Don't Forget about Link Building

This past summer my MBA Internet Marketing class learned about search engine optimization (SEO) and the fundamental importance of including relevant keywords in page titles, h1 tags and throughout a website in a human readable manner. This is a proven SEO technique but some sites need to do more, especially if there's a lot of competition vying for the attention of search engines and users. Another technique that we discussed is called link building.

Link building is the process of getting links to your web property (be it a blog, domain, whatever) placed on other -hopefully well-visited and relevant- domains. We used this technique to "promote" this blog by having students link back to this blog from their own personal blogs and sites. Unfortunately, since many students chose to build their blogs on blogger/blogspot, I don't think we got the link building "juice" we were looking for. Nonetheless, we were able to get the top spot on all three search engines for our chosen keywork "e-marketingclass", even bumping a consulting company with the same domain name.

Since link building requires modifications to websites that are not under your control, you'll need to reach out to bloggers/webmasters who manage sites related to yours and ask them (politely of course) to include a link to your site. Of course you'll offer a link to theirs in return (if you aren't already linking to their site) to reciprocate.

To demonstrate (and hopefully improve my personal websites relevance for certain keywords), I suggest you take a look at a site for a marketing professor in Buffalo, NY. This is a fairly new site so my visibility on search engines for keywords such as "marketing professor Canisius College" and "internet marketing professor" is still a work in progress.

Next I'll begin integrating some microsites (custom landing pages) to demonstrate how these can be used to for SEO as well as paid campaigns...stay tuned.

Farewell, Antkeg Remi!

As another installment of e-marketingclass winds down, it's time to bid farewell to our good friend, Antkeg Remi. As of this morning, both Bing and Google indicate that Shaun's website (member of Team B) took the prize while on Yahoo Kate K's website (member of Team A) ended up on top. Apparently Sarah's attempt to "keyword stuff" on her blog may have backfired.  Sarahs' site was ranked #1 on Bing last night during class but is nowhere to be seen today (at least when I attempt a search from my office laptop). Chalk this up as a "lesson learned"!

I hope everyone enjoyed the class as much as I did and continues to learn more about internet/e- marketing. For those of you completing your graduate programs this Summer, Congrats!!! For those of you continuing on this Fall, best of luck and I hope to run into you on campus.

Take care and don't forget to feed your Antkeg Remi!!

Oh, and by the way, while you're here don't forget to click on a couple PPC ads over there on the right side of the page. I have three kids so every click helps! :-)

Example of how (not) to use Social Media for your business

We've discussed social media and its business application in our e-marketingclass at Canisius College and on Thursday we will be watching group presentations on this topic. I expect to see several good/bad examples of social media use and the implications for marketers. In the meantime, I'd like you to check out the following story (which continues to evolve) about a business owner who was a bit hasty in her response to a critical review from a customer. If you want to sit back and let someone summarize the story for you, listen to a local TV stations coverage of the story.

Key takeaways:

1. Social media is (and will continue to be) a useful tool for just about any business.
2. Businesses need to become comfortable with the social media landscape and listen, engage and act responsibly.
3. It might be OK to admit faults and apologize.
4. Failing to acknowledge #2 or #3 can lead to this excellent example of how NOT to use social media in a business context.
5. Poor Amy!

e-marketingclass in the home stretch

Now that the midterm is behind us, it's time to start focusing our attention on social media marketing. We've already discussed the topic in class to some extent but let's take a couple steps back and put social media into context before proceeding. You can start by watching the short video Social Media in Plain English. The video simply describes the concept and puts a business spin on it. Is this view consistent with what you think social media is all about? Is it only about selling? Dialog? Community Building? All of the above? However you define it, social media introduces several implications for marketers...be prepared to discuss this in class on Thursday night!

While some folks are in denial, the social media phenomena is here and is becoming a necessary tool in marketers' toolbox. One recent article by e-marketer.com highlights social network user demographics and showcases the critical mass usage has reached. We have all seen/heard of examples of marketing campaigns that tap into the power/viral nature of social media (e.g., Subservient Chicken, Dove Evolution, Elf Yourself, etc.) but does this work for every business? How often does B2B go viral? Any good examples you want to share? B2B seems to be lagging behind the B2C world but this doesn't mean these types of firms are not participating (see socialmediab2b for some examples). I'll post a couple articles to ANGEL related to B2B social media (can't post here due to copyright limitations) for some ideas to ponder (and, of course, discuss in class on Thursday).

Until next time, don't forget about our goal of being the top e-marketingclass resource on the web (or at least getting the search engines to think so) and your team goal of being the #1 Antkeg Remi destination...keep at it and use those newly acquired SEO skills!

e-marketing class: Ford's e-marketing

According to the BusinessWeek article, “How Ford Got Social Marketing Right,” Ford’s Fiesta Movement was a marketing tactic in which Ford gave Fiesta cars to 100 consumers and asked them to drive anywhere they wanted and document their adventures for six months via social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. All expenses were paid by Ford. Their goal was to attract a younger demographic to increase their hurt revenues last year. This was an edgy move that could have had very negative feedback or consequences. They are finally done with the experiment and Ford is seeing some very positive customers who have been looking forward to the product’s arrival in the US, which has just happened this month.

For the rest, visit my blog at http://carr19.blogspot.com/

Are We Ready for Location Based Marketing?

Forrester Research released a study this week that found that only 4% of U.S. online adults have ever used location-based mobile apps. This has serious implications for marketers who are considering investing in location based services (LBS) as a new piece of their integrated marketing strategy.

An article published on AdAge.com highlights some of the stats found in the Forrester report and provides some relevant insight to the current usage of other mobile apps such as Twitter. In addition, the study—which was released on July 26, 2010—has sent a ripple through the blogosphere attracting much criticism.

Forrester concludes that “bold, male-targeted marketers start testing but that most marketers should wait until they can get a bigger bang for their buck, when adoption rates increase and established players emerge from the fray.”

Is this a good recommendation?


