Saturday, November 24, 2007

It’s 10 o’clock, do you know where your public’s at?

Ch 7 of The New Influencers talks about Putting the “Public” Back Into Public Relations. Many people feel disconnected from companies who never connect directly with their public. They send out press releases that editors and journalists can choose to write about or ignore, leaving the public unaware of what is new. The internet can change all that with social media press releases which are a way of getting out information that is accompanies by blogs, viral videos and podcasts and aimed directly at the internet using public. David Meerman Scott created the New Rules of PR which talks about how to create a press release strategy for reaching buyers directly. He talks about how the old form of public relations is dead and it is not time to connect directly with the public rather than going through some message carrying go-between. If you are interested in reading Scott’s writing they are linked above. Enjoy!

Conversation Targeting Advertisements

Advertising niche markets online just got easier thanks to Buzz Logic’s new on-demand software application, Ad Targeting.

“Now available within BuzzLogic’s on-demand software application, Ad Targeting enables advertisers to isolate influential blog and social media conversations occurring around products, brands and issues, then immediately target ad campaigns into the online conversations shaping consumer perception and buying behavior.”

This new software allows users to create conversation queries, similar to key words, to find out who are the influential leaders who are driving online conversations on various topics and communities that pertain to certain topics. Once they have this research they create text or display ads that pertain to topics that those communities identify with. This system uses online influence to double advertiser’s performance. Let’s see how well it work . . .

Friday, November 23, 2007

Outrage for Injustice

I almost forgot. In class we had to create a viral video that covered a social issue. Since one of my group members is Vegan we decided to cover the way animals are treated as they are killed for human consumption. It is called Outrage for Injustice. Watch and then try and eat a burger afterwards . . . see if you can. . . . then comment and tell me alllll about it! It will be fun!

Where do you find your Influence?

Ch 4 Measures of Influence in The New Influencers helps its readers understand the importance the internet has for small marketers influence on their audience. There is a mindset in the marketing world that big markets are better even if they reach fewer people effectively. By effectively I mean that the content is related to the customer and fits into exactly what they are looking for. Small markets are more efficient because they are focused on niche marketing and while they might reach fewer customers they are more likely to effectively hit their target audience causing more influence than larger markets.
Social media takes small markets to a new level. It allows them to compete with the big markets in a fashion that was not possible 20 years ago. It is possible for small markets to have a website that if not only more effective than a larger one, but also is more personable. Most of these small markets have few staffers but generate immense traffic and therefore, lots of influence.
Paul Gillin states that linking is the blogosphere’s version of feedback. Being able to track how often blogs are linked to helps show the influence a blog creates. I know I personally link to other blogs and articles, not to show that I know how to link or that linking it fun, I do it out of respect for other peoples work. This is what Gillian says bloggers do; they direct traffic elsewhere as a expression of respect for other bloggers. They show where they are getting their influence from.
One thing that Gillin pointed out that I thought of a few weeks ago is the negative influence that blogs and other sources of conversational social media generate. For example, if I blog that I absolutely hate Product A, I might get many responses from people who also hate product A. Depending on the amount of people that link to my blog that stomps all over product A, it could make out the product to be worse than it is. It other words, because of the influence social media has on the public, one blog could ruin a brand.