. The additions of LinkedIn Answers and new marketing tools have made the site an ideal method for organizations to improve their position of authority within their industry by discussing trends, developments and other topics with colleagues or prospects." Read more.

Pinterest Referring More Websites than Bing and Yahoo Search

"A report from Shareaholic, analyzing traffic sources for its clients, found that Pinterest generated more website visits than both Bing and Yahoo in August. According to the data, Pinterest accounted for 1.84 percent of all visits last month, compared to 1.37 percent of traffic referred by Yahoo and 1.03 percent from Bing," reports Brafton. "Pinterest has seen a surge in traffic in recent months, consistently seeing improvements from May through August after a tough stretch to start the year. At its lowest point in 2012, Pinterest drove 0.74 percent of website visits for Shareaholic's clients. In the summer of 2011, Pinterest took off, as its user base swelled rapidly. The site's focus on visual content, helping marketers attract prospects with images provided an interesting alternative to Facebook, Twitter and other social media marketing mainstays." Read more.

Apple's Version of Pandora Affects Advertising

"The New York Times yesterday reported that Apple is negotiating with record labelsfor a Pandora-like service, and calls it a move that 'could shake up the growing field of internet radio.' The service would customize music to users' tastes - like Pandora does," reports Marketing Vox. "Just like Pandora, Apple's offering would carry advertising, but through Apple’s iAd platform. Terms of the deal are unclear (e.g., if Apple would share ad revenue with labels or pay them through a licensing fee). Also unclear, whether or not the service will be ad supported and free, or with an ad-free subscription offering (which Pandora offers for $36)." Read more: Apple Plans Pandora Rival (And Why That's Bad For Advertising)

'via Blog this'

What Is Becoming of Social Networking Strategy?

"Both Facebook and Twitter recently announced plans for enhancing their marketing capabilities in an effort to allow for more user-specific targeting.
Facebook’s plan involves allowing companies to match Facebook users’ email addresses, phone numbers, and game or app user IDs to their own customer lists," reports ClickZ. "Twitter, meanwhile, will be allowing marketers to target users based on what they are tweeting about and whom they are following. While keyword targeting was previously available, Twitter plans to increase search specificity, which will allow businesses to hone in and reach a more targeted audience. So what does this mean for strategic marketing plans?" Read more.

Imagine WWW.KNICKS.BBALL. Might Happen

"Earlier this year more than 1,900 applications were filed for generic top-level domain extensions. Think .food, .auto, .beauty and so on. Now brands are scrambling to figure out what do with all these domains when ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) begins releasing more than 1,400 new extensions in the second half of 2013 and early 2014," writes ClickZ. "One of Wolfe Domain's clients, Scripps Networks Interactive, filed for 13 gTLDs including .food, .diy and .HGTV. Like most brands that filed for gTLDs, Scripps's strategy will evolve over time and only after top-level domains reach their potential audiences. The media company plans to use the new domains to enhance brand equity and develop digital channels to better represent its core brands online." Read more.

U.S. Will Top All Countries on Mobile Internet Adveretising

"Spending on mobile Internet advertising in the US will top all other countries in the world for the first time this year, helping drive mobile ad spending worldwide above $6.43 billion in 2012, according to eMarketer’s first-ever forecast for worldwide mobile advertising spending." That's the post on eMarketers website. "Until this year, Japan was the world’s largest market for mobile advertising, with spending reaching nearly $1.37 billion in 2011, up from $1.01 billion in 2010." Read more.

Hackers Access a Million ID Numbers for Apple Devices/Apple Prevents Marketers from Tracking App Use

The New York Times blog Bits reports that "hackers released a file that they said contained a million identification numbers for Apple mobile devices, claiming that they had obtained it by hacking into the computer of an F.B.I. agent. The F.B.I. said it had no evidence that this was true....Apple’s unique device identifiers — known as U.D.I.D.’s — are 40-character strings of letters and numbers assigned to Apple devices...Apple stopped letting app developers take advantage of device identifiers last year, to make it harder for marketers to track its customers as they moved from app to app." Read more.

