Businesses can benefit from social media because they get free word-of-mouth advertising by customers, however, this has implications in that a bad review can damage a firm’s reputation.  Here is an example of large firms that use social media for creating brand awareness among competitors. For example IBM, they allow employees to blog and embrace employee’s opinions to related to every aspect of its business.  Another example of a firm using social media is Starbucks. They started MyStarbucksIdea, so that customers can submit ideas for the company like new drink ideas. After the ideas are submitted, users can vote on the ideas and the best will be implemented by Starbucks. There are many other examples of companies using social media to develop their business.  Like any new technology there will be failures, so what happens to a business when they fail are using social media?

A business that uses social media must be careful to regulate the amount of time that employees spend on these sites and how employees respond to customer responses. Business have found their employees responding in negative ways to customer queries. The fact is that there will have to be educated to become skilled at having an open dialog with customers. Also businesses must not loose focus from their products or services and examine company objectives. Here is an interesting article for businesses who are undecided how to embrace social media.

Another example that I think is interesting is Proctor and Gamble’s Charmin toilet paper brand sponsoring a mobile marketing campaign. SitorSquat is a user generated service that consumers find washrooms that tells users the degree of cleanliness of a washroom through a rating scale “sit” implies the washroom is clean, and “squat” means that it is not. The application was available for IPhone and BlackBerry mobile devices, and as of April 9^th 2009 there was over 81,000 downloads for IPhone and over 13,000 for the BlackBerry device. This user generated marketing campaign is a new concept. I think the fact that any product from tires to toilet paper can have an effective mobile marketing campaign we are going to be seeing a lot more of these type of campaigns.

Finally the last example of mobile marketing is by Tide. This is another user generated campaign that is called the Stain Brain. It allows IPhone and web users to search for solutions to stains on their clothing. It is a quick step-by-step cleaning guide from the “experts” of tide to help how clean clothes quickly and effectively. Meanwhile plastered on the side of the page are Tide advertisements stating “stain remover” which complement each other nicely. Here is a solution to remove beer stains from clothing!

I will try and tackle the topic of the trend of elimination of the banner advertisement and web advertising effectiveness in this blog posting. As I had mentioned earlier in my blogs, a firm can be successful with viral marketing campaigns; however, many firms simply cannot afford to invest heavily in such a way. So what form of online marketing will be effective for a business? Well according to Active Media Research, the best way users can find a business will be 49% Search Engines and Directories, followed by Button Links at 22%. Advertising through search engines is widely becoming popular and in my opinion is least invasive to a user, however I find it quite effective.

Looking in the past, it seems as though the banner ad, once at the top of the most effective method of reaching customers, has fallen to the end of the list. David Tokheim, IGN’s head of marketing, says we can’t have a cookie cutter method for advertising for reaching users, it’s just not effective. Tokheim works loosely with his advertisers to create custom made components in his advertisements to attract users. So now we see that companies are doing away with banner advertisements because they are least effective, what is the best practice to optimize web effectiveness?

I came across some information to help with this discussion. One of the best practices is to use a large ad format. Bigger is better, and large advertisements are more effective. There is a strong correlation between the size of the ad and their click through rate. According to DoubleClick Inc. several website publishers said they are phasing out the classic banner advertisement as demand for a larger leader board format is more favorable and effective. Personally I am pleased that this is the trend in online marketing because I find the banner ad irrelevant, ineffective, and annoying. Now only if the pop up ads will become history.

This blog posting will explore how to become top of a search engine, as it is hopefully a considerable goal for an eCommerce site. When designing a web page it is important to have a rich content for a customer to look at. The search engine optimization can be viewed as a sprint to the finish; however, it should be viewed as a marathon because it is rare that a user clicks and makes a purchase decision on their first site they view. This is critical because this allows for large and small firms to compete because SEO enables a user to search for example “Dubrovnik hotels”. A well versed internet marketer is going to ensure they create rich content so that they will be near the top of the list. According to SEOmoz’s blog, there is no reason why large firms should dominate the top of search engines because Dubrovnik hotels could be present in a Wikipedia article(which are usually at or near the top of Google searches) thus pulling a user to the site. I personally like this strategy because it seems less invasive toward the customer and builds confidence toward the brand, product, or service.

In terms of search engines it is known that Google is dominating the search engine market and is constantly changing the playing field. For example with Google’s acquisition of YouTube, they have incorporated video results in the search engine results page. Data combined from news results, images, video, maps, local, and finance makes the experience richer for the user. This is becoming a trend in SEO to combine many types of content for the user. Another trend that is being used is Google has created a tool called Google external keyword search. This allows a marketer to search keywords to see if they will be relevant for the Google-bot to find, and correlates to what users are searching for.  Feel free to explore some SEO trends.

There has been a rapid adoption of social media like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.  This blog posting will explore the impact of social media on people’s lives, celebrities, and businesses. Firstly social media like Facebook allows individuals to connect to one another through profiles. Using the new Web 2.0, social media has exploded in popularity and has created  a large experiment.  Time magazine’s “person on the year” in 2006 was You, as in the individual creator of the world wide web, which is powerful because it shows how powerful social media sites are. Most social media sites have an option available to user to create micro blogs, sometimes called their status. This is also a form of micro blogging because it allows users to enter whatever they want, for example: what they are doing at the moment, what they are feeling like or where they are. I personally use this from time-to-time but there are others who are more engaged with this updating their status every few hours.

