Social Media: Is Social Media Marketing a Predatory Pursuit?
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 19, 2008 | Share This
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The quote du jour today was from Ted McConnell, General Manager of Interactive Marketing at Proctor and Gamble, who said this about Facebook in AdAge:
“I think when we call it ‘consumer-generated media,’ we’re being predatory…Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.”
Though the quote seems to have stirred mixed feelings around the blogosphere I think it’s a pretty common initial reaction to the idea of advertising within user-generated content. This is especially true for a company like P & G which is still feeling it’s way online while still spending the bulk of its ad dollars on “traditional” offline media.
Topics: Advertising: Online, Blogging, ECommerce, Facebook, Google, Social Media | No Comments »
Search News: Black Friday Promotions Not All Black and White
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 18, 2008 | Share This
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When Black Friday comes
I’ll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes
I’ll collect everything I’m owed
And before my friends find out
I’ll be on the road
When Black Friday falls you know it’s got to be
Don’t let it fall on me – Steely Dan
Sorry to hit you all up with the Dan first thing, I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I felt the lyrics are appropriate for what is shaping up to be a challenging (ie lousy) retail season.Still for all that more people than ever are expected to search online for bargains this year.
Topics: Advertising: Offline, Advertising: Online, ECommerce, Legal Issues, Search: News, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Search News: Scoring with Digits – How the Phone Can Be Your Lifeline Online
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 17, 2008 | Share This
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The greatest product placement in film history may be in Ron “Opie” Howard’s film Apollo 13, the true story of the time Tom Hanks got lost in space with Kevin Bacon and Chet from Weird Science. There they are sitting in a space capsule – the culmination of mankind’s entire technological prowess – and essentially powerless and on the brink of death. What saves the day for them? Good old, low-tech duct tape.
Similarly paid search advertising is the marvelous distillation of everything learned since the ancient Egyptians first used papyrus to advertise pyramid parties. Yet there are cases where we have to turn to a comparatively lower-tech solution to measure the result of a paid search campaign: enter Alexander Graham Bell’s humble telephone.
Topics: Advertising: Online, ECommerce, SEM: Paid Search, Search: How-To, Search: Innovations, Technology | No Comments »
Search News: YouTube Tests Embeddable Search Bar – Can Ads be Far Behind?
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 14, 2008 | Share This
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I think I have mentioned Google’s incredible …um…testiness before. They love to try out new ideas before sending them into perpetual beta (hello Gmail) or actually launching them as real offerings. This has been less evident over at Google-owned YouTube — though with all of the fretting over making their investment back it’s only a matter of time before they begin to randomly beam “Chocolate Rain” into people’s cerebellums. Just to test the technology out.
This morning came word via eagle-eyed Anthony Iaffaldano, Reprise Media Marketing Director, that YouTube had actually sprung a little test action on his watch. While embedding a video on a totally non-geeky message board he was surprised to find that his embedded clip came with a search toolbar:
Topics: Advertising: Distribution, Google, Online Video, SEM: Paid Search, Search: Video, Social Media, YouTube | No Comments »
Search News: As More Eyes Turn to Alternate Vid Sites, blinkx May Finally Come Into its Own
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 13, 2008 | Share This
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Blinkx has been around for quite some time now – since 2004 to be exact – and their image-based search algorithm has always held promise. As they describe it:
“Unlike other multimedia search engines that attempt to re-purpose technology built for the Text Web, blinkx uses a unique combination of patented conceptual search, speech recognition and video analysis software to efficiently, automatically and accurately find and qualify online video.”
Which is great except Google and others are pursuing similar technology and Google in particular has the deep pockets to outdo anyone’s search algorithm. Ultimately blinkx will have to do more than just roll out a better level of search technology to become a challenger to YouTube or universal search on Google.
Topics: Advertising: Online, ECommerce, Google, Online Video, Search: News, Search: Video, Social Media, Technology, YouTube | No Comments »
Search News: Using Search Engines to Mine for Information – The HoHeGriS Principle
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 11, 2008 | Share This
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The Internet is a giant treasure trove of information – some of it erroneous and some of it valuable. Search engines are the card catalog (ask your parents) and the librarians wrapped into one – sifting and categorizing this information to allow users to find the most relevant and valuable responses nearly instantaneously (longer if you’re still on dial-up).