To read further please visit my personal e-marketingclass blog.

The Eyes Have It

by Marian Hetherly

e-marketingclass contributor

As a marketer, wouldn’t you love to know what really goes on in the minds of your customers? Of course you would, but maybe their eyes would be more telling. There’s no doubt that a new era of eye tracking has begun. Marketers are now faced with the challenge of developing a better understanding of the data it produces and making good use of it.

Eye tracking is a groundbreaking new way to monitor brainwaves and responses of individuals. The process involves the use of a device, such as a video camera or sensor, for measuring eye positions and movements. The technology has been available to marketers for some years, but it has traditionally taken days or even weeks to receive reports.

Today, eye-tracking reports are available almost immediately and being used to demonstrate returns on investments. The promise is that marketers will be able to meet the deep-down genuine, unspoken needs of consumers at a level of accuracy never before possible and without spending a fortune.

Read more about eye tracking on wnyfastlane.blogspot.com.

E-marketingclass: Department Stores Delve into the Virtual

In the world of online retailing, Amazon reigns king. But, as the old game goes there's always someone pushing their way to be the new king of the mountain. This is the new way of online retailing, as seen in the Chicago Tribune article, "Stores try to blend real, virtual worlds: Retailers connect shoppers to out-of-stock items on Web" by Andrea Chang. Chang tells of how major retail stores like JC Penny and Macy's are now moving their customers to their online kiosks and high tech registers. This movement helps the stores with out of stock items that aren't readily available in the store and or different options, such as more size and color choices. Though department stores online retailing has a long way to go before they reach Amazon's status, their rapid growth is definitely a clear sign of something positive as Chang states, "Online revenue still accounts for a small percentage of total retail sales. Although online sales totaled $134 billion last year, the National Retail Federation estimates that's only about 7 percent of all retail sales. But growth has been rapid, with online sales soaring nearly 400 percent since 2000." Retailers are taking advantage of this growth, since it means less inventory needing to be in the store, as well as sales clerks. The growth is something retail stores don't want to lose; executives are constantly thinking of new ways to entice consumers whether with using e-commerce such as free shipping and a faster checkout. Companies don't want to lose out as Chang informs, "As e-commerce continues to grow at robust rates -- the sector posted a 10 percent year-over-year sales increase in the first quarter, according to market research firm ComScore Inc. -- experts have predicted that online sales could grow to as much as 30 percent of total retail sales over the next few decades." These numbers only justify that if retailers are going to continue, they need to adapt even further with their online presence, as well as continuously grow with ever changing e-commerce.

It will be intriguing to see how brick and mortar stores will have to change to the intangible of the internet. Many stores that have been recognized by their retail presence for decades, such as Macy's, now have to start from scratch when they enter the online market. Though retail stores have the crucial intangible asset of their brand name to work with, they still have to find out how to gain with online profits. Though retail stores have the right idea with introducing online kiosks in their stores so customers are able to have a choice if they want the physical store or the website, there still are a lot of unknowns they have to deal with. Aspects of customer service, returns, personal selling, and commission are all things that stores need to consider when incorporating a stronger online presence. As noted in Chang's article, Nordstorm was having problems with their customers having questions about the merchandise, therefore leading to them introducing a Web chat feature for shoppers to speak with informed specialists. Macy's has introduced a user "profile" where customers can store shipping and billing information, as well as receive special discounts and free shipping, while JC Penny's allows customers to view their store catalog online and to join their Facebook page. Though these are all good ways to get started the retailers need to think further of getting customers to shop at their website, and not at their competitors.

To see the full post please go to http://kayz-coffeespoons.blogspot.com/

MARKET RESEARCH: Extracting value from a wealth of raw online data by Morag Cuddeford-Jones.

Social media has opened many new streams of information for brands, but technology is only valuable if it is married to solid research methodology
By Michael Chase

In the United Kingdom marketing revenue continues to fall into double figures, a bright side to this is advancement of market research thru social media. WhileFunctional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanners for neurological projects in the field of neuromarketing, have come down significantly in price they are still costly and somewhat ineffective. According to an article by “ David Lewis & Darren Brigder (July/August 2005). "Market Researchers make Increasing use of Brain Imaging". Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, “neuromarketing is a new field of marketing that studies consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective response to marketing stimuli. Researchers use technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in activity in parts of the brain, electroencephalography (EEG) to measure activity in specific regional spectra of the brain response, and/or sensors to measure changes in one's physiological state (heart rate, respiratory rate, galvanic skin response) to learn why consumers make the decisions they do, and what part of the brain is telling them to do it. Marketing analysts will use neuromarketing to better measure a consumer's preference, as the verbal response given to the question, "Do you like this product?" may not always be the true answer due to cognitive bias. This knowledge will help marketers create products and services designed more effectively and marketing campaigns focused more on the brain's response. This makes neuromarketing and its applied results potentially subliminal.”
As budgets continue to drop marketers are finding a wealth of information available to researchers, thru consumer chatter on social media. Alistair Leatherwood, managing director of research agency FreshMinds, elaborates: "Trying to build online communities where consumers can talk about you is interesting… "Tracking social media can tell you what is going on, but it's quite imprecise. Overall, it's just a sensible way of gaining another perspective." Market Research Society (MRS) director general David Barr says, “There has been a scramble to get hold of blogs and Twitter content. However, getting hold of raw information is interesting but not great for insight. Getting a feed of what people are saying about your brand without insight doesn't give you strategic and actionable information.” "The market research industry has been protected from the recession because people recognize there is value in understanding the customer," states Andy Moore, former insight director at Vodafone and now strategic director for research and consultancy agency Nunwood. Proctor and Gamble invests over $350 million into market research every year. This is justified by the department on the idea that, during a recessionary period a better understanding of the customer and market, this assists P&G to sell products that are thought to be necessary by consumers during their possible economic hardships.
There are some draw backs from acquiring information through social media however, certain demographics may be limited in their use and access of this media. My Grandparents do not own a computer or mobile phone with internet access and most likely have no idea what a Twitter account is. Although they have tremendous buying power, a company is not going to find out about their consumer interest through a social media site.

