Archive for July, 2009
Monday, July 27th, 2009
When I first read the term, augmented reality, it didn’t strike me as something that would be relevant in advertising. I had to explore further to discover that this is one of most engaging forms of interactive advertising. So what is augmented reality (AR) and how is it relevant to advertising? AR is the act of taking a 2D physical object and then using a digital interpreter (computer equipped with a webcam) to create a 3D experience. Who’s using this technology? big brands such as General Electric, interactive agencies such as Poke and soon iPhone applications.
Let’s take a deeper look at some of these applications.
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Tags: augmented reality, ecomagination, iphone api, poke london
Posted in Social Media, Tricks & tips | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
Like most marketers in the social media industry, I read the engagementdb report earlier this week. Winning the award for best social media score was Starbucks. With a team of six, Starbucks has successfully used social media to enhance its brand and its sales – A great testament to the power of conversations and viral marketing. With so many employees, Starbucks struggles with ‘many voice syndrome.’ Who should be allowed to blog, tweet and post in official capacities? The report says, “While Starbucks encourages designated employees to have a sense of ownership in customer engagement as experts on specific topics, the company is not yet endorsing a widespread engagement in social channels. This can sometimes be difficult as many of the employees — especially those who work in stores and are avid users of social media channels like Facebook and Twitter — chomp at the bit to engage.”
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Tags: facebook discussions, fan pages, social media, starbucks
Posted in Social Media, Sprout External | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
There are a plethora of uses for Sprout Builder. We have seen some very large companies using Sprout but we have also seen some of the smallest using our products. What impresses us the most is when our users push the limits of our platform and leverage it flawlessly. The work done by Johnathan Karol for the documentary film: Beyond The Chair is a perfect example. I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Johnathan in my latest episode of Sprout Tips and Tricks.
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Tags: beyond the chair, btcmovie, documentary film, facebook fan pages, fan page, promotion, social marketing, sprouts, widgets
Posted in Social Media, Sprout Builder, Tricks & tips | No Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2009
A new must-read study is out about engagement marketing among the world’s most valuable brands. The engagementdb report, developed by wetpaint and Altimeter (of Charlene Li fame), draws the following conclusion:
“The most valuable brands in the world are experiencing a direct correlation between top financial performance and deep social media engagement. The relationship is apparent and significant: socially engaged companies are in fact more financially successful.”
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Posted in Community, Social Media, Sprout External | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
A few months back, we were thinking about how we submit our company press releases to the media. Our main channel was to use a wire service such as PR Newswire or Market Wire to push out our release. This method served as the backbone to our one-to-one outreach amongst key influencers. We also promoted our releases through internally controlled channels such as our company blog, Facebook fan page, and twitter stream. While this method works for the most part, it needs some assistance. So I decided to use our very own Sprout Builder to create an interactive rich media component that will supplement our releases.
Due to its very nature, I am able to embed it right here in our blog to show you a living example. Here is what I am calling the PR 2.0 sprout:
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Tags: pitchengine, pr 2.0, pr sprout, pr2.0, press release, public relations, social media release, Sprout External
Posted in Social Media, Sprout Builder, Sprout External | No Comments »
Monday, July 13th, 2009
I just finished reading Razorfish’s report on Social Influence Marketing and I wanted to share my 5 key takeaways.
1. “Consumers do not always realize how much influencing they are doing and how much they are being influenced when they have conversations about brands across social platforms.” I mentioned this idea in an article I wrote about Skittles’ strategy when they relaunched their Web site to feature their Twitter page – Consumers are now playing a big role in shaping brand messages. For this reason, solutions, such as Sprout, that let consumers share personalized brand messages with friends in an authentic way should prove to be increasingly popular with companies looking to capitalize on peer to peer recommendations.
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Posted in Social Media, Sprout External | No Comments »