Coke's Facebook Site Tops 50 Million Fans

Coca-Cola recently topped 50 million fans on Facebook. The company celebrated by releasing the following statement, as noted by Marketing Pilgrim: “Throughout its history Coca-Cola has always had a role in bringing simple moments of happiness to people around the world every day,” said Joe Tripodi, chief marketing and commercial leadership officer, The Coca-Cola Company. “Today we have an engaged global community more than 50 million strong connected through Facebook. This provides an opportunity to engage our most supportive and enthusiastic fans in a quest to find ways to make the world a happier place.” Read more.

My Data = $$$

"There is a fundamental shift in attitudes towards privacy. Consumers know they are surrendering their data, and are willing to surrender privacy. But they treat it like cash: They want something in return," reports Marketing Vox. "So argues Dimitri Maex, Managing Director of OgilvyOne New York, the digital direct arm of Ogilvy & Mather, in his just-released book Sexy Little Numbers. As OgilvyOne describes Sexy Little Numbers, it 'shows how to grow your business using the data you already have.'" Read more.

Republicans Tweeting from Convention

"On Thursday when Mitt Romney is planned to give his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination here at the Party's convention, the Romney digital team will be aiming for big Twitter buzz. To facilitate that, the Romney camp will enter Twitter ad domain that is usually reserved for big Hollywood flicks or CPG brands: the Promoted Trend," goes the post on ClickZ. "Promoted Trends appear above Twitter's left-hand side list of organic trends, keywords that are getting lots of juice on Twitter at any given moment. Promoted Trends link to a list of tweets using the trend keyword - usually in hashtag form - topped by a Promoted Tweet by the same advertiser." Read more.

Twitter and Facebook Make Marketing Easier

"On August 30 Twitter announced the debut of “interest targeting” to Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts, in which brands can send tailored messages to Twitter users based on their interests." That's the word from Direct Marketeing News. "That same day, a rumor dropped that Facebook would enable businesses to target Facebook users based on email, user ID, or phone number—provided that the information had already been given to the business by the Facebook user." Read more.

Lead Generation and Brand Awareness Top Goals

"A report from WebMarketing123 found that 54 percent of B2B marketers consider lead generation the No. 1 digital marketing goal. Brand awareness came in at No. 2, cited by 28 percent. Developing a stronger presence on the web and building reputation among prospects has become more important for these companies in the last year, with more businesses actively marketing on the web," as found on the website Brafton. "According to the study, twice as many respondents named building awareness as a goal in this year's poll compared to last year. Internet marketing priorities are shifting, as just 10 percent of respondents said they consider increased sales their top goal." Read more.

You will notice that, as of yesterday, I have stopped using APA and restored to the more common use of links. If you click the name of the website quoted or the phrase "Read more," you will find the full article. For your reports in the class, you don't quote the blog. You quote the source, the article from which the blog quotation comes from.

Most-Liked Advertisers on Facebook

"When General Motors announced it was no longer buying ads on Facebook back in May 2012, it didn’t pull out of Facebook entirely. It still maintains a number of pages for its various brands with hundreds of thousands of “likes” each: its GM page: 403,000 likes; Chevrolet: 1.3 million likes; GMC Trucks: 703,000 likes; Corvette: 969,000 likes; and the Chevy Volt with 188,000 likes. Meanwhile, Facebook has GM back at the negotiating table, promising to give it and all its advertisers more data on how their ads turn into revenue," according to Say Daily. "The Ford Motor Company, meanwhile, has continued advertising on Facebook despite GM’s departure. How has that affected its likability? The Ford Motor Co Facebook page has 1.6 million likes (300,000 more than Chevy’s); Ford Trucks 651,000 likes (52,000 fewer than GMC); Ford Mustang 4.2 million likes (3.3 million more than Corvette); Ford Fusion Hybrid: 175,000 likes (13,000 fewer than the Volt).So, do ad dollars translate into likes? The answer is 'sometimes.'" Read more.

