Posts by InsightsDigital

Well, if it would be used for that purpose, I betcha many ex-wives (and potentially future wives as well) and children will appreciate it. It sure is better that the subway "DeadBeat Dad Picture" campaign I saw in the Bostonian trains a decade ago.

I totally agree. I am also afraid that such data transparencies can be used more to hurt than to benefit the user. I have already heard of stories in which the person called in sick yet updated status on Facebook or Twitter on what they were actually doing on their sick day.
So that is why I only update very so often. You know know how this information can be used against you.

I just found this very interesting article on Mashable - http://mashable.com/2009/08/30/analyze-twitter-content/

I actually like TweetPsych but I do wonder what would be the business implication for knowing sentiment and psychographics on individual users rather than an aggregate of all the followers for a particular account. Would it really help create a positive lift in sales?

Yes - I actually have built a few communities with that attitude -
www.getmeajobtoday.com
http://getmeajobtoday.pbworks.com/

I have also built other communities - both for personal and corporate - and unless you have a few advocates - the site will not grow.

I never played Farmville but I have played other games. But after a while, its novelty wears off and then other games pop up. Like two years ago, I was constantly getting invites for Zombies. Yes, so these games do keep people engaged for a while, it can be a month or even years. But then those games start losing its luster because then there are less people to play with.

I think there are tools for every single utility imaginable. What do you think of this one: http://twixperts.com/questions
As a person who have used Yahoo Answers alot in the past, I may enjoy using this Twitter expert panel. But I wonder if its more skewed towards technology. What do you think?

I read an article about useful social media tools and I thought this one is really cool and it was on the list. http://hiim.r09.railsrumble.com/

So do you think you would use such service/tools and if yes/no, why not?

I just found this one: http://hearton.us/

Imagine if let say, you like me and my post so much that you send me a crush alert. Well, it seems for now, such tool works only for Twitter. But imagine if it worked for other sites and logins. Is there such a tool or if not, would you think it would have any real business return on investment?

I just read of a nifty site called - Tablesurfing.com. I thought it was cool. So imagine if there was a similar site to invite others to participate in a particular chat or talk on another online community? So what do you think?

AFter reading this story, I betcha that many people may be tempted to buy an IPhone. I know I will. It is a form of sweet revenge towards those Iphone thieves.

Thus, the reach via Iphone will increase to levels never expected (or perhaps it is). Story: http://mashable.com/2009/08/30/find-my-iphone-robbers/

So what do you think?

Even last year, I used to perform a manual qualitative approach to "listening" to my consumers. Now there are other tools that perform this task automatically and so many are popping up like Radian6 and BuzzMetrics to name a few. So my question is "Is it really important for you to listen to your audience?" And if so, do you use these social media monitoring tools to listen.

Also, when is it not a good moment/industry to listen. Many pharmaceutical companies are hesistant on using such tools because if they detect an adverse effect, the company is responsible to reporting it to the FDA which may represent major product/brand repercussions

There was a very interesting article about Craiglist and how it has more traffic than Monster, CareerBuilder, Yahoo's HotJobs combined. Thus, despite Craigslist now having stricter posting policies, it still seems like a good place to help grow your online community, or not? What do you think?

I have personally heard so many stories of people saying they will quit Facebook - mostly for time or professional reasons - but at the same time, there are also many others who join Facebook every day. Thus, as an online marketer, are you worried or concerned about Facebook quitters and not being able to reach your target segmentation?

I bet there were moments where no one else believed in your idea even though deep in your heart - you knew it was a great idea. So my question is - "How do you translate a good idea into a money making opportunity?"

Do you listen to your consumers? How do you incorporate your market research? Do you use third party or first party? http://marketing.about.com/od/marketingtools/a/listenresearch.htm
What do you think?

I have heard stories from entrepreneurs who created their business plans on a napkin while others created a book like marketing plan. So how many pages were yours?

If you google search for marketing plan, you will find lots of resources for marketing plans. But the question is which one would you use? There could be lots of trash but also lots of treasure.

Hi
I have seen so many ads for marketing plan consultants and templates. Have you used such services . And most of all, was it successful in helping your business get its idea across for investors and funding?

Look at what happened to Tropicana. The packaging was changed and then changed back to the old style since the loyal consumers did not like the packaging. Has this ever happened to your business and if so, what did your company do? Please do share your case studies/stories.

