The US military is developing software that will allow it to secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda. A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop an “online persona management service” that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to ten separate identities based all over the world. The CENTCOM contract stipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers be able to manage false identities from their workstations.

Read the Rest of the Story…..

Using social media such as Twitter and Facebook to drive retail sales was a budding trend this year that is expected to grow exponentially in 2012. It is especially meaningful to independent retailers without large advertising budgets.

Read the Rest of the Story….

The first quarter of 2012 is here and what is your marketing strategy?  If you haven’t thought about your 2012 strategy, now’s the time to get moving.  I’ve talked about strategy before, but now’s the time to lay our your strategy.  Everyone is doing it, what about you?

If your business survived 2011, you’ll want it to survive 2012.  The coming year will a much easier year than 2011, but you’ll still need to do some planning. Some things to consider:

1.  What will you market the first quarter of 2012?

2.  Who are your target markets?

3.  How much money will you have to spend for 1Q12 marketing?

These are the first questions you need to ask yourself as a business owner.  There are many more, but you have to start somewhere.

#1 What is your product and what will you market during 1Q12?  Many businesses are not sure when to market certain products.  Review past performance during 1Q of years past and decide what product does well during 1Q.  If you are in the financial industry the first quarter may be the best time to market annuities or 401k plans.  If you are in the services industry this may be the time to market information or knowlege about your product new products for the upcoming year.

If there is a product that sells well in the send quarter, consider introducing it during 1Q and get the “buzz” started.  You don’t have to do heavy marketing, just mention it during 1Q.  I am working with a high-end clothing retailer who knows that 2Q is when people start making wedding plans.  They don’t want to market weddings, but 1Q is when they’ll start mentioning their services.  They also know that 1Q is when most job interviews happen, so they are starting their interview suit strategy.  The clothing retailed knows their market and have built it around a combination of past performance and future prognotstication.  Above all, put your marketing strategy together and go for it.

#2  Your target market.  Take a look at your 2010 and 2011 target markets.  Have they changed in the last two years?  Is there a trend you need to take a closer look at?  Does the trend point to a market you may have otherwise missed?  For most businesses, the next two weeks will be slower than most weeks and is a good time to get answers to these questions.  If you’ve developed your 1Q12 strategy already, review it for possible updates and talk to your teams. Get their input. If your target market is changing, change with it.  Unless you want yur business to experience life support in 2012, don’t get stuck in the “this is the way we’ve always done business” syndrome.

#3  Once again, review previous years performance, especially 1Q11.  The first quarter of 2011 is probably your best barometer for first quarter of 2012.  Review your print media, radio and televeision marketing.  Was it successful?  Did it hit your target market and how well was your message recveived?  If you find a campaign worked, try it again.  Dump the campaigns that don’t work.  Keep up with the latest news about marketing.  Radio, television and print media are having a hard time reaching your target audience. Although you can get great deals on radion, television and print marketing, ask yourself if you are throwing money down a hole.  The reason for the great marketing deals is because advertisers can’t sell marketing space because it has a very small ROI.  Go where the people are; social media.  There is an awesome social media company out of Omaha that is doing a great job for their clients.  It is called Affordable Social Media.  They are a small company, but have a breadth of experience that is unmatched by other social media companies.

Above all, stay within your marketing budget.  If you do you own social media the greatest expense will be your time. Social media has to be attended to and maintained to get the best return on your marketing.  If you can’t devote the necessary time to social media, hire someone who has the experience and knows how to “carve out” your area in the internet. If you’re not in social media yet (social media is more than Facebook….sorry Zuckerberg), get into it soon.  More businesses will launch social media campaigns in 2012 than ever before.  If you are unsure about social media, contact Affordable Social Media and talk to them about their services.

Always be forward looking.  Look for trends and be ready to change your stratgey to adapt to new markets.  Tap into a market that may have otherwise been untapped.  The upcoming year will be awesome.  Take advantage of it now.

#3.  Social Media Advertising – Savvy small business marketers are increasingly realizing that the opportunity to reach customers extends beyond traditional paid search into the booming social media space. Having surpassed Google as the most visited website for the week ending March 13, 2010 and with over 400 million registered users, Facebook offers a significant audience that shouldn’t be ignored.  Social networks like Facebook can provide online marketers hyper-targeted advertising opportunities that can tap into new customer segments and serve as a complement to other paid search programs.

Read The Rest of the Story…..

Occupy Wall Street has its own “archives working group,” and one of its members says that while they appreciate the institutions’ interest, it would be preferable for archivists to collaborate with them, instead of just collecting items without input from protesters. But in this fascinating article, The Brooklyn Think reports the archive group’s request for $3,940 to cover storage, transportation and equipment costs was not approved at an Occupy Wall Street budget meeting last month. So the archives working group is considering donating its entire collection of materials to the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University. Meanwhile, the online Occupy Archive site, run by The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, currently has over 2,500 OWS-related items.

