File this one under “Who Knew?” So not only do those slow, wack, duct tapped together websites that take forever to load make you roll your eyes when you stumble across them, but they may even be causing you stress and agitation. According to what may be perhaps the goofiest study I have yet to find online, busted websites could be potentially dangerous.  A devoted team of volunteers at Foviance in the UK subjected [Read more…]
Those who have bravely entered and flourished in the vast universe of social media marketing can give themselves a big old pat on the back this week. Dozens of press releases and even a fresh story in the Wall Street Journal have all dropped in the last two days to confirm what savvy social media marketing pioneers have known for quiet some time- that it works! The Journal article cites big promotional outlets like Groupon and notes that while [Read more…]
Always on the hunt for inspiration and ideas, I am constantly searching for and reading lists. Whether it is the ten best this or worst 50 of that- I am list obsessed. I blame my childhood ritual of listening to Rick Dees and the Weekly Top Forty for this obsession. Anyway, I stumbled upon a provocatively and somewhat hilariously titled list called The 100 Must Read Blogs… by Women! posted last year on Blogtreprenuer. As I perused their choices (Ann Coulter and Michelle Maklin?!?) I noticed what all of these blogs should have in common besides the whole being created by women thing is that they should all contain that kind of [Read more…]
The Patient: MTV, the little cable network that changed television and music forever.
The Ailment: MTV suffers from Brand-nesia, a condition in which a well loved brand forgets what and who made them famous to begin with. MTV also suffers from a social media overdose, chronic pointless video abuse, and multiple marketing personalities.
Prognosis: Not so hot. Jersey Shore notwithstanding, MTV’s buzz making machine has nearly run out of steam. If a newer, fresher look and hipper demographic isn’t targeted soon, the network will continue to be a joke.
Recommended Treatment: Once upon a time, MTV set the bar for coolness and told us which artists to love and what music to buy. Even shows like Beavis and Butthead told us when to laugh. Today, however, [Read more…]
The already crowded lives of social media mavens might have just become a little more complicated. In addition to regularly updating our Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Myspace pages and waiting for the official launch of Google’s Buzz, Microsoft just announced Outlook Social Connector. The beta site is an add-on that yanks information from social networking sites. Microsoft Office users as well as beta users of Office can download the software to connect with [Read more…]
To some, the word “newsletter” conjures up images of a badly photocopied, multi-colored paper affair that is often seen at schools or community centers. These things have been around since the dawn of time and as long as there’s a bake sale or a fund raising bingo game, newsletters are not going anywhere. To others, the newsletter has morphed into a way to correspond with clients via email in an easy to read format that can be dangerously dry in tone. Surviving the social media blitz as well as [Read more…]
OMG! Is blogging DOA? Last week the Pew Research Center released a report that found blogging has slipped in popularity with teens and young adults. The 28% percent of teen Internet users that said they blogged in 2006 has now slipped to 14%. The study cites social networking and micro-blogging as the cause for the drop in popularity. Basically, kids these days can’t be bothered with long blogs about how their best friend stole their lip gloss when they can just post a quick status update on their Facebook that efficiently describes all of their drama in just a few words.
The study goes on to note that the majority of bloggers are ancient types (over 30 to be exact) who also read other blogs. It’s suggested that the over 30 set has the time and attention span to devote to reading and creating blogs. With specialized and professional blogs seemingly on the rise, it is hard to dispute the reports findings. This being said, let’s not shove blogging in the [Read more…]
The Patient: Merriam”“Webster, America’s go-to guy for dictionaries and thesauruses since 1828.
The Ailment: Merriam Webster suffers from a jumbled online presence and a scattered social media strategy that undercuts their fantastic line of products.
Prognosis: Hopeful. With a strict streamlining of the website, an aggressive public relations plan, and clear vision for social media, Merriam-Webster should remain the country’s premiere reference guru for another century or two.
Recommended Treatment: The worn out red Webster’s dictionary has long lived on the shelves of students. Everybody knows the brand and it’s omnipresence is so ingrained that it would be safe to assume that the brand is fine and not going anywhere anytime soon, right? Wrong. If the recent shake ups at long standing publishers like  Rand McNally has taught [Read more…]