To read this article follow the posted link below:
http://0-proquest.umi.com.cando.canisius.edu/pqdweb?index=0&did=2075142401&SrchMode=1&sid=4&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1280237537&clientId=13756
sources:Marketing week article
Mastering marketing social media
http://www.drdavidlewis.co.uk/assets/NeuroMarket1.pdf

author: Morag Cuddeford-Jones
publication & date: Marketing Week. London: Jul 8, 2010. pg. 30

“Area Doctors to Treat Patient’s Online”

Just as the physician’s office once replaced the house call, the computer screen is now poised to replace the office visit. Blue Cross Blue Shield, one of the largest local insurance companies, plans to introduce online care this year, a service that allows patients to connect with a physician on demand 24 hours a day using webcams for video links, secure text messages or telephone conversations. Patients will be able to talk from their home, workplace or anywhere else with a computer connection to one of hundreds of primary care doctors. Similar to ebay.com, patients will be allowed to rate each encounter.

This marketing strategy shift from brick and mortar to an online model is seen by advocates as a way to address a shortage of physicians who provide basic medical care and the long waits for appointments, reduce unnecessary trips to hospital emergency rooms and help patients with chronic illnesses and multiple medications better manage their conditions.

Check out more of this story on my e-marketing blog at: http://emarketingcanisius.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=2

Is Twitter the Next Wave of Advertising, or Mostly Swept in the Undertow?

A study by the digital marketing agency 360i offers some surprising findings concerning Twitter and marketing applications. The essential finding is that there's a tacit wall between corporate Twitter accounts and everyday users of the social network.

You can read more at Thoughts and Miscellany, my blog.

Social Media Doesn't Fit Every Business Model

Social media is a lot like leggings; they naturally look great on some people, others need to work hard to pull off the trend, and yet another group should steer clear at all costs. A quick Google search for social media and business returns 257,000,000 results, most titles declare social media and business to be inseparable, as ubiquitous as having a telephone number. Still, being on the first page of Google doesn't make something true. A little more searching and you’ll see that social media does not make sense for every business.

The Buffaloeditor blog includes a mini-analysis of the social media decisions of two businesses using Mashable’s social media myths and Amy Mengel’s reasoning of why corporations are failing at social media.

What To Call It - E-Networking or Social Networking?

An E-Marketing Summary on the Personal and Professional Networking Through Social Media

For many businesses, the term social-networking is something that makes them cringe. They have tried to wait out the storm of the social networking trend that includes such sites as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; hoping and believing that the practice would be phased out for something new and that the trend would shift. Several of these companies also view social networking as a negative unproductive practice. Many companies are in the process of banning the use of such sites as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They view these social networking tools as disruptive technologies that hinder productivity in the work environment.

Part of this behavior may be due, in part, to the name that we have given the act of “Tweeting”, updating status, and networking online with other people- “social networking”. For many businesses, the name itself implies that there is only a social use for these tools. It implies that these tools take away from an employee’s productive time at work. There are arguments posed that the term social networking should not be used, and should be replaced with a more business-like implication. Adopting terms such as ‘e-Networking’ and ‘B-Netting’ seem to have a better reference to the productivity these tools can bring to organizations.

The fact seems to be forming that these disruptive technologies are not only evolving and growing, but are becoming an essential component to the way that companies do business and interact within the global environment. Many businesses that have not yet adopted the use of these technologies risk being left behind in the dust. These tools now enable HR department’s access to the best candidates, and also allow for company-critical communications across the globe to be reached by millions of people. These technologies also allow job seekers to follow industry leaders and avoid being stuck blindly submitting resumes along with thousands of other people.

For Full Article Review follow me on my e-marketing class website at: http://sites.google.com/site/wodkasemarketingnews/

With Kindle, the Best Sellers Don't Need to Sell

The introduction of e-readers such as the Kindle to the world has revolutionized the publishing industry. The question of ways to encourage growth in this industry have been challenging to answer and publishers continue to disagree on what are the best ways to resolve this problem. One solution that has been effective is allowing users to download free e-books from emerging authors.

View my assessment of this strategy at my blog: http://antkegremi.blogspot.com

B-Schools All A-Twitter Over Social Media

As social media moves more mainstream, traditional MBA educations becomes more obsolete. So, like any good organization, the schools need to accept the change, and make it work for them, not against them.

It's hard to tell a student you have prepared them accordingly for the current job market if your courses aren't teaching them skills needed for some of the fastest growing and highest paying careers. So, like Canisius College has done by offering an e-marking class, the top 30 MBA programs have begun to offer classes in online marketing and social media.

Want to read more? Check out my blog HERE

Read the whole article HERE

Old Spice smells like social media success

Old Spice videos go viral on YouTube, schooling companies on using social networks
www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179253/Old_Spice_smells_like_social_media_success

I was looking for an article for my second e-marketingclass assignment and I was planning to talk about YouTube and social media, since I think we covered a lot else in this area from Facebook to Twitter but being a YouTube user myself I thought we were missing something. So I found this article about the success of the Old Spice campaign and had to check the videos. To be honest the video itself did not catch my attention, but as described in the article Procter & Gamble combined the different technologies/media available Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, YouTube ... to give "life" and rejuvenate the image of Old Spice. The actor in character answers questions and comments engaging the consumers.
As discussed in class the power shifted from companies to individuals, from a centralized push to decentralized pull, so companies have to find more ways to engage customers, specially in an era that DVRs allows us to take control and skip commercials and that the traditional marketing is not as effective, so having people search and talk about a specific one (or ones) is definetely a win for P&G, but what also made this initiative different and a success was the innovation in combining the videos and live responses, the engagement with the audience.

