Criminally Stupid.
One of the issues facing anyone dealing with new media and helping companies and organizations maximize the new media world is the dual issues of “shining penny syndrome” and “criminally stupid online stories.” I’ll save details on the shining penny issue but essentially it means that senior executives will look at what you are proposing as nothing more valid as a young child fascinated by a ’shiny penny.” With Facebook, for example, we often suggest that clients invest in building their fan base for very valid reasons (communicating with supporters, empowering activists, building donors) and often are meet with the look of bemused parent.
The second and frankly bigger issue we face is that there are so many stories out there that involve online operations and criminally stupid wastes of money and I fear the recent AOL / Bebo debacle will stick in many people’s minds for quite some time.
Make A Father’s Day Declaration
Be a man - Declare your belief in respect and take a stand against relationship violence and abuse and join Family Violence Prevention Fund in their Father’s Day Campaign. Common Sense’s Political Director Nathan Havey gives all the details in a piece he just wrote for the Huffington Post here.
Senator Scott Brown Is No Facebook Slouch
Volumes have been written about the strength of President Obama’s social media strategy in the 2008 election. Barack 2.0, as it has been dubbed, utilized already existing platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Meetup to engage the electorate. The success of Barack 2.0 didn’t rest on Senator from Illinois broadcasting his message out, but rather on the army of volunteers that responded and interacted with the public. The campaign made people feel apart of politics (many for the first time) and linked them to a piece of American history.
(RED) Shows The World How To Score With SMO.
The world in which we live and I work is one that is changing at light speed. We are living Moore’s Law, the founder of Intel theorized that computer power doubles approximately every eighteen months. A generation ago, the power that was being doubled was significantly less than that which is being doubled now. Famously, a new car has more computer power than an Apollo landing module. The iPad is really the Ipod doubled, and then some.
So now, everyone’s attention is turning to not just building Social Networks but also in optimizing. Increasingly our company is helping groups with what we are calling Social Media Optimization or SMO - how do you get the most out of the networks you have spent so much time building. more »
Why Content Matters Now and Forever
Consumers are inundated daily with a barrage of messaging - be it online or off. Organizations are all pitted against each other in an attempt to get the smallest amount of attention from the masses. You are not given a lot of time either; a 30 second radio spot on the morning commute, a well-targeted cost-per-click ad on a search engine, or maybe just 140 characters. You have a very short amount of time to try and draw attention to your brand or organization.
Kick. Score. Save.
James Boyce shows you how easy it is to make a difference. Tomorrow Yahoo! is partnering with (RED) to turn their game, PENALTY SHOOTOUT, (RED) for the day. For every goal scored tomorrow, Yahoo will give $1 up to $100,000 — with 100 percent of the money going directly to The Global Fund. You have a chance to save a life, all you have to do is play the game. Read more here.
Facebook aims to increase involvement with Social Plugins
Facebook is making a big push to get more sites involved with their social plugins applications. Yesterday they made two large announcements reflecting this shift: (1) Enhanced Facebook Insights that now provide better data and reporting on external websites where social plugins are implemented (2) PR campaign to educate users on how easy and secure these new plugins are to use.
Using social plugins, such as the “Like” button, are the easiest way for an organization to integrate traffic from their website to Facebook and effective in helping generate user interaction. While the new insights provide companies the opportunity to gain a better pulse as to what content is most popular among website users. By taking advantage of these improvements, companies can make their websites less broadcast channels and more engaging - a win-win for both them and the user.
What I See. Virtually.
Just recently I spoke at a conference in New York, and afterwards milling around the lobby, a few people came up to me and asked me ‘what do you see happening next? where is all of this going?” It’s a complicated question and one that literally can change every day as tools and technologies change but having been involved in the online space since the mid-1990s and my days at Slingshot in Dallas, Texas, I think there are some trend lines that are emerging that are interesting and most are driven by data we are seeing in some of our work online. more »
Oil Disaster Highlights Competitive Keyword Landscape
The BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is now having effects on advocacy groups operating keyword campaigns on Google. Several of our non-profit clients are campaigning to raise awareness about the environmental impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak. A key platform for driving awareness for these clients is Google’s in-kind advertising platform - Google Grant. The Google Grant operates on the same Adwords platform as commercial clients with a few restrictions for organizations with 501(c)(3) status. One of the larger restrictions, especially when competing for words that are in high demand, is a $1.00 cost-per-click (CPC) cap. With BP’s large PR budget they are effectively able to rise to the top of the search results by bidding far beyond the reach of advocacy groups. Read more about BP’s aggressive keyword PR campaign here.
What’s Up With the Rainforest: A Day in the Life of a 14-Year-Old CEO
James Boyce highlights how our youngest generation is using their concern for the planet as motivation to actually do something about it. Read more on the Huffington Post.