Look Both Ways When Crossing the Marketing Street

If you think back carefully (if you're old enough) to the 1960s when advertising was born, you'll remember that for the most part, messages were sent out on a one-way street.  Companies fed impressionable consumers, usually housewives, with products and services that would improve their lives.  Advertising taught  them that Ajax was "stronger than dirt" and that McCormick Schilling seasoning would make their meatloaf tastier, and better yet, have their husbands coming home for more.

Until now, marketing has been a one-way street.   It's not enough to just send messages out to your audience.  With the technology boom, people are continuously receiving and exchanging information right at their fingertips.

Creating unique content and pushing it out through the major platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn is essential to the success of your business.  It's also just as important as receiving and responding to the flow of comments that come back to you.  Make the most of the web-enabled marketplace and engage with your customers.  Give them information at the time they need it.  Refine your content until you get the comment, re-tweet or "share" that you're hoping to achieve.  Interact with your target consumers.  Looking both ways will get you there.


Image courtesy of Human Descent.

Facebook Application Review of MapEvents

MapEvents on FACEBOOK

The Facebook Application Review of today will be about the recently released app called MapEvents. As most of you might guess this Facebook enables you to search and find people and events around you and globally.


Basically this Facebook application let's you share and find interesting events around the globe by using Google maps and it could be described an hybrid between a Social Network (you and your friends submitting events on the map) and an Event Calendar (date & place).

When you install this Facebook application the first thing you will get to see is a very useful tour explaining the basic functions of the app, and once you are done you will be prompted to submit, if you want, your home address to get some initial credits(that still I don't understand what can I do with them).

After you are done is all about adding a new event. To do that you must press the add event link on the header and write the details of the event that you want to pin on the map and that's it.


The idea of this Facebook Application has a lot of potential and it's approach in my opinion is good and I would really like to see some integration with iPhone maybe and use this social layer to the already existent geo location apps such as Facebook places, Gowalla or Foursquare.

One thing that I do think that they must improve is the UI. Somehow the whole thing looks too crowded without enough space to breath, and in the quest to offer more options, features I feel lost in some cases without knowing where to go.

Bottom line is a great idea, with lot's of potential depending on how far they push this app to make it popular enough to have the map full of events.

My qualification for this Facebook Review is 4.2 out of 5, I believe in this kind of applications, but to succeed they will have to learn from the big players who understand that simplicity is Bliss and they should seek for that.

Facebook Application Review of My Foursquare

Be the Mayor on FACEBOOK

Today's Facebook Application Review is about the new and interesting app called My Foursquare.

Ass all the location application enthusiast might be thinking this Facebook Application brings a great merge between the popular Foursquare and all the social power of Facebook.

Basically what this Facebook app does is to make easy to show your Foursquare badges, mayorships, and checkins on Facebook, your blog or your website. The main idea behind this comes out from the pain that until now there was no way to easily display all of your checkins, badges or mayorships across the web.

Once you go this Facebook Application the first thing that you will be required is to link your foursquare account with the app so as to make the connection work... and that's pretty much it, you will be ready to roll.

The good thing about this App is that it has several customization options that make it easy to display your Foursquare stuff in the way you like. You can choose which elements you want to show and also offers design customization options.

One thing that I think that they can improve about this Facebook Application is the fact that you are required to sign up through their website instead of doing it within Facebook. I felt weird about the fact that they took me out of Facebook to log in through Facebook connect... it doesn't make too much sense to me.

Besides that I think this is a very cool Facebook app for those foursquare fans who want to share their things within their Facebook friends.

My qualification for this Facebook Review is 4.3 out of 5, hoping to see more apps like this one that bring real and fun engagement as this one.

Facebook Application Review of Wuhaa!

Treasure Hunting on FACEBOOK

After some time here I am with more Facebook Application Reviews. This time I will write about the new Facebook App Wuhaa!.

This interesting Application is totally different from all the apps that we have been reviewing on this blog, and it's a good example of what you can get when you merge several services into a new thing.

