Must Reads

Social Media Must reads, Oct 1

Posted by Eve Dmochowska at 1st October, 2008

Some interesting Social Media reads that have popped up on my monitor lately

What is Social Media Press Release?
I have been meaning to do a full post on this topic, and will do so shortly. In the meantime, this video will explain the basics. It really should just become the accepted, and only, method for PR.

Social media as customer service
Ben McConnell lists some stats from the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study. The study polled Americans who use social media sites:
* 60% interact with companies using social media
* 93% say a company should have a presence in social media
* 85% say a company should not only be present but also interact with its customers via social media
* 56% say they feel a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment
* 43% say companies should use social networks to solve customers’ problems
* 41% say companies should use social media to solicit feedback about products and services

Bloggers Increase HP Laptop Sales by 85%
After 9 months of slow sales of a specific laptop, HP hired Buzz Corps, a social media marketing firm to boost sales. They did a stellar job by engaging 31 bloggers in a 31 day campaign. Read more about it here.

Google in 2001
As part of their 10th birthday celebration, Google now allows you to search the web the way it was in 2001. SO you wil not get Youtube results, no Facebook and almost no blogs in your search results. I suggest you Google yourself, and see how much more “prominent” you are today than you were seven years ago.

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Social Media Must Reads, Aug 25

Posted by Eve Dmochowska at 25th August, 2008

A round up of interesting and relevant news related in some way to social media.

P&G is using unconventional media to drive attention to its latest, rather unconventional, product. “P&G began sending the product to bloggers earlier this month, some of whom also have Twittered their interest in Weekly Clean. And Crest is using P&G’s Vocalpoint buzz-marketing program for moms to spread the word too. It sent a survey about the product’s marketing to the more than 600,000 moms in the program last week.” Read full article here.

NBC had a thorough online coverage of the Olympics. Unfortunately, it was unable to translate that into online revenue, collecting “only” just over $5 million dollars. Read the post to find out why, and how others have fared better.

The Social Web: A map of the social web landscape is a wonderful “conversation prism” representing the best of what the new web has to offer. Good overall representation, and let’s you see the players at a glance.

“Mobile advertising marketplace AdMob has released their July Mobile Metrics Report showing an increase in usage of the Mobile Web in Africa and worldwide mobile browser marketshare.
Mobile Internet usage is growing across Africa, with particularly strong growth in Nigeria and Egypt. AdMob has seen traffic increase 21 percent since the company began tracking the Africa market in Q1 2008. The report also noted that the Nokia dominates device market share throughout Africa, with 50.6 percent of the market. Nokia is the most popular device manufacturer in the top five countries of South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Tanzania” (from 901am)

There is a downside to viral marketing, wouldn’t you know? Three brief, but valid, negatives on viral marketing.

“mobiThinking is a free resource for marketers looking to break free of dotcom thinking and address a massive mobile audience. Check out our range of creative best practice articles, videos and interviews and see how the leading lights in mobile marketing are making waves.”

I pulled the links to these posts from my Feed Reader. If you write on Social Media, and would like me to include links to your posts, please email me your blog URL. Please put “Feed for TwoJumpsAhead” in the subject line. The address is eved@ideabank.co.za.