Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Thursday, May 8th, 2008

Illustration by Max Scratchmann
Anastasia Goodstein offers some pretty sound advice for attracting today’s tech-savvy, multi-tasking teens to the library in her article What Would Madison Avenue Do? Marketing to Teens: To attract today’s teens, think like a marketing pro in the May 1st issue of School Library Journal. From her experience studying young people’s online habits Goodstein shares the following lessons for dealing with the Millenial generation:
- Teens are multitaskers.
- Teens prefer byte-sized entertainment.
- Teens expect content on demand.
- Teens want to participate.
- Enlist teens to manage your social media.
- Don’t try too hard to be cool.
- Know your audience.
- Don’t sweat the design.
- Support causes that kids care about.
- Use text messaging and IM appropriately.
- Teens love making mixtapes… online.
- Tweens like to break virtual worlds’ rules.
- It’s not just about MySpace and Facebook.
- Beware of anonymous gossip sites and applications.
- Dance videos are all the rage.
- Miley’s YouTube channel.
Posted in Philosophy & Practice, Library 2.0, Library Services, Libraries, Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Marketing | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Aliza Sherman at Web Worker Daily discusses the rules for Building Online Community Brick by Virtual Brick and then provides some suggestions for social networks and other online destinations which offer community building opportunities. According to Sherman, the rules of online communities include:
- You can’t own a community.
- Communities aren’t free.
- Every community needs leadership.
- A community dies if it is all about you.
- At some point, organic communities need roots.
- Community building is not all about the tools.
Posted in Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, March 28th, 2008
New York Times technology columnist, David Pogue asks; Are You Taking Advantage of Web 2.0? He talks about dealing with the well-placed fears about using these social software tools by embracing moderation.
“Yes, you’ll have to moderate this stuff. Yes, it means spending money with no immediately visible return on investment. Yes, it’s more work for everyone.
But you’ll gain trust, goodwill and positive attention. You’ll put a human face on your company. And you’ll learn stuff about your customers that you wouldn’t have discovered any other way.”
Posted in Social Software, Web 2.0, Marketing, Blogs | No Comments »
Monday, March 10th, 2008

Ask a Blogger comes up with 16 Top Social Media Strategies for Success which discusses ways to wisely utilize new social marketing avenues. The article suggests following these guidelines in order to optimize your social media efforts:
- Increase your linkability
- Make tagging and bookmarking easy
- Reward inbound links
- Help your content travel
- Encourage the mashup
- Be a useful resource, even if it doesn’t help you
- Reward helpful and valuable users
- Participate
- Know how to target your audience
- Create content
- Be real
- Don’t forget your roots, be humble
- Don’t be afraid to try new things, stay fresh
- Develop a social media optimization strategy
- Choose your social-media optimization tactics wisely
- Make social media optimization part of your processes and best practices
via Social Media
Posted in Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
BusinessWeek has come out with a series of articles, a podcast, and a video interview about using widgets such as Facebook applications for social marketing campaigns. If you are at all interested in using these viral social networking applications, you’ll want to check out these sections of the special report:
- Building a Brand with Widgets:
The customizable bits of software on Facebook and other social networking sites are the latest trend in viral marketing. But are widgets here to stay?
- Widgets: The Future of Online Ads:
Look to the evolution of television advertising to understand the necessity of widgets in today’s online world
- The CEO Guide to Widgets:
Widget Podcast
- When Facebook Ads Flop:
For every marketing widget that takes off on the social network, dozens bomb. A look at why
- Why Widgets Don’t Work:
Marketers are mistaken if they think these easy-to-forward applications will help them make deep inroads to the MySpace generation
- A Widget Mogul in Between Classes:
Ankur Nagpal, a 19-year-old UC-Berkeley student, finds the keys to viral success and rakes in the cash on Facebook
- Making Money From Widgets:
How creators of small apps can profit - BusinessWeek’s Catherine Holahan interviews VideoEgg CEO Matt Sanchez about earning a wage from widgets
Posted in Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Widgets, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
Inside CRM compiles a list of 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on which includes some familiar names such as Del.icio.us and LinkedIn as well as some you may not have heard of including Care2, Ziggs, and BuzzFlash.net. The listing is divided into the following categories:
- Social-Media/Social-Bookmarking Sites
- Professional-Networking Sites
- Niche Social-Media Sites
- General Social-Media Sites
- Job Sites
Posted in Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Marketing | No Comments »
Monday, January 28th, 2008
Carmine Gallo of BusinessWeek breaks down the elements of an inspirational presentation through his analysis of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ Macworld ‘08 keynote. He offers us the following advice when delivering a presentation:
- Set the theme.
- Demonstrate enthusiasm.
- Provide an outline.
- Make numbers meaningful.
- Try for an unforgettable moment.
- Create visual slides.
- Give ‘em a show.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff.
- Sell the benefit.
- Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
Read more about this 10-part framework in the original article, and for a breakdown of Jobs’ keynote address announcements, (including the MacBook Air laptop), check out this slideshow.
Posted in Conference, Presentations, Marketing | No Comments »
Monday, January 21st, 2008
Transparency and participation are hallmarks of today’s Web, but what do organizations and individuals do when users leave negative comments on blogs, social networking websites, message boards, etc.? According to JupiterResearch, only 12% of Internet users have left negative comments about a company or product online, however, these people tend to be influencers and so this is a valid concern. Here are some suggestions for dealing with the negative.
- Stay Informed. Monitor your blog comments and social networking profiles so that you are aware if you have received negative feedback and can be ready to respond to it. Run periodic Technorati vanity searches (search for your url) to see what people in the blogosphere are saying about you.
- Moderate with Discretion. You have the ability to moderate comments on your own blog, but bear in mind that if you don’t allow people to have a voice, they will go elsewhere to be heard. It is often better to enable people to introduce their criticisms in a forum where you can respond.
- Create a Conversation. Respond in a positive manner to the criticism and encourage others to join in a discussion about the topic. Demonstrate that you respect that your readers/patrons/customers have a right to their own opinions, and that you’re willing to hear them.
-
Keep Your Cool. You don’t want to engage in a confrontation with your critic. While we can all think up snappy comebacks, putting that person down will only leave them and the rest of your readers with a bad feeling. Instead, view this as an opportunity to address concerns that others may have been keeping in check, and to learn something valuable.
- Be Yourself. Don’t pose as a reader/user to challenge negative comments. Believe it or not, most people will see right through this and you will lose the respect of your audience. People respond best to honesty and authenticity, even if it’s not perfect, so be yourself!
- Pass it Along. An immediate response to dealing with anything negative is to get it over with and move on, however, dealing with negative feedback can often lead to positive change. After dealing with the PR end, pass the feedback along to the appropriate department in your organization. Was the negative comment about your customer service? Forward the feedback to that division so they can consider making some changes.
Want more suggestions? Here are a few helpful articles on the topic:
Posted in Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Marketing, Blogs | 2 Comments »
Friday, January 18th, 2008