The main idea of this Facebbok Application is to offer a global treasure hunt using a mash-up of Facebook, Google and the app developer's in house technology. Basically you have to search for Wuhaa! coins through Google's Street View service, and then you can redeem them by purchasing real retail prizes.


The cool thing about this Facebook App is that the hole treasure hunt which by itself as a game is fun, feel just better when it happens to be around the greatest cities of the globe turning this app into a fun and addictive game.

On the other side I must say that sometimes I felt like paying the price of being playing on a Mash-up environment waiting some times longer than what I would like to... but this could be improved easily if desired. Specially when it comes to wait for the maps to load and stuff like that.

Overall I think that this is a great Facebook Application and my qualification for this review is 4.4 out of 5, I really like applications that try to push the boundaries of what we are use to see and integrate other interesting services such as Google Street view in this case. And also at last but not least... I really like Facebook Applications that offer real prices.

5 Ways to Make Your Press Release Searchable

Can you find the needle in this haystack?   
A lost or unsearchable press release would be a total bubble-burster after putting so much effort into it, wouldn't it?  Press releases are still considered a powerful marketing tool...if it's written and distributed correctly.  Ask yourself these five things when writing and submitting your release to ensure yours get found on the web.

1. Did you include Links? 
If your release is well written, it should encourage people to click through links.  Be sure to link your press release to your website so that people can learn more about your company, product or service.  Look for ways to create relevant backlinks (links from to your site from other sources).  These also promote search engine optimization and greater web visibility.  Turn target words into anchor text links (links embedded in words).  Search engines will be better able to show your site when searchers browse for key target words.

2. Did you use quotes?
Quotes are the perfect place to insert an opinion in your release.  While it may not be appropriate for the body of the release to editorialize, a quote from your CEO saying how great the company is.

3. Do you have a newsworthy angle?  Press releases inform people about something that is timely, new and current, such as a new product or service, new business partnership, award, event, etc.  Surely if you don't have something to share, be creative and look for ways to generate news.

4. Did you promote your release after it was submitted?   After you publish your release online, make sure you do your part to let everyone know what you just did.  Bookmark it on your favorite social networking sites, like StumbleUpon,  send a tweet on Twitter, send an email to specific editors, and add it to your news section on your website.

5.  Did you use keywords in your title and summary?  Achieving online visibility depends heavily on using keywords. Think of words that someone would type into the search field.   In a well-optimized online release, the title of your release usually becomes the title tag of the page on which your release is published.  Title tags tell search engines about the context of the page and usually becomes the bold link on the search engine results page.

Practice Good Social Media Responsibility

A story broke today about breaking news and the use of social media.  A Facebook user posted information about a player making the NBA draft, except the information was not official and the posting has since been taken down.  Questions arise about the best uses of social media, its benefits and potential backfires.  http://www.daytondailynews.com/dayton-sports/social-media-changing-the-way-sports-news-breaks-722849.html.

Social media has become a platform for so many individuals to shout out their thoughts, share information, give themselves a pat on the back, share inspiration, ask for feedback, and the list goes on.  But, when it comes to sensitive news topics, let's leave it up to credible sources. You'll still get great mileage out of practicing responsible social media skills.

Get Your CEO to Join Twitter

If your CEO can text a message saying he's late for a meeting, then CEO man or woman has passed the test.  He or she should be able to update on Twitter on a regular basis. 

Though CEOs may think that Twitter is nothing more than following someone who is having a bad day, or in line to see a documentary, or eating fish tacos on a sandy beach in Mexico, you know that it's more than that.  What CEOs can actually discover is likes/dislikes of their followers or people who they are following and use that information to their advantage.  Furthermore, Twitter is the place to have conversations with their market, learn about impressions people have on certain products or services, provide live updates from events and conferences, announce special deals, keep in touch with media, monitor their brand, and manage connections with bloggers, prospective customers and other people who influence.

Now what's a better use of a CEO's time?