E-Marketing Class: "Power I" Helps Online Advertisers Stay Ahead of Looming Legislation

The issue of privacy may be the most prominent battlefield in the ongoing e-marketing war that pits government legislation against industry self-regulation. As a recent article in Advertising Age magazine explains, some e-marketing strategists have adopted new technologies to not only fend off government regulation of internet data collection, but to give individual internet users more control of how their data are being used by companies that advertise on the internet. Last month, a company called Better Advertising launched a trial of its “Power I” (Eye) system. Used by several Fortune 500 companies like AT&T, American Express, and Microsoft, the “Power I” system places an icon in the corner of every internet ad that, when clicked, brings up a window with more information about the ad, information on the company that placed the ad, and most importantly, a method for the internet user to opt-out of specific interest-based advertising providers. Not only does Better Advertising believe that its new system gives consumers access to clear information and choices, but it also believes that it provides evidence of ongoing compliance with new industry self-regulatory guidelines. Why should e-marketing strategists be interested in self-regulation? Read my e-marketing class blog to find out what Washington may have in store for online advertisers.

UltraViolet: A New Digital Format

I was going to review an article on engagement, then while listening to my regular morning NPR station I heard an interesting story on a new technology UltraViolet. It is so new it’s hard to find much on this new technology. I found three articles, but one is just a press release reprinted in Home Theater Magazine.

At first I wasn’t sure if it related to our e-marketing class, but while reviewing the details it relates in many ways. It is trying to resolve the splinternet issues related to viewing and sharing movies and video. It can create another way to social network and it can even relate to customer profiling.
 
Check Out My Blog for More:
http://machomarketing.blogspot.com/

The Future Has Been Delivered to Your Mailbox

“The Future Has Been Delivered to Your Mailbox” by Jason Meyers, Entrepreneur Magazine, July 2010

Just take a trip to the mailbox and what do we find? Junk mail. My first thought is to toss it into the garbage. How effective is it? Marketers realize approximately 99% of it goes unnoticed and the balance does not generate quality leads. The dollars are staggering; the Direct Marketing Association states that 54% of all advertising dollars spent in the United States go into direct-marketing channels. In 2009, that translates into more than $149 billion with direct mail and catalogs making up $44 billion of that. Furthermore, marketers are finding direct mail frustrating because of their lack in ability to quantify results.

Meanwhile, social media has changed how we make buying decisions. With digital video recorders we are lucky if we watch one commercial, but you can bet your checking connections on Facebook and Twitter. Was it possible to combine a direct-mail campaign with social media and other web technologies? Shawn Burst, founder of Dukky, saw potential in the unredeemed coupon market. He knew that the most effective campaigns have good offers and good mailing lists. Shawn developed Dukky which would be an intelligent lead generation tool using social media. This tool would allow for print advertising to be trackable, real time data for their campaigns, and continue to build a high quality mailing list. Dukky, a software as a solution, monitors companies campaigns in real time and collects detailed information about their customers. How does it do this? Dukky’s tool for bridging the online and offline worlds is called a PURL (personalized URL). An individual would receive an offer in the mail with a targeted URL (for example: gift.com/johndoe) and would be required to visit the internet. This website would have targeted information about the prospect. Dukky is finding people are intermingling their online and offline worlds. The PURL leads responders to a microsite created exclusively for the individual customer. It will mirror the direct mail campaign, but in order for John Doe to get what he wants he is required to share a little more information. This information is collected and tracked on the Dukky platform. At the end, John Doe gets what he wants and is offered a quick (one button click) way to share the offer with his friends through social media. “The end result: a deep connection with the customers before they even step foot in the store. A rich database for future marketing. Aind incredibly a good chance that the customer himself will become a viral marketing agent.”

When John Doe sends off these offers to his “friends” through social media, Dukky tracks not only the initial send, but all forwards his friends send, and so on. These are all tracked back to John Doe and Dukky determines the effectiveness of John Doe for future targeted campaigns. Dukky also tracks the campaign and its successes by person and even the region it is doing well in. All allowing companies using Dukky to further target market future campaigns.

Companies such as BMW, Chick-fil-A, Direct TV, and Dominoes Pizza are seeing real success with this tool. It is becoming very valuable for the companies using Dukky. Their clients have been generating anywhere from 20 to 32% response rates on email campaigns and building very strong marketing/mailing lists. A remarkable number that Dukky believes is being generated by their personalized URL and the viral peer sharing that is created. This is not just for large companies because Dukky has developed a small business version. A company can start using Dukky at just $99 per month. This inexpensive solution pays large dividends in order to capture valuable data, increase conversions, identify your influencers, and gauge the purchase intent of your products.

By Antkeg Remi for e-marketingclass

Does Facebook “Like” you too much?

By: Antkeg Remi

When Facebook was first created, it was a great resource to reconnect with old friends, display family photos for distant relatives and to let everyone know where you’ll be this weekend. As it evolved and users began voluntarily posting more information about their likes and dislikes into their profiles, Facebook quickly realized that they struck marketing gold.

To continue reading this post, click here.

Morgan Stanley Internet Trends Presentation Related to E-Marketingclass

Here's an informative presentation highlighting some recent trends that we've discussed in our e-marketingclass

Internet Trends 2010 by Morgan Stanley Research

View more presentations from CM Summit: Marketing in Real Time.

Google's new e-marketing strategy

As the Forbes article, “Google Bets On Display Ads In 2010” states, Google, the leading search advertising provider, has its sights set on improving a different type of marketing: display ads. Even as display advertising is increasingly criticized for its effectiveness, Google and other major internet firms are in serious competition to improve its standing and gain the top marketing position. Marketers and consumers alike find display ads to be annoying and inefficient and many firms are shying away from them but Google feels 2010 is their year to improve the problems facing this form of advertisement. Google clarified in a recent press release that when it says it is focusing on display ads, they are not going to be the annoying ones people dislike; they will be like the already-existing text-only ones featured on Google’s various sites...