As many of you may have heard, The Library of Congress has partnered with Flickr to display their historical photo collections in a social environment. They have uploaded two sets of photos with over 1,500 images each and have invited Flickr users to help describe them by assigning tags to photos. Users can also place comments on the images. The collections include “News in the 1910s” - a collection consisting of sporting events, crime, politics, and entertainment news photos, and “1930s-40s in Color” including photos of farming, factory life, railroads, and women working from 1939-1944. Check them out and add some tags!
Posted in Library 2.0, Social Software, Change & Innovation, Web 2.0, Marketing, Tagging | No Comments »
Friday, January 4th, 2008
ProBlogger offers some useful advice about blogging and generating traffic in their 7 Types of Blog Posts Which Always Seem to Get Links and Traffic. They advise writers to experiment with these seven content methods to increase their readership:
- Resource lists
- Lists of tips
- Good advice
- Arguing a popular point of view
- Anything with a killer headline
- Q&As with high profile people
- Best-of lists
While you’re there, you may also want to check out:
Posted in Web 2.0, Marketing, Blogs | No Comments »
Friday, December 28th, 2007
This powerhouse post rounds up a list of the best Web marketing blog posts of the year in an annotated list subdivided into categories:
- Social Media Sites: General
- Facebook
- Digg
- Reddit
- StumbleUpon
- LinkedIn
- Twitter
- Mixx
- del.icio.us
- Sphinn
- Social Media and Social Media Marketing
- General Internet Marketing
- Viral Strategies
- Link Resources
- Blogging: General
- Blogging: Inspiration
- Blogging: Promotion
- Content Generation
- Reputation Management
- Video Articles
- Business
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Stuff
- Web Development
- Search Marketing Tools
- Paid Search
- Recommended Books
- Affiliate Sites
- Domaining
- Miscellaneous
- Techipedia’s Best Posts for 2007
This post is definitely going on my “to_read” list for 2008!
via Micro Persuasion
Posted in Web 2.0, Marketing, Blogs | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

Aaron Wall, author of the SEO Book, along with Giovanna Wall has created a custom guide to search engine optimization for bloggers. Providing screenshots and online video, this guide presents an in-depth, multimedia look at SEO topics and presents focused tips concerning:
- What Google Knows About Your Blog
- Why Blog SEO is Different From SEO for Other Websites
- Domain Registration & Hosting
- Keyword Research
- Keeping Up With the Joneses
- Writing Clear & Compelling Headlines
- Optimizing Site Structure
- Web Analytics
- Controversy
- Use Push Marketing After Launching Your Site
- Understanding Network Effects
- Learn More About SEO
Posted in Social Software, Web 2.0, Marketing, Books | No Comments »
Friday, November 30th, 2007
Posted in Library 2.0, Media, Libraries, Social Software, Wiki, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Presentations, Second Life, Marketing, IM, Blogs, SMS | No Comments »
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
Charlene Li, VP & Principal Analyst at Forrester Research discusses Why Your Company Needs To Be on Facebook with a recent post on the Harvard Buisness blog. She talks about using the social network to build relationships and enter into conversations with people while Tom Davenport, President of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, discusses Why Facebook and MySpace Won’t Change the Workplace.
via Social Media
Posted in Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Marketing | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
The latest top 100 list comes from Laura Milligan at VirtualHosting.com who puts together a stellar list of the best and most read blogs in the following categories:
- Social Media
- Social Networking
- Web 2.0
- Investor Analysis
- Developer Blogs
- Industry News
- Social Media and Marketing
- Social Media and Google
- Miscellaneous
I noticed a few of my faves on this list including Social Media, Groundswell, Mashable, Dion Hinchcliffe’s Web 2.0 Blog, Read/Write Web, and TechCrunch.
Posted in Media, Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Marketing, Blogs | No Comments »