The concept of micro blogging for an individual I think is for personal purposes. Can a business really use social media?A company can inform customers of what is happening with their business. This can inform customers of upcoming sales, tell customers about new products, and perhaps even share info about upcoming employment opportunities.

Not only for businesses but for celebrities, and even the President Barack Obama is on Twitter and Facebook. I feel that this makes a sincere connection between users and the celebrities and helps their public perception. Twitter follows a similar site layout but it focuses heavily on micro blogging in which users can “follow” other twitter users. I believe this is their competitive advantage over other social media sites, along with their millions of users. In case you don’t know much about twitter this short video clip to gain awarness.

A successful viral marketing campaign should contain according to Web Marketing Today:

1. Gives away products or services
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others’ resources

Another viral marketing campaign that I will explore is Simpsonize me by Burger King. The enables users to create their own avatar Simpson character. The user uploads a photo of themselves and specially designed software makes a Simpson character. While the program runs the photo there are Burger King burgers and logo’s plastered across the screen to encourage them to buy. I think this is a good viral marketing campaign because the user can then save the picture of themselves as a Simpson character and upload it to social media websites. The picture does look a bit like a Simpson character and it is entertaining.

Lets explore some other viral marketing campaigns!

This blog posting is going to examine the return on marketing investment. In class we were exposed to a excel spreadsheet that was complicated however it was set up in such a way that the values entered would affect applicable values. In doing some research I came across a ROI calculator for a company advertising on Facebook. The ROI calculator only requires five pieces of information to run the calculation. This is a quick and simple way for a small firm to calculate how much they are investing. 

There was a strategy that was launched by Pepsi Co’s AMP energy drink. They launched a Facebook/contest/tour strategy that is helping them compete in the very competitive energy drink market. The tour was “between February and April, an AMP Energy “Amp Your Game” tour visited 39 Canadian colleges and universities, promoted through ads in campus newspapers and posters. At each stop, the brand auditioned bands via a contest using the Rock Band 2 game, picked a winner and moved those semifinalists onto the AMP Energy Canada Facebook page (facebook.com/AMPenergycanada). Each performing video was posted for a week, and the bands solicited votes for the videos.”

AMP energy drink was the first product ever to have an event streamed live on Facebook. The winning band would receive $100,000 at the finals held at Toronto during the Northeast Music & Film Festival and streamed on Facebook. “The campaign has so far resulted in more than 15,600 Facebook fans for the brand, nearly 257,000 visits to its Facebook page, more than 50,000 video views, and more than 61,000 votes”. I think that this strategy was very successful for them because its engaged the customer by merging video games(Rock Band) and a new product. Here is a video of Vancouver Island University students rockin’ out!

Information taken from: http://www.cscic.state.ny.us/security/conferences/security/2009/documents/ASIA09FinalProceedings070109.pdf#page=11

There are negative implications to having a concern consumer who may purchase online but decides to physically go into a store to purchase the product. A firm must build a consumers confidence online to ensure a successful e-commerce site. According to Lim et al, the mechanisms by which trust is built through web strategies, and their relative effectiveness are still not well understood.

For a first time visitor to a online store the first impression of the store interface must evoke feelings of trust. This can be done by splashing the logo or seal of reputable brand on the website. For example Verified by Visa, this means that the major credit card is going to ensure that your credit card number is safe and secure when purchasing online.

Information taken from:

http://ezproxy.mala.bc.ca:2086/ehost/pdf?vid=8&hid=13&sid=cc6184c1-ecc4-4224-83e8-b942695d1c2c%40sessionmgr4

To shift gears I found an interesting website called BizRate.com in which it allows customers to rate the website they purchased their product. It rates the website on four variables that are important when making purchases online. They are “Would shop here again, On time(delivered as promised), Customer Support and Product met Expectations”.  I think this website is effective in protecting consumers because it holds the company accountable for how they treat their online customers. I think if consumers review the company in which they are going to purchase from they will hopefully have greater confidence in the transaction.

http://www.bizrate.com/

With the advent of digital music downloads the music industry has suffered devastating losses. A new revenue stream for the music industry is developing artists in video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. “Artistes and record companies are paid in licensing fees when their music is first used in video games, but the revenue stream really starts pouring in with extra downloads from customers. Gamers have access to online libraries from which they can purchase additional songs to use in the game, and amazingly, it has reaped a reported average of 200-300% increase in real-world record sales”.

http://videogames.suite101.com/article.cfm/video_games_saved_the_music_industry#ixzz0RTtLXgTX

In case one is not familiar with Guitar Hero, it allows a players to simulate playing an actual guitar by following the guitar tabs on the screen to the actual song. I personally enjoy playing this game and find it quite addicting. I think that the concept of these games can only last for so long as there is no real change from Guitar Hero 1 to Guitar Hero 4 accept the songs of course. These types of games have propped up the music industry for the time being however; they will need to be continually thinking of new ideas to attract new audiences and customers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LWhV-Wr-RM&annotation_id=annotation_28200&feature=iv

Guitar Hero commercial with Metallica