XBox Live Turns to Advertising

"Microsoft Corp has announced the general release of its NUads on Xbox LIVE," according to Media Buyer Planner. "Among the first buyers are Toyota, Unilever and Samsung Mobile USA, which are developing NUads campaigns to stream on Xbox LIVE this fall. NUads advertisements transform standard 30-second TV spots into actionable experiences using the power of voice and gesture controls of Kinect for Xbox 360." Read more.

Survey Says, Social Media Works

"Marketers dedicating more resources to social media marketing this year should be pleased to learn that new data suggests they’ll be seeing returns on their social investments. According to WebMarketing123‘s State of Digital Marketing report, B2C [business to consumer] and B2B [business to business] companies are winning leads and sales across social networks" (Survey: social marketing, 2012, Aug. 31).

Works Cited

Survey: social marketing drives sales, experts enhance success (2012, Aug. 31). Brafton.com. Retrieved from <http://www.brafton.com/news/survey-social-marketing-drives-sales-experts-enhance-success>.

Facebook's Ad Revenue Not as High as Expected

"eMarketer estimates that, while robust growth rates will continue for the foreseeable future, advertising revenues at Facebook will not fly as high this year as earlier predicted.
Ad revenues at the social networking giant will continue to rise this year, though at a significantly lower rate than in the past. Revenues will reach $4.23 billion, up 34.1% over 2011, and eMarketer predicts revenue increases in the double digits to continue through 2014, when Facebook’s worldwide ad revenues will reach $6.81 billion" (Reduced estimate, 2012, Aug. 31).

Works Cited

Reduce estimate for Facebook revenue (2012, Aug. 31). eMarketer.com. Retrieved from <http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009314&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4#8rpdYDodbQEC8atM.99>.

Facebook Goes after Voters

"The Facebook Exchange is open for political business. Two digital ad firms that offer voter file-driven ad targeting are now part of the social giant's growing group of third-party partners. This week, Intermarkets and CampaignGrid said they are part of Facebook's real-time exchange, which opens Facebook Marketplace display ad inventory - the ads that sit on the right rail of the page - to advertisers buying through those outside ad firms" (Kaye, 2012, Aug. 30).

Works Cited

Kaye, Kate (2012, Aug. 30). Voter file data comes to Facebook. ClickZ.com. Retrieved from <http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2201998/voter-file-data-comes-to-facebook-ads>.

The Year of Mobile

"According to IBM and many other industry observers, 2012 is shaping up to be the year of mobile. As brands roll out new apps and optimize email and websites for customers using mobile devices, one particularly rich area for growth has been mobile search. But while marketers invest more and more in engaging customers who are seeking products or services through smartphones, many believe mobile search engine marketing (SEM) has much further to go. In areas such as tracking, geolocation and ease-of-use, mobile search appears poised for significant growth" (Palmer, Deluna, 2012, July 1).

Works Cited

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Palmer, Alex, and DeLuna, JoAnn (2012, July 1). Pinpointing mobile search. DMNews.com. Retrieved from <http://www.dmnews.com/pinpointing-mobile-search/article/246825/>

Marketing Tweet Sent to Republicans during the Convention

"The Chesapeake Energy Corporation rarely gets buy-in to spend the bulk of its media budget on digital, but it got just that for its efforts around the Republican National Convention [in Tampa, FL].
The firm and its CNG [compressed natural gas] Now initiative are ...promoting the benefits of using natural gas...It's targeting convention-goers who search for popular terms related to the event - like #RNC - with ads on Twitter. Some push its energy message, but others are more direct" (Kaye, 2012).

Works Cited

Kaye, Kate. (2012, Aug. 28). Natural gas group targets RNC-goers on Twitter. ClickZ.com. Retrieved from: <http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2201303/natural-gas-group-targets-rncgoers-on-twitter>.