For the rest, go to http://carr19.blogspot.com/

150 credit unions sign up for Mobile Money Transfers

e-marketing class blog

Wired Magazine or Wired.com, has a bold statment regarding the future of money. Wired predicts that the shackles surrounding paper and electronic cash are soon to be released. But rather than discuss older news on wired's prediction, lets focus on an announcement made yesterday that proves how accurate Wired's prediction actually was.

150 Credit Unions Choose Mobile Money From Fiserv

Just as Wired predicted, Fiserv announced yesterday, 150 credit unions joined up for mobile money transfers because of the "Ease of use and integration encourage credit unions to offer convenient, mobile access through a hosted, ASP solution".

Read the entire article here

For FarmVille, a Crop From a Real Organic Farm

In the article For Farmville Players, a Crop From a Real Organic Farm, Elizabeth Olsen discusses the Facebook game Farmville's popularity and their first branded in-game crop integration to offer users something that will benefit them online and offline.

What is Farmville? According to Wikipedia, Farmville is a real-time farm simulation game developed by Zynga, available as an application on the social-networking website Facebook and as an App on the Apple iPhone. The game allows members of Facebook to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting virtual crops and trees, and raising livestock. Since its launch in June 2009, FarmVille has become the most popular game application on Facebook, with over 82.4 million active users and over 23.9 million Facebook application fans in May 2010. The total FarmVille users are over 20% of the users of Facebook. Users of Farmville can play for free, but they also can spend real money to buy virtual goods that enable them to expand their farms.

To read more, please visit my blog http://ashleya-emarketing-class.blogspot.com/

#1 Already??

I mentioned last class that I thought our blog got the top spot on Google for the e-marketingclass keyword. However, when I performed the search in class, it fell several positions. This behavior happened again today but, this time, I took a screen shot to prove I am not crazy (in this case anyway).

We'll see if this holds up in class tonight.

Here are a couple links that I showed in class last time (in case you missed 'em):
steegle.com: Google Sites SEO Guide (for those using the Google sites)
Google AdWords: Ad Preview Tool (a way to test your PPC campaigns without getting charged)

Antkeg Remi

Visit my site for Antkeg Remi References on Wodka's E-marketing News
http://sites.google.com/site/wodkasemarketingnews/

Shopping Cart Applications on Facebook...too much or just right?

In the Wall Street Journal Article "Merchants Push Sales Through Social Media; Early Adopters Add Shopping-Cart Apps to Fan Pages to Sell Items, Services" by Sarah Needleman details how merchants are using their Facebook and MySpace pages to attract purchases through offering sales and services to their fans. Fans will be able to see items for sale on the social media pages and then be directed to the company's website to purchase the items. This increases traffic for the company's main website, as well as gives incentives for people to become fans of different company's pages to receive special deals. Though sales through social media seem to be a great idea for many companies, it is more effective for company's who already have a large fan base. For companies who don't have many fans, they would have to combine marketing for their page and their sales as well to see any true profits. As seen with the article the company, Guitar Syndicate has seen an increase of 17% since their online social media sales offering has been offered, but in the same instance Sun & Ski Sports has only seen social media sales offering 1% to their online sales. There also is a fee for adding shopping cart applications, starting at $24.99 but with the possibility to increase if more items are being offered for sale. This is new territory that is being incorporated with social media sites and it is intriguing to see how consumers are and will react to it.

Adding shopping cart applications to social media sites is an intriguing topic because it seems to be one of the few untapped markets within social media. Now with it being offered by companies, there can be a mixture of excitement and also wary. Companies can be willing to add the applications since it can mean more traffic onto their actual website, as well as their social media page. But, as noted before, companies have to make sure that they already have enough fans to be profitable. Therefore, adding a shopping cart application could mean increased marketing henceforth increased costs the companies have to face. There is also the fee of adding a shopping cart application as well as Face book stating that they are going to have a 30% share of sales for various virtual goods. Companies, especially ones on a smaller scale, are going to have to weigh the pro and cons of adding this application. It could lead to greater online sales and fan traffic on their pages, but it could also mean financial headaches...

To see the full write up please visit http://kayz-coffeespoons.blogspot.com

Press Releases Expedia Media Announces Marketing Campaign Support For Gulf State Destinations Impacted By Oil Spill

By Michael Chase

One industry that has been revolutionized from the internet and e-marketing is the travel industry. There are now dozens of sites where travelers can find the lowest prices and reserve flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises and entire vacation packages. Some of the sites that offer such deals are Kayak.com, Priceline.com, Expedia.com, and Orbitz.com.

Expedia.com headquarters are located in Washington and is the largest online travel website. It was formed in 1996 as a division of Microsoft and was later purcahed by Ticketmaster.com in 2001 and finally InterActiveCorp in 2005. A brief history of the site can be found at fundinguniverse.com.

In an article appearing this week in Marketing Weekly News reports that http://www.expedia.com/ is running promotions for the Gulf State’s affected by the BP oil spill to help their tourism boards. The states include; Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and according to the article for the months July, August, and September:

Organizations in these areas will receive three dollars in marketing value for every one dollar spent with Expedia Media. The matching program will allow destinations in need of tourism to stretch their promotional dollars and further increase their visibility among travel shoppers visiting the Expedia, Inc. sites…."Expedia stands behind our destination and supply partners throughout the Gulf states," said Doug Miller, Global Vice President, Expedia(R) Media Solutions. "We hope we can help minimize the economic impact of the oil spill and help Gulf state destinations overcome challenges in consumer perception that have kept travelers away even from unaffected areas.

Along with the tripling the marketing dollars spent by the tourism boards of that region Expedia also plans to donate one full day to each of the Gulf states on their homepage and homepage of partner hotels.com for free. The article also goes on to say that Expedia will donate $50,000 to update their homepage for the gulf relief:

A separate campaign will run for each state and will utilize Expedia's premier Homepage Wallpaper advertising product, providing highly visual, exclusive placement on the Expedia.com and hotels.com homepages. Together, the two sites are the most highly trafficked online travel agency marketplace, offering prime marketing visibility for the Gulf states to reach a very large, relevant audience of travel shoppers when they need it most.

