Are Twitter Alerts Overwhelming You?

Twitter:
Twitter, a micro blogging website allows people to get their message out message to thousands of people in a flash. Most of Twitters traffic is on mobile phones, compared to Facebook, where a majority of the traffic is online. Many Twitter users opt to have updates sent to their mobile phone. With mobile phones being by our sides all the time, it is hard to miss a “tweet”. But does this get annoying after a while?

After a while all the Twitter updates being sent to your phone might become overwhelming and irritating. 4am tweets, 12pm tweets, 8pm tweets, 12am tweets—alerts can come in all day at any hour (though you can turn off your tweets at certain hours, it is still something many people are irritated by). Further, people who were not even signing up for text alerts were receiving unsolicited texts from Twitter, which is even more irritating. Below is a link to an example of some chats on Twitter regarding this issue from a blog I found: http://gawker.com/5261739/twitters-annoying-text+message-spam

Some people sign up for the alerts and later become irritated by them and I think this is an issue that Twitter needs to deal with. It is a difficult problem to solve because people opt-in to receive the messages but then when their phone is going off all day long with updates, it becomes a frustrating issue. Further, when these people start to become annoyed with the updates they are receiving on their mobile phone, does this also mean that they are feeling a bad reputation for the Twitter brand? Maybe if they are so sick of receiving texts on their phone that they no longer even want to interact on the site itself.

Tate, R. (2006, May 19). Twitter’s Annoying Text-Message Spam. Retrieved July 13, 2009, Web site: http://gawker.com/5261739/twitters-annoying-text+message-spam

Football games available through mobile media

In a weak economy, the first thing many companies cut back is the marketing budget (press releases, print advertising, sponsorships, commercials etc.) However, it has become much easier to market in a down economy with social networking sites as well as mobile media. Creating a Facebook and LinkedIn page are great ways to boost a company’s marketing without spending a lot of money. When people are using computers and mobile phones more than ever, why not market where the consumers are?

Companies are starting to realize that the need for engagement with the consumer is increasingly going through a mobile phone these days, and quantifiable ROI is certainly appealing to brands (The Mobile Marketer, 2009).

DirecTV Group Inc. is taking advantage of mobile customers by offering “NFL Sunday Ticket”—this gives people the opportunity to watch next season’s football games on their phone. The company mentions that this software illustrates their innovative technology efforts and their brand identity (Fixmer, 2009). This is a great way to connect to mobile phone users. In a SavvyQuest survey 64% said their phone was equipped with the ability to access the Internet (MMA Global). Though many people have internet on their phone and this is a innovative use of technology, there are unforeseen circumstances that I hope DirecTV took into consideration.

There have been many studies done regarding people’s attitudes and reactions to websites. DirecTV should run similar studies for their new mobile TV campaign. They should use a scale 1-10 to test how comfortable people feel using mobile TV, how much they trust the site, if the use of mobile TV is irritating, if the use of DirecTV on a mobile phone is easy to navigate, are the games pleasing to look at on a mobile screen. These are just some measures that a company looking to offer mobile services might consider. It is still a new medium and it is important that many more studies are done by DirecTV and similar companies in order to best please consumers.

DirecTV to Sell ‘NFL Sunday Ticket’ for Mobile Phones

Mobile Marketing Association (n.d.) US Mobile Phone Text and Web Usage 2009 Study Executive Summary. Retrieved 7/8/2009 from http://www.mmaglobal.com/?q=node/9603

Mobile advertising to reach $5.7 billion by 2014. Enough for “Prime Time”?. Retrieved July 13, 2009, from Mobile Marketer Web site: http://themobilemarketer.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/mobile-advertising-to-reach-5-7-billion-by-2014-enough-for-prime-time/

Fixmer, A. (2009, July 13). DirecTV to Sell ‘NFL Sunday Ticket’ for Mobile Phones . Retrieved July 13, 2009, from Bloomberg Web site: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a9GltlqILxfc

Is Facebook for old people?

Originally available only to students with a college or university email address, Facebook has become a worldwide phenomenon for networking, business, advertising, gaming, emailing, instant message chatting etc. Now, anyone 13 years old and older can have a Facebook page, yes including your teachers and parents! The possibilities on Facebook are endless.