Identify Your Customers' Buyer Personas

So now that I've explained how a writer might use social media to access information, then it makes perfect sense to develop content that will reach your buyers - plural (as there are many more than you think.)  This doesn't mean that you can't give your website a general message or impression.  Brand identity and continuity is vitally important.

What we're talking about here is the fact that for any product or service, there are several groups of potential customers with particular profiles, or buyer personas.  Take for example a vitamin drink.  It's claim is to help with weight loss, increase energy, and promote well-being with natural ingredients.  Now think of the different buyer personas.  Mary, who's  struggling to lose the last 25 pounds after her baby.  John, a fitness enthusiast on a lookout for a health supplement,  Mallory, a single mother who feels drained and overworked.  Phil, a health nut who always does a thorough ingredient scan and research before buying anything that he ingests.  Once you've discovered all of them, then take it a step further and "create" more buyer personas - create a demand.

What to consider once you've explored all the possible buyer personalities, is an editorial plan for each.  Yes, it's time to start thinking like a publisher by reaching  buyers with targeted content.  It could be as simple as adding pages to your website, each with customized information for a particular buyer type.    Develop a series of direct-to-customer news releases.  Each one can focus on issues that you know your buyer might be interested in.  Go further with a blog or online video channel to engage them even further.

Just like you don't ever see a magazine talking about itself, it's more important to provide your audience with what they are interested in - in the media that they prefer.

How a Magazine Writer Uses Social Media

As a freelance magazine writer, I've come to rely on obtaining information and even inspiration from the Web.  Having loads of great PR contacts and receiving their steady stream of press releases and emails is always appreciated.  But, I don't I rely on them entirely when sitting down to write the story.  I let my fingers do the research.

Like a spiders crawling websites, I, too, search and search and search for pertinent, relative and authentic information to help build the story.  I may go to Linkedin to find out more about a person's business expertise, to Twitter to gather daily thoughts and ramblings, to YouTube to catch someone in action, to Four Square to see where people are in the day, to Facebook, to keep in touch with businesses and people in general, and so on.  Then, of course there are blogs written about a certain topics, or published articles to compare the content, tone, or to discover new angles.

As a freelance writer, I also have to know who I am writing for by understanding the publication thoroughly and being aware of their readers' interests.  Through social media, I can easily keep up by following their tweets, visiting their online magazine (although content for print is usually distinctively different than online versions), and reading back issues of publications that I am interested in submitting queries to.

The information is all there.  Best of all, it's not a one-way street.  There's plenty of opportunity for interaction to take anything, from writing a story, to building relationships to the next level.

Facebook Application Review of Pixeostar

Pixeostar on FACEBOOK

The Facebook application Review of today is about the recently released app called Pixeostar.

This fun Facebook Application lets users create their own photo or video contest and get their friends to join. The main idea is that after the contest has been created, either if it's about the coolest Halloween costume, or the best dancing moves, users can vote and/or comment on the pictures/videos, and the person with the most votes when the time is up will win a prize.

Once you install this Facebook application you will requested either to join a contest or to create your own. If you decide to go for the second option you will have to chose whether you want to create a photo contest or a video contest, then you will have to select the deadline for the contest, prizes for the winners and that's it you are done.

For those who enjoy the thrill of competing with their friends to see who has the best photos and videos this application for sure will w keep you busy and entertained.

The onne thing that I did not like about this Facebook Application is the idea of giving virtual gifts to the winners as the right incentive for people to use the app. Somehow I feel that virtual gifts are not interesting and I would never pay for them. I think that a good twist to modify that could be to request from users joining a contest to chip in with $1 or $2 as an "entry fee" and at then pay with that found to the winners. If money cannot be used people could collaborate on a gift certificate or something else.

Besides that I think that this Facebook application it's very interesting and has a very good and clean design. The navigation and user interface are very good as well.

My qualification for this Facebook application review is 4.3 out of 5, I really liked the idea and if I could win real prizes for sure I would be creating contest and promoting them among all my Facebook friends.