MarkThink

I'm So Going to Blog That

Not surprisingly, the most active bloggers are younger people who have grown up during the blogging "revolution", which started about seven years ago. Bloggers in the 21-to-35 year-old demographic group account for 53.3% of the total blogging population.

via www.sysomos.com

Viva revolucion!

Marketers are still coming to terms with the fact that the customer potentially has as much voice as the brand.

Basic analysis from Sysomos but still worth a look. I'd love to see an analysis of the differences by country of Facebook, Twitter and Blogging.

Smart Social Marketing in Copenhagen

Brilliant positive reinforcement marketing by the city of Copenhagen to encourage bicycling. Read about the contest and the goal at Copenhagenize.

A reminder that the most innovative social marketing is on not necessarily *on* social media, but rather brought to you by social media.

Via PUBLIC.

Wining I like on Social Media

Take the buzzword “social media” out of it and call it what it really is — people talking to each other over the Internet. For wineries, there are consumers out there who want to talk to you. Fish where the fish are.

via smartblogs.com

Follow the Money: Google Courting Big Brands

This does seem to be using similar functionality to what Google launched in November, for their product search expansion, but here the brands are listed at the top of the results. The big brands are getting more exposure in the Google search results than possibly ever before.

via searchengineland.com

As someone trying to kickstart a start-up on a limited budget, I'm keeping an eye on the rapidly changing search landscape.

The revolution with Adwords was -- despite the obfuscation of the secret ranking algorithm -- something everyone could join and compete with the big brands. This move seems tip the scales in the favor of the big fellas.

A few quick reactions:

• It doesn't appear that you can "buy" your way in to the recommendations.
• The benefit to brands is secondary. By pushing people to a branded search, from "digital cameras" to "Sony digital cameras" they are reducing the CPC for the bigger brands, assuming they are selling direct.
• It's unclear how this would impact a retail player such as Best Buy, unless they have some sort of "official Sony digital camera" relationship.
• This is all based on Google's Trust metrics, something that could reinforce the market leaders rather than encourage innovation.
• I'm not condemning this move by Google, but we should keep an eye out for their definition of quality and trust.

Maybe Freemium Isn't So Easy Afterall

He explained that Ning will be focusing on premium networks--which come with additional features and are not ad-supported--because that's where the company's business successes have been thus far.

"We are going to change our strategy to devote 100 percent of our resources to building the winning product to capture this big opportunity," Rosenthal's memo explained after detailing the success of a number of its paid networks. "We will phase out our free service. Existing free networks will have the opportunity to either convert to paying for premium services, or transition off of Ning."

via news.cnet.com

Interesting move by Ning.

Stay tuned.

I Like Becoming a Fan

Facebook already lets people show that they like comments or pictures posted on the site, and it says users click that term almost twice as much as they click "become a fan." Facebook says changing the button will make users more comfortable with linking up with a brand and will streamline the site.

...

"The idea of liking a brand is a much more natural action than (becoming a fan) of a brand," said Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media, which helps companies establish their brands and advertise on social networks such as Facebook. "In many ways it's a lower threshold."

But while it might seem to be less of a commitment to declare that you "like" Coca-Cola than to announce you are a fan of it, the meaning essentially would stay the same: Your Facebook friends would see that you clicked that you "like" a page, and such pages would still be listed on your Facebook profile for anyone to see.

via hosted.ap.org

I like becoming a fan. Liking businesses (and people) I like is dull, non-committal, lazy. Facebook is doing this to make it easier for businesses and customers connect, but we'll need to see if it makes that connection low value and worthless.

Buying an iPad for the Ads?

Time Inc.'s Sport Illustrated has been showing advertisers three video-heavy ad prototypes, including one for a Ford Mustang that includes an arcade-style driving game using the tilt-and-turn capability of the iPad. With a few touches to the screen, readers can pick paint colors and wheel styles for cars they might want to buy.

"Some of the things you can do are just mind blowing," says Steve Pacheco, FedEx's director of advertising. "You are taking something that used to be flat on a page and making it interactive and have it jump off the page."

via online.wsj.com

This is going to be fun. The iPad will [finally] add a new layer brands to interact with customers in media: experience. P&G's sponsorship of Men's Health sounds old school space buying. Esquire's original music and video content and Ford's game play are what I'm looking forward to seeing.

I've almost convinced myself not to wait for the G3 model.

Apparently People No Longer Need Motors to Matter

Today, I want to announce a sea change. People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.

We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects. We are discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians. And we are encouraging investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.

via fastlane.dot.gov

Major news from the DOT: walking and biking are forms of transportation.

LaHood's comments and recommendations are so simple and straightforward that they seem like common sense. Sadly, this sort of smart planning doesn't make the headlines because it *is* obvious.

This is a big deal and a major breakthrough for the livable cities cause.

PS. The announcement was made on TypePad blog. And I reblogged it! How cool.

Today, I want to announce a sea change. People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.

We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects. We are discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians. And we are encouraging investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.

The Right Way to Visualize Customer Interactions

via www.panic.com

This is the right way to visualize customer interactions. Being in a good mood -- the game playing mode -- to answer a customer, fix a problem, create a feature, and plan a product is a hell of a lot better than a spreadsheet or email listing things "not yet done."

Name That Brand

via www.thedieline.com

Wow. Totally great, simple[-ish] rethinking of a brand.

(And yes, I've just learned the an economics lesson from my two year old. I totally underestimated the value of stickers all these years.)