In a flash before our eyes social networking sites became the center of the business world (Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo, Delicious etc.) If you can’t make it to a networking event, you can now network online. Through social networking you can connect to hundreds and hundreds of people you may have never met otherwise. Further, online networking makes it much easier to keep in touch with all these people because you can create status updates and send out mass emails and send upcoming events etc.

But when will it all end or what will be next??

“According to iStrategyLabs, from January to July of 2009, even though the population of Facebook members over the age of 55 grew 513.7 percent, the site now sees 16.5 percent fewer high-school users, and 21.7 percent fewer college users. Which, naturally, is cause for panic because when the cool kids leave it’s all totally over. Or so the common wisdom says” (McCarthy, 2009).

Is Facebook really over? Is it coming to an end? What will be the next popular social networking site?

In my case, this may actually benefit me because I work with a target market ages 55-65. But where will all the “younger” Facebook users go?

I still think Facebook is a great networking tool because of the endless opportunities to connect to others and keep-in-touch, but if you are interested to read more from the article that I quoted above, click the link below.

So is Facebook for old people now or what?

Also, I would love for you to comment on what you think is going to be the “next big thing” in social media.

Where to start with social media

Each online social media website has its own unique benefits. For example, Facebook is the fastest growing social networking site with over 57 million users. Facebook gives you the opportunity to have a personal page as well as a company fan page or group. You can join as many groups or fan pages on Facebook as you would like. Everyone that you are connected to on Facebook can see these groups, which may interest them to join as well. This is a great marketing strategy for companies because if someone joins your group and/or fan page, every single one of their connections can see that. For example, if I became a fan of the Microsoft group on Facebook, that would show up on the homepage of everyone I am connected to. It would simply say, “Tracy joined the Microsoft group”. Though this is a simple statement, it could possibly interest my network connections to join this group as well. Another benefit to Facebook is that you can have a status update at any time (similar to Twitter). Whenever you change your status update your network connections will see this as well.

Twitter on the other hand, is a social networking site focusing solely on the question, “what are you doing?” On this site, people can post any information they want to share and this gives them the opportunity to be authentic and human. You can tell people “real” information about your company and your life and not seem like you are an advertisement. That is not the point of Twitter. Though, hopefully, you will eventually get contacts and business from social networking sites, they are most beneficial if you use them not as an advertiser, but as yourself.

The problem with a lot of social media sites is that companies don’t know where to start. It is quite an overwhelming process. Should you start with a blog or Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn or Myspace etc.? Getting started with social media completely depends on your target market. If you are targeting 20-30 year old professionals, you might want to start with LinkedIn then Facebook. On the other hand, if your target market is a younger crowd, you may consider Myspace. Twitter is a smaller site and most of the users tend to be middle aged, technically advanced and very active online. What is your target market? – That is the answer that will help you decide which social media networks are for you.

Click here for an article on learning how to get started with Twitter

An issue people come across with social media is that they can not persuade their boss how important it is. In a bad economy it is hard to tell your boss that you need to spend x amount of hours with social media sites—they may think this is outrageous and a complete waste of time- but they are wrong. If you need some help on how to explain to your boss how important social media is click below for a free webinar:

How to Demonstrate the Value of Social Media to Your Boss

Everyone is on YouTube!

ComScore found that 25% of all Google search queries are for YouTube videos (Jones, 2009). YouTube is a great marketing communication tool because it gives you the opportunity to post videos, short films, commercials etc. about your company and it is free. “Approximately 57 million unique users streamed a YouTube video in 2007, accounting for over a billion video streams initiated (Lesson 5, 2009). Yes, many people realize that random people may not be on YouTube searching for a commercial or a specific company. However, the way to benefit the most from YouTube is through your website and social media. If you own a small company, instead of just posting videos on YouTube, you can post them on your website and on your Facebook page and on your Myspace page. For instance, if you just post your video on YouTube, it is unlikely that people will randomly find it or search for it since they don’t know it is there, but if the you post an update on Facebook, LikedIn or Twitter, everyone you are connected to will see the link and there is a much greater chance that then people will link to it. If someone likes the video enough, they may even post it on their own Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account for their connections to see. This is a great way to spread a brand name and image and a great way to get people to link into your site.