The most important aspect of Expedia.com’s campaign is the increase in tourism to the Gulf states, which otherwise would have most likely been avoided by vacation travelers. The economic situation in this area is under a large enough strain, perhaps some savvy vacations has ease the economic downfall of this region. E-marketing can quickly capitalize and promote areas of the country to larege appropriate audiences, which are in need of assistance, far quicker than traditional advertising.


For more information about Expedia check out:
Marketing Weekly News. Atlanta: Jul 17, 2010. pg. 107

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Expedia-Inc-Company-History.html

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10797395/1/expedia-media-announces-marketing-campaign-support-for-gulf-state-destinations-impacted-by-oil-spill.html

Did Twitter Cost McChrystal His Command?

General Stanley McChrystal possessed two masters degrees, attended three different military schools, earned 13 prestigious badges and served in three wars overseas yet he faced his greatest enemy of all was that of Twitter4 . What started off as nonchalant remarks that carelessly rolled off the tongue of McChrystal with a Rolling Stones reporter in earshot, quickly ignited a firestorm of seismic proportions on Twitter. “It was the article from Michael Hastings that broke the story, but it was Twitter who got the story rolling”.



For more information on this story and additional e-marketing topics, visit my blog at: http://emarketingcanisius.blogspot.com/

Marketing Small Business With Twitter

Twitter. How can such an asinine word have such a colossal effect on society? How can 140 characters of text create more buzz than a multi-million dollar ad campaign? How can it be that Twitter is revolutionizing business?

According to our e-marketingclass text, “The mass market has been slowly disappearing since about 1992, as evidenced by the decline in prime-time television ratings, growth of cable television, and increasing number of special interest magazines. The internet put finality to this trend by extending it to its ultimate—a market size of one customer—and prompted marketers to create products and communication to small target groups.”

Reaching a niche customer segment has always played to the benefit of the small business and the changing marketing environment described above presents small businesses with an unprecedented opportunity.

Twitter gives small business owners the ability to effectively reach and engage customers and prospects in a way that was never before possible. Mom-and-Pop retailers, restaurants, and even street vendors have realized the benefits of Twitter and are seeing results. In a recent New York Times article, Marketing Small Business with Twitter, we are introduced to a small business owner who operates a crème brulee cart in San Francisco named Curtis Kimball. Through Twitter, Curtis has built up a local following of engaged, word-of-mouth customers totaling over 5400 subscribers. He sends out tweets with his location and the special flavor of the day as well as other various tweets about his personal life. As a result of the success that Curtis assigns solely to his Twitter campaigns, Curtis has quit his day job as a carpenter and focused all his effort on his small business.

To read more on this article and to find links about how Twitter is transforming small business, please visit my e-marketingclass blog http://buffalotom2010.blogspot.com/

Blockbuster Extends Its Reach, or Simply Flails About

A faltering company extends its reach to mobile apps.

Do they have a chance to survive, or are they on the way out the door?

Earlier this year, Blockbuster released a mobile app that essentially allows unlimited streaming of movies over a period for a flat fee.

They'll have to deal with bandwith, rights management, Antkeg Remi, and Netflix.

You can read more here.

iAds: Apple's Newest Revolutionary Creation

Apple has done it again with the introduction of iAds. The use of easy to use and easy to navigate advertisements within consumer downloaded apps is a refreshing new format of reaching consumers which is sure to change the way people do internet advertising and marketing. By injecting relevant ads into consumer content, advertisers will reap the rewards of higher click-through rates and developers will enjoy the benefits of increased ad click revenue.

Read the rest of my e-marketingclass assignment at http://antkegremi.blogspot.com

A sample of the iAd for the Nissan Leaf can be found at the following site:
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/01/apples-iads-slowly-begin-to-appear-led-by-nissan-leaf/



Article location: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2010/07/08/businessinsider-iphone-developer-brags-1400-in-iad-revenue-in-one-day-at-150-ecpm-2010-7.DTL#ixzz0tU77ivyX

Boomers Zero in on Social Networks

by Ashley Abend

Over five years ago, a then senior in my undergraduate career at Canisius College, I joined an online network called Facebook. The only way to join was if you had a registered college e-mail address that was within the approved list by Facebook. At the time, I thought of it as a way to stay in touch with all of the great people I had met along my four years as we all moved in separate directions in the "real world". I also was able to re-connect with older friends from high school if they were members of Facebook and if I knew what college they attended.

Over the next few years Facebook began to grow in popularity. They changed the criteria and it was made available for high school students and soon the entire public. Before I knew it my mom, my boyfriend's mom, and other relatives in the 50 years old and over age range had joined. Still, I only viewed it as a way to stay in touch and share information on each other's lives. Not until my recent career change did I realize the importance of Facebook and how it has changed the world as we know it.

In an article posted in USA Today, "Boomers Zero in on Social Networking" , Marc R. della Cava discusses how millions of baby boomers and older have joined in on the phenomenon that was once thought to be only for teenagers.....

To read more please check out my blog at AshleyA emarketing class blog******************

Music A La Carte: How the iPod and iTunes Turned the Music Industry Upside Down

by Mike Hickok
e-marketingclass blog

Ten years ago, I bought a new CD player that held 400 discs. I wanted centralized access to my entire music collection. A few clicks on a remote control, and I could go from listening to Pearl Jam to listening to Public Enemy without getting off the couch. Satisfied with my purchase, I happily enjoyed the intended values of the new device for several years: organization, convenience, and storage space reduction (no more huge CD racks filled with dusty jewel cases).

My new music solution worked well when I was in my living room. But if I was in my car, at work, or in the backyard mowing the lawn, I couldn’t benefit from the values the CD player provided. I needed more than organization, convenience, and storage space reduction; I needed portability.