Read The Rest of the Story….

For marketers, converting messages into transactions is the Holy Grail, but if they don’t quickly materialize through new media outlets, that’s no reason to throw in the towel. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other outlets are constantly evolving and experimentation is necessary to find success.

Once we accept that “social” does not equal “transactional” we’ll all be a lot more adept at using it in 2012.

Read The Rest of the Story….

by Jon Russell

Consumer facing businesses will find the feature particularly useful as it enables more personal communication with individual customers, opening the possible of a greater level of customer service on Facebook. The move is also likely to cut down on the pain of off-topic comments on company pages and reduce communication lost when Facebook fans fail to take their comments to customer service channels outside of the social network.

The Rest of the Story

We want to know your thoughts.  We beleive reading should be both Fun to read and Mentally challenging.  The fun part is sometimes harder to hit because of the topic, but we like the mental part too.  Let us know what you think.

Your holiday emails should be in the shoot and ready to be sent.  I finally have all mine scheduled are ready to go.  I can tell a lot of people read this blog because I’ve been getting a lot of holiday echeer.  Thank you to everyone who’s sent me their holiday messages.

Today is the best day for sending your holiday email (echeer).  If you’ve followed my posts you’ll know how easy it is to reach out to consumers during this time of year and today will be the slowest day this week for holiday emails.  This translates into better open rates.  Everyone is ready for the holidays and starting to wind down, so get your emails into consumers hands.

During the holiday season use not-threatening, non-sales language.  If you  are a retailer, you’ll want to let people know about your offers.  They’ll come if they are interested.  If you are in the services industry, allow time to build your relationship for the new year.  Spend time thanking your readers for their business and that you hope they have a prosperous New Year.  Be sure to include contact information at the end of your message.  Even though you are sending eCheer to your readers, you still want to brand your message.  Let readers know who you are and how to contact you.

Get your eCheer out the door and reap the harvest.

OMG, I just saw this on the wire.  Could this be real? It is.

Rockstar Jon Bon Jovi (John Francis Bongiovi, Jr) was pronounced dead today after paramedics found him in a coma at his Empress Hotel, city and law enforcement of Asbury Park, NJ sources told The Times after World Christmas Tour concert on The Bamboozle Festival,North Beach Asbury Park.

Read more

Will the REAL Mark Zuckerburg please stand up? First the Winklevoss twins sued Mark Zuckerberg. Now, it looks like Facebook is poised to do the same.

Facebook is threatening to sue Mark Zuckerberg, an Israeli entrepreneur who recently changed his name from Rotem Guez to “Mark Zuckerberg,” according to Zuckerberg’s site MarkZuckerbergOfficial.com.

The Rest of the Story….

Congratulations to the Time Magazine Person of the Year

Just released.  When you think about a person of the year, you think about someone who’s make great strides in pushing life forward and making a difference in the world.  From Iraq to Iran, from Omaha to Oakland and on the streets of New York, congratulations to the TIme Magazine’s Person of the Year; the Protester.

Who’d of thought the Protester could topple a regime that’s been in place for decades?  Who’d of thought a group of oppressed people could take control of a country?  It happened and you are witness to it.  Be careful United States Congress. The people are speaking.  Do you hear them or are you turning a deaf ear?  Did you see what happened in California this week; three sea terminals were shut down.  Wake up and smell the coffee.  And what is this about tying the trans Canadian pipeline to tax cuts?  Yuup, we saw that too.

Congratulations to all the protesters who stand up for their rights and are taking a stand for this generation and the generations to come.  You’ve taken control of your very lives and the lives of your children and children’s children.  This is your world and there IS strength in numbers.  Make yourself known.

I cannot sign off without stating how powerful social media has been to protesters’ movements.  Social media is the unstoppable communication link. China, you can shut down the internet, Iraq and Iran, you can try to control communication, but you can’t stop social media and the need to communicate to others.  We have the inalienable right to make our opinions known and take control of our lives.  Social media not only exists on the internet, it also exists in our every day lives.  Don’t stop fighting for your rights.  You have a voice, and social media, use it.

Protesters, you’ve made the front page of Time Magazine, Congratulations.

You realized early on that social commerce was going to be huge, and you knew you had to be a part of it. You took a risk and dove in, first developing your social fan bases from the ground up and engaging with them on a regular basis. Then the time came where you were ready to reward your community through giveaways, contests, specials, and flash deals. You feel you did pretty well; you made some sales and gathered a few new fans in the process.

But you know that’s just where the fun begins! How can you improve? Why did one of your social commerce campaigns perform better than another? Here are the five social commerce measurements you and your brand should be watching…because knowing what works means you can make better decisions in the future.

Read More