Silverpop Helps with Marketing Automation

"Silverpop (a digital marketing technology providing unified marketing automation, email, mobile and social campaigning) is claiming a 40% increase in closed new business and more than 100% gain in Professional Services contracts compared to the first half of 2011; also, that it now manages the marketing campaigns of more than 5,000 brands.

"Never heard of them? You have probably heard of those brands, which include Arby's, Carfax, RSPCA, Aquent and Dairy Queen (among dozens of others). A Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Silverpop in the first half of 2012 indicated that 8 of 10 marketers surveyed feel that marketing automation will increase the efficiency of their marketing processes and more than half plan to increase their number of automated campaigns over the next 12 months" (Silverpop tops, 2012, Aug. 27). Read more.

Works Cited

Silveropop tops 5,000 brands. (2012, Aug. 27). MarketingVox.com. Retrieved from: <http://www.marketingvox.com/silverpop-tops-5000-brands-051452/?utm_campaign=rssfeed&utm_source=mv&utm_medium=textlink>.

Instagram Beccoming Important Social Media Site for Marketing

"Market research firm comScore recently reported that Instagram was the top gaining website for July, adding 38 percent more traffic from June. While the strong month was not enough to propel Instagram into the top 50 web properties, its growth demonstrates the value of making Instagram a part of social media marketing campaigns.

"According to the study, Instagram also saw its unique traffic grow from 16.5 million visitors to more than 22.7 million. While the photo-sharing platform recently reported more than 80 million people use its mobile apps, most don't actually navigate to Instagram.com. Still, its consistent improvements in website traffic are a sign that more people are using the site and researching the service for personal or marketing use" (Instagram: July's top 2012, Aug. 27). Read more.

Works Cited 

Instagram: July's top gaining site, visual content growing (2012, Aug. 27). Brafton.com. Retrieved from: <http://www.brafton.com/news/instagram-julys-top-gaining-site-visual-content-growing>.

Welcome to English 202

Welcome to English 202.

Various individuals have given English 202 different names. The school calls it advanced exposition. I call it business writing. I should rename it "Reading and Thinking."  The name probably sounds odd or too elemental. Not so. Most individuals do too little of both--in the world of school and the world of business. As you will hear me say, probably more than once, "We think we think more than we think."

To perform at an average level in this class, you will need to read all the assignments and more about Internet marketing.You will read to have information that your imaginations will re-formulate into unique concepts. When you do that, writing becomes easier, and you will hold the attention of a reader--a person with blood in his/her veins, who gets bored, who wants information, who does not give a darn about you or me because in the end reading is an egocentric act.

To achieve above-average work, you must think--not merely parrot (repeat) the ideas you will have read and those you hear about in class. In other words, you must learn how to integrate new ideas with old ones in order to create a different perspective for the reader. Otherwise you are wasting the reader's time.

When you write to another individual, you ask him/her to surrender her time to read your ideas. Why should the reader trouble herself with your ideas? Are you offering the reader [teacher, classmate, business associate] a "new" way of seeing a problem? Are you proposing a concept that will make the reader's life easier? Are you advancing knowledge--whether the subject is particle physics or the latest cosmetic disaster for a pop diva? Are you offering your ideas clearly and logically--based on standard American English? In other words, the average reader (not your friends reading a tweet) wants to know what she is getting out of reading your work.

You,therefore, earn a reader's respect by offering her a new perspective or new idea in a format that makes it easier for the reader (not the writer) to understand. If you cannot achieve that, you fail--in business and in this classroom.

How do you come up with new ideas or perspectives? Reading. And you do not merely repeat what you have read. In that case, you only rehash information that a reader already could access. You read to pick up facts and ideas from experts in the field. You then take that information and integrate it into how you think. Eventually an original idea or perspective (original for you) will come out.

For this class, you will need a computer with Internet access. Use your own, a friend's, or one of the many in the school's library. Will I tolerate the excuse my computer crashed and I lost all my work. No. Save your material on a thumb drive, portable hard drive, or to a storage system on the Internet, such as Google's G-Drive (it's free if you have a Google account, which is also free).  and a office suite product. Use your own, a friend's, or one of many in the school's library.