Enter the iPod, an 800 disc CD changer that fits in your pocket. I bought one, and within a few hours, all of my music was available to me anywhere. The iPod uses a program called iTunes to categorize, organize, and synch my music library with my portable music device. Organization: check! Convenience: check! Space reduction: check! Portability: check! I thought that I had acquired the ultimate solution to my music problems. Little did I know that the real value of my new iPod device and iTunes software had nothing to do with portability or space reduction. It had everything to do with a feature called “shuffle,” the iTunes store, and the new way that the internet has allowed me to find, preview, buy, and listen to new music.

How did the 2001 introduction of the iPod and iTunes increase access to music for millions of people while disrupting the music industry and killing album sales? Visit Mike Hickok: E-Marketing to read the rest of my e-marketingclass blog and my analysis of Edna Gundersen's 2009 article in USA Today, "Moving in All Directions: Sales Slides, Pirates Aplenty, Microtrends in Pop – All Altered by the Internet"

Journalism and the Internet. Did new media kill the beat reporter?

In truth, the Internet didn’t kill journalism, big business killed journalism, the Internet simply helped speed the flow of the poison.

Nieman Reports, a print and online repository for all things journalism, made the case that news conglomerates actually struck the first blow. Mega media monsters swallowed up local newspapers and television stations then reduced local reporting to a trickle, making the news “less local and less relevant, and reporters . . . less connected to their communities.” The further journalists got from home, the less trust the public had in their reporting.

Enter the Internet. If a reporter’s credentials aren’t up to snuff, the public can simply find their news elsewhere. And that news doesn’t have to stop at the byline. If a reader wants more information she can hunt down others with similar interests to round out the story. News consumers are not longer interested in purchasing pre-packaged sound bytes, they want to be engaged in the story and make their own connections.

Easier said than done? Check out the Buffalo Editor blog to discover how to be an effective Web 2.0 (and beyond) journalist!

“‘I Hate My Room,’ The Traveler Tweeted. Ka-Boom! An Upgrade! The New Ways Hotels Track You and Your Complaints” Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2010

With the ever growing importance of marketing your business, Hotels have started to focus on social media to do such. More specifically, hotels have been forming Twitter and Facebook accounts and monitoring their action. Why Twitter? Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers." Twitter is a micro-blogging type of forum. You can talk to anyone who will listen to you and it can be the quickest way to get people interested in new product offerings, contests, prize giveaways and much more.

What companies are finding if you're not on social sites, your competitors might be. Add that to the recent developments that Google and Bing are going to start indexing tweets and you could be missing out on brand visibility, customers and ultimately dollars. Twitter is more than just a site for keeping up with the status updates of everyday life. These same people can be hearing about your business.

Hotels are finding this extremely important for better customer service and to head off negative comments before they grow into unmanageable situations. With some guests having hundreds, if not thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook, complaints have a big audience. Could it be that if you use social media to air your complaints you could have more power? At certain hotels, the answer is a resounding yes! For example, the Orlando World Center Marriott responded to a recent tweet by a written apology and an immediate upgrade of their guests’ room. With the use of this social media, hotels have formed teams to monitor comments on the sites and go into damage control when necessary.

Furthermore, hotels are using Twitter and Facebook on the offensive in hopes of boosting their ratings on sites such as TripAdvisor. These “savvy” hotels are sending TripAdvisor links to guests over Twitter and email encouraging them to leave a review. It’s working…the Roger Smith Hotel in midtown Manhattan has seen their ratings jump dramatically. The hotel has jumped approximately 100 places in the New York City hotel rankings.

Research has showed hotels realize travelers are using the Web, specifically for reviews, to decide where to stay. Not only have they realized their importance but many have taken action in order to improve their guests’ stays. “About 41% of leisure travelers and 50% of business travelers say user reviews influence their travel decisions” according to a survey from comScore Inc. (www.comscore.com)

Since hotels and other businesses have seen a need to utilize these emarketing techniques, companies such as Hootesuite (www.hootesuite.com) and StepChange Group have been formed to offer them solutions in doing so. Hootesuite has developed software to track Twitter results, monitor mentions by gathering intelligence and tracking mentions of your brand, industry or search terms and even spread messages (they update multiple networks in one step).

Business has found that it is hard to keep up with customer service. Providing timely customer service is the key to customer loyalty and increased sales. Other businesses such as Amazon, WalMart, and Dell have realized the importance of Twitter as well. Not only have they set up Twitter accounts, but each of them has multiple accounts set up (http://www.websitemagazine.com). With these companies having multiple Twitter accounts to manage different areas of their business, they have found the importance of explaining to their customers how they operate on Twitter and what information those accounts provide. All have the same ultimate goal: increase customer happiness, loyalty and getting information to them that they want and need.

e-marketingclass antkeg remi

Monitoring the electronic grapevine with Twitter

On June 30, 2009, I signed up for a Twitter account. At 11:59 a.m., I posted my first and only “tweet”: “trying to figure out why so many people waste their time on twitter.” It was a serious posting, because I didn’t really understand why someone would want to know that I’m currently making a sandwich, putting gas in my car, or going #2. I had heard that businesses were using it and I could see how that could be useful to advertise a sale or give updates on a new product launch, but for the average user it just seemed to be a waste of time.

What I didn’t think of at that time was the way in which businesses could use Twitter for a much more useful purpose. While researching the business uses of Twitter for our e-marketingclass, I discovered that it has a search function that can instantly scan millions of tweets for their company names, product keywords and industry lingo. With limited effort and expense, a business can now see what is being said about them in real-time. With this feature, Twitter is suddenly useful for more than cyber-stalking celebrities like ashton kutcher and Antkeg Remi.


To continue reading this article, please visit my personal e-marketingclass blog and Antkeg Remi information site...

Morgan Stanley predicts $50 billion dollar mobile internet advertising potential.

e-marketing class blog

The Cell Phone Money Pit and the $50 billion dollar mobile internet advertising potential.

"The average household now pays $107 a month for cellphone service, up from $88 in 2005, according to research firm J.D. Power & Associates."

An interesting article from The Wall Street Journal discusses the rising increase in costs to consumers for cell phone services. While the coverage expands, the phones become more advanced, and the customer service drops to all time lows, the costs continue (and likely will continue) to increase...