Online social media provides endless opportunities of advertising and for the most part it is not expensive. Overall, the more widespread your brand is on the internet, the more likely people are to find you. So keep posting videos, keep updating your social media accounts (Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Twitter etc.). If you are interested to find out more about how to use online videos for marketing, click here to take a webinar.

Lesson 5. (2009). Retrieved July 3, 2009 from WVU Ecampus, IMC 619, Lesson 5
Jones, M. (2009, July 3). If you’re in business, you need to be on youtube. Retrieved July 6, 2009, from Examiner.com Web site: http://www.examiner.com/x-14460-DC-Social-Media-Examiner~y2009m7d3-If-youre-in-business-you-need-to-be-on-YouTube

Creating a World Wide Rave!

As mentioned in the recent post called “Viral Marketing in Action!”, buzz marketing is an important part of spreading your brand image. Buzz marketing is the process of integrating your brand into culture and having consumers themselves spread the message. A good way to implement buzz marketing is to start with viral marketing. Using social media resources such as, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, etc. you can spread the word quickly, effectively and inexpensively.

Want to learn more about how your company can create a “world wide rave”?? Below is a link to a free webinar where you can learn more about how create a buzz for your brand throughout the world.

Free Viral Marketing Webinar

Blogs for Entertainment.

Blogs can be written by anyone: there are sports blogs, entertainment blogs, celebrity gossip blogs and news blogs. These are just a few examples because the list could go on forever. Anyone who wants to create a blog can and can pretty much write about any topics they choose. www.barstoolsports.com is a really popular local blog in Boston, Massachusetts. The blog is humors, engaging and entertaining (to some people). The blog is “written by the common man for the common man” (www.barstoolsports.com).

If you check out this blog, it is clear that the target market for this blog is men, which is why I mentioned above that only SOME people find it entertaining (some find it offensive). The blog was started by a guy who was simply writing his opinion on a variety of news articles, but overtime the blog has grown rapidly. There are postings on about news, sports, and celebrities etc.—basically anything that this guy wants to comment on. Because the writer has a unique sense of humor, the blog is entertaining to many people.

There are been many ways that this blog creates “buzz” for themselves, firstly by having friends and family send the blog information to other people they knew. More importantly, the blog has become so popular that they have begun to use “crowdsourcing” to spread the brand name. For example, they often post random pictures of women they find or that are sent to them. To create buzz marketing, they now hold events at local Boston clubs and bars where women come to compete in bikini contests etc. I will not write about the ethics of this because I am concentrating on how the blog can use an “open call format” to reach their target market. The site also offers advertisements on the right side for these events in Boston. The ads show women in skimpy clothing and are probably intriguing to the target market (men) reading the blog.

http://boston.barstoolsports.com/

Viral Marketing in Action!

Buzz marketing is the process of integrating your brand into culture and having consumers themselves spread the message. A good way to implement buzz marketing is to start with viral marketing. One way to do this would be to identify a specific group of people you want to send your news to and have them create buzz by sending your information to others and linking to you through other blogs and other social media sites. For a better understanding of how buzz marketing works, please read the example below:

“In mid-January, I quietly released this ebook via a post on my blog Web Ink Now (www.webinknow.com) and by emailing a link to the ebook to select friends and colleagues. Within hours, hundreds of people had downloaded the ebook. In the next several days, alert bloggers including Jonathan Kranz, Dee Rambeau, Steve Goldstein, and Melanie Surplice picked up on the availability of the ebook and posted links. Over the next three days, the ebook generated just over 1,000 downloads per day. I was thrilled at the response. The power of a half-dozen bloggers telling the same story is tremendous. And an added bonus is that the Web allows me to measure the results in real time.” Further, “Seven weeks of viral effects later there are more than 1,000 hits on Google. Amazing. More than 50,000 people (and counting) have downloaded it” (Scott, 2006)

In Buzz marketing they call the “select group of friends” alphas. Alphas are influencers in society and are the primary target for buzz marketing. These people start social trends and others follow. In other words, because this book release was sent to the right people (alphas), the book was eventually spread around the entire internet and within seven weeks, there have been 50,000 downloads.