A Nielsen report stated that consumers are now seeking value in ads.
http://en-us.nielsen.com/main/insights/consumer_insight/August2009/are_value_themed_ads

As per the report, the take-aways were:"
Some rules-of-thumb include:

* Give viewers a reason to watch;
* Be entertaining;
* Use easily recognizable brand cues;
* Have a clear and simple message;
* Don’t cram too much information into a single ad;
* Keep the visuals uncluttered."

So what do you think? Will this impact how you strategize for your advertising?

I would like to know how do you incorporate consumer insights in your marketing strategy and plan? Do you incorporate data from Comscore and Nielsen and then use these metrics to convert into actionable insights? Why plan if consumers may not be interested in the product or services?

Do you use google docs or word or some special software?

Hello

I have used a combination of Word, Excel, and Gliffy to map out marketing plans. What about you?

Hi
Let say you or your client wants to create a wiki. I am familiar with pbwiki but it charges if the wiki has more than 3 users. What other wikis have you used?

I have heard that creating your own YouTube channel costs over $100k but I dont know how truthful this information is.

I know dont about protection against the botnet but I betcha Symantec will develop a software against these botnets. Here is more: http://asert.arbornetworks.com/2009/08/twitter-based-botnet-command-channel/

Yes, I have actually created a few wikis myself, both for recreational, professional, and community purposes. Outcome: unless you have a few active participants, the wiki will contain content dominated by one person.

This would be a good way to stir up "tw-eezer" visits that will then drive visitors to either a youtbube video or to a website.

This application would be extremely useful for local restaurants and professional services. I am just wondering what can of worms will it open with such expanded capabilities?

Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately in any good pasture, weeds will pop up.

A reasonable and understandable concern for employers have been that they dont see the ROI on social media optimization.

That is true. I know of many companies that have even blocked google or MSN search engines as part of increasing productivity.

There is already a third party program called TweetMic - http://mashable.com/2009/05/15/tweetmic/ but I wonder if it will gain widespread engagement

I agree. We as organizers put alot of work to make the community happen.

I agree with MktgRob. I have worked closely with HR professionals as well and I have heard it first had. I hate to break it to you guys, but it is standard practice. In today's transparent social media society, looking into someone's Facebook page is commonplace.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/16696

It reminds me of Myspace where people and even compnaies were flocking to Myspace and then Myspace slowly but surely started losing its

I also believe that the video needs to be optimized as well with relevant keywords so potential customers can find your video.

It seems it was only made for the commercial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqLPHrCQr2I

One benchmark I recommend is measuring:
1. unique visitors
2. time spent on site
3. conversion rates

When Google discovers your black hat tactics on your site, your site may not appear on SERPS which is a very high price to pay. Just remember that!

I also strongly recommend you to:
1. Avoid solely Flash to your most important pages
2. Constantly update
3. Dont practice any black hat tactics

Which metrics do you monitor to measure your promotion/marketing success? Which metrics do you really dont care about?

I agree. Self promoting tweets and blogs are a major turn off. I wonder what would be the conversion rates for each of these types of tweets.

It may... However, social networking has become an accepted form of behavior, even in certain corporate setting. Thus, a trend I noticed with a few companies has been "Web Free Wednesday" or something similar to discourage employees from using the web for a few hours.
In regards to your question, I dont think Linked or other professional sites will be affected. Why? Because the majority of daytime social networking that employees participate are more social and personal rather than professional. I wonder if someone in this board has statistics to share.

Yes, this has actually happened to me 3 years ago with my Myspace page. Also, a friend of mine attended a medical school open house. The Dean of admission actually stated that many medical applicants who were interviewed were rejected solely based on their facebook page. The instructor at Kaplan recommended applicants to delete their Facebook page. These medical schools were able to access even those Facebook profiles that are private. I have heard that schools and HR professionals have this type of access.

Who knows if the techies will flock to another microblogging site (which does exist) and that site will become the haven for tech related news/bits. From an advertising/PR perspective, if twitter has become celebrity centered, advertisers/PR folks can capitalize on this fact to market celebrity related product and beauty related services (to resemble like a particular celebrity, etc)

This reminds me when I created a few meetups which is a form of social media if you think of it. The meetups attracted the targeted groups but it also attracted "missing links" or people who definitely did not share the vision of the group. You have to be diplomatic to deal with these outliners. It may turn off other members in the group. But what I find interesting is that these types of members are usually the most vocal/active or always there.

What helps increase conversion rate has been every web analyst's question... Even offering $100 may entice registration but may not help lead to other desired actions on the site.

Oh that is entertaining. Thanks for sharing.

YPN allows for behavioral targeting which can definitely increase conversion rate. You can have a wide reach but it may not effectively convert them all.