Read the rest of this article at the 2nd antkeg remi blog, created for the e-marketing class blog

The Facebook Opportunity

Do you have a Facebook page? Does your business? If you don't you could be at risk of being behind the times. Not a short time ago being behind the times meant you didn't mean much. Nowadays, being behind the times could mean millions in profits. Check out my blog for great info about The Facebook Opportunity.


Check out my blog!!!

Dr. T. rambles on in his e-marketingclass

I am starting to see some great content from our e-marketingclass discussions...keep at it!

Remember, if you haven't done so already, you need to post your first assignment (write-up) to this blog. You'll also want to post a link to your personal blog/website to improve your chances of having Google find your site and start indexing it (which will be necessary to compete for the keywords "Antkeg Remi"). I also ask that you post a link to our class blog as this will help our site compete for top billing for keyword e-marketingclass.

I mentioned in class last week that I would post a link to an article on location-based marketing. Cate Macho beat me to the punch and posted her write-up on the same topic. While Cate's article refers primarily to capable devices such as smartphones, another interesting article from e-marketer.com discusses how location-based marketing can work for devices capable only of SMS message (standard text messaging).

In order to improve your performance in our search engine competition announced in class last week, be sure to read your Search Engine Marketing book or, at minimum check out Google's starter guide. With any luck, our site will be viewed as a relevant resource for all things e-marketingclass-related. Best of luck with your personal/team site optimization (remember, I did mention you could work with teams of no more than four people).

TakeOut Technologies and Restaurants on the Run Introduce “Foodgistics”

From The Journal of Technology June 8th, 2010
The internet and new technologies have changed the face of many common businesses, but a more recent trend is using the internet for on-line fast food and restaurant businesses. Two companies have surfaced, TakeOut Technologies (www.TakeOuttech.com) and Restaurants on the Run, that are the first third party providers to combine on-line food ordering technologies with driver logistics and call center management. A new term has emerged that captures the use of these technologies together – “Foodgistics”.

TakeOut Technologies was founded in 1993 in partnership with Restaurants on the Run. Over the past 11 years, TakeOut Technologies has enabled its customers to use multiple sources of media, including text messages for customers to place orders. These changes have also created a marketing advantage for many of its customers in that they are now able to access more information about its customer base and enhance its marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. The concept of up-selling has also been an advantage that the service has better enabled customers to increase the individual check transaction amounts. Their book of customers includes many small regional businesses as well as large corporate customers such as Panera Bread, Wolfgang Puck and Marie Callenders.

This technology has become very beneficial to many clients of these businesses because it allows the food industry to “speed delivery and add value for its customers” by using current technologies and filling the gaps where appropriate with logistics and call centers. This new technology also enables its restaurant-owner customers to “capitalize on the incremental business [these] companies may have lost without staff to handle immediate delivery orders”. It takes away many of the resource requirements that would be necessary and allows these providers to fill this resource need.

For full article and topic review, please visit my personal website for our e-marketingclass at:

http://sites.google.com/site/wodkasemarketingnews/home

More Money for Mobile

by Marian Hetherly
e-marketingclass contributor

If you yawn when you read another headline about mobile advertising and its ever-pending explosion, you’re surely not alone. It seems that year after year, experts are touting the mobile platform as the next big thing that needs to be on top of every marketer’s mind. This year is no different, but there are a few indications that 2010 might actually be the stage for mobile advertising’s coming out party.

Read the complete posting at my new blog:

wnyfastlane.blogspot.com

Just getting Started: Location Based Marketing

Check out my new blog at :
http://machomarketing.blogspot.com/

You can also read my analysis of "Today's Flaneur: From HCI to Place-Based Interaction and Human-Place Intraction" by Elizabeth Churchill. Thi article review the emerging techlology of location based devices and their applications int todays enviroment and looking forward to the furture of this opportunity in marketing.

Url Submission Sites

Here are some sites to get you started...

http://www.google.com/addurl/
http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx
http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

Competition Announcement - Antkeg Remi

In addition to optimizing our class blog, we will be having a friendly competition to see who among us can secure the highest ranking for the (made up) phrase "Antkeg Remi". The word "e-marketing" was jumbled using the Wordsmith Anagram site to create a fictitious phrase that does not yet yield any results when searching  via Google (have not yet confirmed this to be true across all the other search engines but I assume this to be the case elsewhere).

Your goal is to have a website or blog of yours returned in the top search engine results. A similar contest was held several years ago but ours won't be on such a large scale. Of course the prize for the winner will be (VERY) modest.

You are free to partner up with a couple other students if you'd like but please keep your group size to no more than four students total.

Welcome MBA 638 Students!

I am glad to see that (nearly) everyone was able to post to the class blog...we're off to a good start! As mentioned in class, the purpose of this blog is to co-create knowledge on the topic of internet marketing by sharing articles/insights that we come across throughout the course. In doing so, we will also build up a repository of content related to our keyword "e-marketingclass" that we are trying to optimize for. Don't worry, we'll cover Search Engine Optimization in more depth later. But, for now, it's important to remember that we want search engines to recognize our blog as a relevant resource for people searching for the term "e-marketingclass" and rank us high in their search results.

As you know, I expect everyone to post their first assignment to this blog by Tuesday (7/13) to improve our chances that search engines will pick our new content up before the course ends in early August (keep your fingers crossed). If you've already found an article or topic that you want to write about, great. If not, I would like to see some thoughtful postings about what disruptions that internet has caused/will cause to businesses or industries. To get you thinking, you might consider checking out PC World's article on things the internet has/has not ruined or this blog post. Please venture outside the topics listed here and choose something that has impacted you personally or a company you work(ed) for. You can also pick something we discussed in class (e.g., the "splinternet", how consumers are gaining more control, etc.).

For this first assignment, be sure to mention our keyword "e-marketingclass" in the body and also include links to other articles/websites that you use to do your write-up.