Friday Linkers!
Have you had some work done?
Be honest, because you're looking fantastic!
Sorry I missed you last week -- there just wasn't anything interesting on the internet. So rather than waste your time -- grin -- I decided to save it up for this week, where you'll find some relevant links for Friday internet marketing knowledge.
Are you on Twitter yet?
I don't know how else to say this, your brand should be on Twitter.
Go to http://twitter.com and sign up for yourself, feel free to "follow" me, helenjane, to see how it works.
If you're at a winery, think of how you could twitter the progression of grapes through harvest or the winemaker's actions or how your tasting room staff could keep twitter updated.
Folks subscribe to your updates if they want to (and won't if they don't) and receive consistent brand messaging -- all permission-based! I love permission-based!
It's something you should watch out for as the "twitterization" of media becomes more mainstream. Brian Oberkirch had a great tip on how to make sure the message from your press release can be consumed in a bite-sized 140 characters or less. http://www.brianoberkirch.com/2007/08/16/id-twit-it
Regular old media buys are shifting
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/08/the-great-adver.html
Or, to sum up:
US advertising revenue at 4 big online media companies--Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO), AOL (TWX), and MSN (MSFT)--grew by $1.3 billion in Q2, or 42%.
US advertising revenue at 15 big television, newspaper, magazine, radio, and outdoor companies (Time Warner, Viacom, CBS, etc.) shrank by $280 million in Q2, or 3%.
So how do you stay ahead of this trend?
Have you added any significant dollars to your online plan?
Are you afraid to start?
Gaming Surpasses Video, Social Nets In Online Popularity:
OVER A THIRD (34%) OF U.S. adult Internet users play online games weekly, according to Parks Associates, with games trumping social networking and online video as the most popular Web-based entertainment activity.
http://tinyurl.com/yq6kp8
Do you have a favorite online game?
I know, I know you can't play during the day at work, but haven't you ever tried a little online checkers? A little tic tac toe against anonymous adversaries? What if your brand was sponsoring all that idle time?
Those advertisers that do understand gaming have found a myriad of ways to get their messages across--from dynamic in-game ads, to tournament sponsorships, to re-purposing casual games as branded advergames.
http://www.benjerry.com/fun_stuff/online/checkers/
http://www.nabiscoworld.com/Games/game_large.aspx?gameid=10037
http://games.aol.com/cardandboard
Productive Creativity
To sum up:
The Behance team studies exceptionally productive people and teams working in the creative fields. We document the methods and resources that productive creative professionals use to push their ideas forward.
Click around their exceptionally well-ordered site to be inspired. Their clever ideas for pushing projects toward completion are pretty, graphical and functional.
I want some sizzle with that steak!
I'm plopping you mid-article to see what a company that really gets interactive marketing is doing -- CP+B has been ahead of the curve since the golden days of early-internet.
If you notice the copyright is from 2004 -- this is a long-running campaign. You too can have this kind of long-term impact on your brand by investing in innovative online projects.
Fun and profitable. The internet is a great place to be.
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/15998.asp
What about Squidoo?
http://www.squidoo.com/videosthatchange/
Check out the above lens -- and get inspired. After that, check out Squidoo to see what expertise you can contribute.
Does your brand have a place here?
Do you have resources to create an "everything about my brand" lens?
Why not get some?
I'm going to leave you to explore Squidoo much like I have with Twitter, you wandering, surfing nomad, you.
Hope your weekend is grand and your linking even grander. If you have questions on how to implement any of these projects, I'd love to help.
Email me at helenjane@maplevine or call me at 707.963.4284, your new favorite phone number.
Thanks for signing up,
HJ