If you are trying to spread a new product/service launch of your company or even if you just started a brand new company, viral marketing is where you will create the most buzz. Leave interesting videos, articles, headlines, blogs, promotions, advertisements on social media networks and through your friends and the word will spread rapidly. In an internet savvy society, the biggest benefit is that you can move your information efficiently, inexpensively and rapidly by the click of a few buttons.

http://www.webinknow.com/ is a social media blog written by David Meermann Scott. There is a lot of useful information regarding online buzz marketing, social media etc. He offers a lot of innovative topics and information and is definitely worth checking out if you are interested in emerging media.

Scott, D. (2006, May). Anatomy of a Viral Marketing Campaign. EContent, 29(4), 48-48. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from Education Research Complete database.

Ads disguised as short films

Is it ethical for a company to have a short video on their website that is entertaining but hidden inside the entertainment is a marketing ploy?

Nike has a short film on the homepage of their website featuring Kobe Bryant celebrating the LA Lakers Championship. Towards the end of the video LeBron James also appears. The characters are portrayed as puppets but clearly resemble the real NBA basketball players. The video illustrates a really unique and fresh idea since it is rare that you see puppets in a video, especially if it is not on a website for children.

There are many videos like this on corporate websites that appear to be a short, amusing video; however, in reality they are hidden advertisements. Though the Nike video doesn’t show their logo or brand until the end, the video keeps you entertained until the end so most people will see the Nike swoosh with “Nike Basketball” underneath. Further, many videos like this made by other companies show the brand throughout the entire film, seeming like a long advertisement. The video placed on the Nike website may not be as obvious as a blatant advertisement because when you go to the basketball section of the website there is a large picture of Kobe Bryant (real photo). Do you think this is ethical?

On the television, it is obvious when the commercials start during a show because they do not resemble the show or the characters. On the other hand, when a video is embedded in a corporate website, it is not as obvious that it is an advertisement. For example, I have been on websites (as I am sure many of you have) when the entire website gets interrupted by a pop-up advertisement. The pop-up ad may be a short film, but it is obvious it is an advertisement because it is interrupting your normal website research—this is similar to the television- when a commercial break comes, you realize it is advertising because it is interrupting your show.

Though some people may realize short films are advertisements, it is still intriguing to watch. With technology, people choose to “DVR” or “TIVO” TV shows so they can skip through the commercials since the commercials disrupt their shows; however, because since you are not obligated to watch the short video on Nike.com, it may be more intriguing to watch.

Here is the Nike video:

Dynamic Content Media

Mobile marketing is being adopted by marketers at a growing rate. About 89% of marketers actively employ mobile marketing (Academic review 2006). In my emerging media class, the topic of ethics is often brought up regarding marketing to children, marketing on search engines and just plain marketing in general in any form. What do you think of interactive mobile marketing? “Mobile marketing is the practice of leveraging the mobile channel for marketing. It is the practice of brands and marketers interacting with their audience through the mobile channel, including through messaging (SMS, MMS, Email), voice, alternative alerts, (Bluetooth, etc.), the mobile internet, wireless advertising, and data services like MobileTV, picture recognition, mobile portals, etc.” (Academic Review, 2002). I have seen a variety of commercials and advertisements to sign up for text alerts for anything from sports scores to Facebook alerts etc. Not only is this an easy way for a company to advertise but they also can use it for data collection, direct selling, interactivity etc. Do you think that mobile marketing is ethical? One side of me believes that it is because if someone signs up with ESPN to receive text alerts of sporting events, than they are aware that they have voluntarily given up their contact information to receive this. On the other hand, does this make it ethical for ESPN to give this contact information to its affiliated companies such as Disney and have Disney use that information to contact the same person? In that case, I don’t believe it is ethical.

Mobile marketing is progressing at a rapid rate, which only means that there are more privacy issues that are coming up. Go2 Media is offering a new form of mobile marketing called Dynamic Content Marketing. They are beginning by focusing on the Movie industry but will eventually branch out to other industries as well. This mobile marketing will provide people with the latest information on movies; with the click of a button they can also find out where the movie is playing closest to their location. To find out more about go2 media click here.