You will need an office suite, such as Microsoft Office. (Microsoft Works will not work in this class.) You can get free office suites: OpenOffice, Libre Office, and IBM's Symphony. I use OpenOffice and Libre Office. They are excellent products that are compatible with Microsoft Office. The three have word processors (like Word), presentation software (like PowerPoint), and spreadsheet software (like Excel). OpenOffice and Libre Office also have graphics and data base management software. All three products have been around for more than a decade. They are reliable. If you have a broadband Internet connection, downloading will take about three minutes and installation about 20. OpenOffice and Libre Office work on PCs and Macs.

You will not need to buy a text. I provide you your reading material through links on the syllabus. You can access the syllabus from the class web page: http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/. Here are the links that you need for now.

Syllabus: <http://www.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/Fall2012English202.pdf>
Course Description: <http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/CourseDescription.pdf>
Class Webpage: <http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/>
Class Blog: <http://dana238.blogspot.com/>

Start the semester right. Read the syllabus.

Finally, you will use APA citation formats for everything that you write this semester. Most students already have learned, and maybe mastered MLA. APA is not that different. Scroll down two posts and you will find the format for APA. Why am I making you use APA? Because UB's Business School has designated APA as its citation method of choice and the citation method that its MBA students must use. You can see examples of APA citation (intext and works cited listing) in the previous two posts.

See you tomorrow.

Facebook Releases Sponsored Search Results

"Facebook has fully rolled out sponsored search results, which allow marketers to target users searching for content or pages within their industry on the social network. As with other sponsored search efforts, companies can pay for placement atop suggested search results within Facebook to drive traffic to their brand Pages on the social network" (Facebook rolls, 2012)

"Facebook rolls out sponsored search results for marketers (2012, Aug. 24). Brafton.com. Retrieved from: <http://www.brafton.com/news/facebook-rolls-out-sponsored-search-results-for-marketers>.

Consumers Behave Differently on Social Web Sites

"The social-media world is often criticized for introducing new metrics [a way of measuring the demographics of a media] to marketers who want to better understand the social space and the effects it can have on a product or service. Why introduce new metrics, skeptics say, when the data landscape is already complex and confusing? Do we really need this, given the tried and true metrics of digital-media buying in use for the past decade? Let's take a step back. What is a metric? It's a standard of measurement. In advertising it is designed to define a specific type of consumer behavior, be it attention-centric (clicks, impressions, etc.) or more direct response-oriented (sales, conversions, etc.).There would be no use for new metrics if consumers on social platforms behaved as they do when on any other website. But consumers do behave differently when using social platforms and there are some key reasons why" (Sethi, 2012)

Sethi, Nikhil (2012, Aug. 22). "Do we need new metrics for social media. Yes, and here's why." AdAge.com. Retrieved from: <http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/metrics-social/236810/>

Different Industries Have Different Success with Facebook

"Facebook advertising-solutions company AdParlor analyzed the CPC and clickthrough rates on Facebook for more than 1,000 ad campaigns purchased through the company between September 1, 2011, and February 27, 2012," according to eMarketer. "The analysis found that some industries see more interest from consumers on Facebook than others. Industries typically perceived as more exciting saw a higher average daily CTR, with ads for movies and entertainment performing nearly five times as well as those for banking services." Read more. You might find that the data in the charts helpful when writing about a company.

Top 50 Users of YouTube Channels

"Socialbakers, a social media statistics portal, has decided to create a monthly infographic showing the top brands in the space," reports Marketing Pilgrim, thereby providing a source of companies for your long reports. "We’re bringing you this information, because we feel there’s always something to be learned from those at the top of the heap. Also, because we like infographics. ...First, let’s look at the Top 10 YouTube Brand Channels based on views. A deodorant for men tops the list with a drink aimed at adventurous men right below it. You have the game oriented EA and Playstation. Nikefootball and Volkswagen are also decidedly male. (Noticing a trend here?)" Read more. You should also go to the Socialbakers website found with the link above.