However, like David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust phase, this goes both ways. Knowing what people search for, how they search for it, where they search from and when they search can yield up insights and data that can be of tremendous use to marketers. The best example of this is what I call the HoHeGriS Principle.
Topics: Google, SEM: Keyword Generation, SEO, Search: How-To, Search: Innovations, Search: News, Web Analytics | No Comments »
Reminder: Webinar - Adding Paid Search Muscle to Your Marketing in a Weak Economy - This Thursday
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 11, 2008 | Share This
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The holiday retail season is well nigh upon us and planning for next year is already underway. There’s no better time to come to grips with how search can boost all of your marketing efforts – especially in the challenging economic times ahead.
That’s why comScore and Reprise Media are teaming up to present a one hour webinar on Thursday, November 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET/ 11:00 a.m. PT called “Adding Paid Search Muscle to Your Marketing in a Weak Economy.”
You can register by clicking on this link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/601019454.
Why give in to fear when you can get a shot of hope?
Topics: Advertising: Offline, Advertising: Online, Conferences & Events, ECommerce, Reprise Media, SEM: Paid Search, SEO, Search: How-To, Search: News, Social Media | No Comments »
Paid Search: Using Bankruptcy to Gain Customers with Search Marketing
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 10, 2008 | Share This
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There is an old adage that says that “all news is good news.” This was never truer than in search engine marketing and yet, companies like Circuit City persist in wallowing in the bad without reaping the good. Circuit City announced this morning that they are filing for bankruptcy. This is becoming more common in our post-economic boom landscape with many retailers feeling the pinch of reduced consumer spending. However going bankrupt is no excuse for missing out on an opportunity to gain customers.
Consider this:
The search term “circuit city bankruptcy” ranked in the top 10 on Google tends all day. What did those searchers see? A lot of news stories on the bankruptcy filing. Now I’ll grant that a good chunk of that traffic were shareholders looking to see just how much of a hole was just blown into their portfolio. Another group of searchers are undoubtedly concerned about their jobs either at Circuit City or at another company that relies on them. Still, It’s a good bet that another chunk of searchers were folks like me who thought “Sounds like an ideal time to pick up that Sony flatscreen I’ve been dreaming about.” Especially in this environment there are a lot of bargain hunters looking for a great price on almost everything imaginable.
Topics: Advertising: Online, ECommerce, Google, SEM: Keyword Generation, SEM: Paid Search, Search: How-To | 4 Comments »
Search News: How Election 08 Became a Boon to Key Online Platforms – The Final Post (We Mean it!) on the Election
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 7, 2008 | Share This
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The election is over, which means many of us will have to go back to obsessing about other stuff – the economy, fantasy sports leagues, Neko Case- whatever floats your boat. Still, in reviewing the last two years of what has surely been the most exciting and fascinating election of a lifetime it’s worth noting not just the impact of online platforms on the election – on which much has and will be written. The inverse effect has been less noted - the fact that the elction also impacted the platforms that exists online.
So what was the impact of the election on online platforms?
Minimal. Hah, just kidding. In fact it was quite substantial and fascinating to see:
Topics: Advertising: Offline, Advertising: Online, Blogging, Facebook, Media Convergence, Online Video, SEM: Paid Search, Search: News, Search: Video, Social Media, Technology, Twitter, YouTube | No Comments »
Search News: Don’t Boo-Hoo Over GooHoo Booboo - Here’s What Yahoo Can Do
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Written By Noah Mallin | November 6, 2008 | Share This
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The nation awoke yesterday morning to stunning, world-shaking news - the ad deal between Yahoo and Google was kaput, finished, finito. Naturally this was cause for dancing and celebrating in streets and cities the world over but spare a moment of thought for Jerry Yang and the Yahoo crew. What now, after such a crushing defeat. Do they go it alone, and if not, who can they turn to? I put on my thinking helmet earlier today (the bottom half of a salad mixer with a few stray wires hot-glue-gunned to the perimeter) and came up with a few options for Yahoo to consider:
Topics: Google, Just for Fun, Search: News, Twitter, Yahoo! | 2 Comments »