Top 50 Brand Marketers

"As marketers pursue their own content marketing strategies, they'll need a roadmap of the content marketing landscape, a guide to the precedents set by the pioneers. For that reason, we've compiled this list, 'Top Brands in Content Marketing in 2012,'" according to ClickZ. "We conducted a study analyzing top content marketing operations, evaluating them through qualitative and quantitative measures of their websites, content, and search and social efforts. Our lead findings are presented in the following slideshow." Read more for possible sources for your long report.

Consumers Recommend Brands

"Zuberance recently reported that the web has provided multiple channels for consumers to influence their friends, colleagues and others in terms of purchase decisions. The study suggests that social media marketing and website content can help businesses appeal to these brand advocates," according to Brafton News. "According to Zuberance, 38 percent of web users have recommended between five and nine brands to their friends and other web contacts. All of the users studied advocated at least one company, and 30 percent recommended between one and four businesses or other organizations." Read more.

B2B Customers Engage with Content Marketing

"A study from the DemandGen Report suggests that B2B companies can target new prospects with engaging and relevant content. At times, it can be difficult for companies to create this content effectively; however recent data demonstrates custom content marketing is quickly becoming a competitive necessity," according to Brafton News post. "DemandGen found that 90 percent of purchase decisions by B2B buyers begin with exposure to content marketing material. These professionals are bombarded with promotional information constantly. Creating original content that demonstrates the value of a product or service can be as compelling as any sales pitch." Read more.

Unilever Courts the Latino Market

"Unilever's Vivemejor, launched in May 2007 as a website and magazine for Latinos, has since expanded its presence to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter," goes a ClickZ post. "In an email interview, Russel Lilly, Unilever multicultural marketing director, discussed the consumer packaged goods brand's approach to connecting with a community." Read more.

Track Your Bud

"Budweiser has introduced a digital campaign called "Track Your Bud." It urges consumers to trace the origins of the beer they hold in their hands to one of Budweiser's 12 U.S. breweries, via a QR Code," reports Marketing Vox. "Consumers use their smartphone to scan the QR code on Budweiser packaging and download the free "Track Your Bud" app. Or they can visit TrackYourBud.com." Read more.

Prez Spent $10 Million Online Already

"Online ad spending by President Obama's reelection campaign has reached over $8 million." So goes the ClickZ post. "When combined with web ad spending by the Democratic National Committee, the number tops the $10 million mark. By the end of January, GOP presidential candidates and the Republican National Committee together had spent just half that amount." Read more.

Hyundai Brands with the Oscars

"Hyundai was one brand determined to make the most of its Oscar airtime this year, and it certainly delivered," says ClickZ. "As the official automotive sponsor of the broadcast, it ran several new TV spots, but the two most notable were directed by past Academy Award nominee Wes Anderson to showcase the new Hyundai 2012 Azera. One of the clips was an amusing montage referencing several famed Hollywood films, while the other highlighted the car's comfortable (and "quiet") interior." Read more.

Ciroc Vodka Tweets Its Super Bowl Ads

"If it doesn't run on TV, can it still be considered a Super Bowl commercial? That's the question that Ciroc, the vodka from hip hop impresario Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs, set out to answer last month," reports ClickZ. "Working with its in-house ad agency, Blue Flame, Ciroc created a series of 15-second videos featuring Combs doing things you wouldn't expect of him, like bull fighting and curling. One of the ads showed Combs dancing salsa – a nod to the salsa dance that Victor Cruz, wide receiver for the New York Giants, performs every time he scores a touchdown.
When Cruz scored his first touchdown in the Super Bowl, Ciroc and Combs leapt into action: They tweeted the salsa ad and dedicated it to Cruz." Read more.

Annoying Customers?

Could Internet marketing, especially on mobile phones, annoy potential customers? Yes--if email tells the tale. According to Brafton News, "Email marketing campaigns that are either unsolicited or contain generalized content are unlikely to garner clickthroughs and potential conversions, according to a survey conducted by AYTM Market Research. More than 90 percent of consumers said they receive email messages that are not at all relevant to them. Just 6.3 percent of respondents said they have never received a message they did not sign up for. While some of these respondents said they enjoy the occasional unsolicited messages, 69.9 percent never open or act upon any of the information in the message. That said, email marketing campaigns are effective at appealing to users when they feel they have control over receiving them. More than 44 percent said they enroll in email campaigns for "a few" companies, 26.5 percent said they do for "some" companies and 9.8 percent do so for several organizations."Read more.

Are Marketers Using Social Networks Effectively?

"A report from A.T. Kearney found that more than 90 percent of businesses using social media marketing do no actively respond to communicate with their customers, despite evidence that active engagement helps businesses improve sales." Read more at Brafton News.

Airlines Use Social Media to Arrange Seating

"If you can use a social network to find a life partner, why not a flight partner?" That's the question asked by Marketing Pilgrim. "A new article in the New York Times talks about how some airlines are using social media to help frequent fliers find more compatible seatmates. KLM’s Meet and Seat program uses Facebook and LinkedIn profiles to help match up fliers on the same flights. The application allows you to choose which bits of information you want to share. It then displays the profiles of the other passengers and their seat assignments. Pick your preferred mate, then wait and see if he accepts you." Read more.

National Marketer Loses Control of Its Twitter Marketing Campaign

"National brands should try to remember that social network campaigns take away their ability to control the message," warns Direct Marketing News. "McDonald's learned this lesson the hard way in early February with its Twitter campaign that emphasized and promoted the company's policy of buying fresh produce from farmers. Two hashtags were used: #MeetTheFarmers and #McDStories. As it turned out, the #McDStories hashtag became quite popular, with Twitter users employing the hashtag to tell stories of alleged food poisoning, heroin use, obesity and a 'sensory experience of inhaling deeply from a freshly opened can of dog food.'” Read more.

Financial Institutions Not Using Social Networks

"Despite the need to connect with consumers across multiple channels, financial services institutions still don't view social media as an effective direct marketing channel. Industry experts agree that the disastrous economic crisis has made it vital for financial services marketers to rally consumers with engaging and relevant communications across channels, and marketers in this space can no longer lazily send credit card offers and perks through direct mail to generate consumer interest," according to Direct Marketing News. "To be effective, marketers must manage their brands' reputations and find consumers across digital channels. In spite of the multichannel sentiment, none of the marketers with whom Direct Marketing News spoke found it necessary to send direct response offers to consumers on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter." Read more.

Smoothie King Gets Customers to Lose Weight

"Smoothie King launched an initiative in January geared towards promoting better health and helping its customers stick to their New Year weight loss resolutions," reports Direct Marketing News. "Visitors are encouraged to share their weight loss stories and upload before-and-after photos for the opportunity to win free smoothies and gift cards. People are also asked to share weight loss struggles for the chance to receive a free month of personal training and new workout gear. Everyone who submitted a struggle story received a free weight-burning Lean1 Smoothie." Read more.

Ad Age Analyzes Facebook's New Ad Page

"Facebook re-launched its advertising platform ...and made it crystal clear that your [marketers'] Facebook Page will be the centerpiece of your [marketers, not consumers such as you] paid, owned and earned strategies going forward," according to an Advertising Age post.

"The highlights of the announcements from the company's first-ever Facebook Marketing Conference include:

• Via Facebook's new "Reach Generator" product, brands now have the option to pay Facebook for guaranteed News Feed distribution to up to 75% of all their fans.
• Several new exciting new ad units were launched, where the content you post on your Page is the ad unit. There is more creating separate ad copy on Facebook.
• All brand Facebook Pages will get Timeline, just like personal pages."

Read more.