V/Speak

My top 10 reads for the week.   This is a SMALL sampling of what I come across in my weekly media consumption addiction.  If you’d like to be on my email list, please email me and I will add you.

Twitter Ad Platform ‘Imminent’- MediaPost

The Truth about Mobile Application Stores - ReadWriteWeb

Mobile Phones Organize Lives - Research Brief

Choosing a Marketing Plan: Traditional or Social Media - NYTimes

Mobile Web: A Better Platform for Socializing? – ReadWriteWeb

Five Reasons Not To Get Swept Up In App Madness - ITinnovation

A 4 Stage Model for Member Engagement – Social Media Today

The Case for Handcrafted Social Media – FastCompany

For Chip Makers, the Next Battle Is in Smartphones - NYTimes

The 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should Monitor – Social Times

David Veneski Marketing, Social Media Weekly News

My top 10 reads for the week.   This is a SMALL sampling of what I come across in my weekly media consumption addiction.  If you’d like to be on my email list, please email me and I will add you.

Google Buzz Rolls Out Sharing Features To Gmail And Mobile Platforms – MediaPost

Detroit Red Wings Make Game Programs Interactive With QR Codes – Mashable

Social Media Top Online Priority in 2010 – MarketingProfs

The Man Who Looked Into Facebook’s Soul – NYTimes

Google Becomes an ISP: Plans to Deliver 1 Gigabit Connections to 50,000 Homes – ReadWriteWeb

HOW TO: Create and Distribute Effective Online Coupons – Mashable

A Guide To Following The 2010 Winter Olympics Online – TechCrunch

Web Strategy Matrix: Google Buzz vs Facebook vs MySpace vs Twitter – WebStrategist

Mobile World Congress: Don’t Call It a Phone Show – BusinessWeek

The 2009 U.S. Digital Year in Review: A Recap of the Year in Digital Marketing - All Things D

David Veneski Marketing, Social Media Weekly News

My top 10 reads for the week.   This is a SMALL sampling of what I come across in my weekly media consumption addiction.  If you’d like to be on my email list, please email me and I will add you.

5 Lessons Learned From The Front Line – MediaPost article

Don’t let Twitter, Facebook, Google be the only game in town – CNN article

29 Million Searches Per Minute: WW SEM Grew 46% in 2009 – ReadWriteWeb article

5 Ways Foursquare is Changing the World - Mashable article

Engagement on Social Networks Top Priority for Marketers – eMarketer article

Learning from Steve Jobs’s Success - Internet.com article

Get Ready for the Post-PC Era – ITBusinessEdge article

Is The IPad Publishing’s Savior? Pro And Con – AdAge article

How Facebook Can Become a Money Making Machine – Mashable article

Twitter Brings Its Trends Right to Your Neighborhood – FastCompany article

David Veneski Marketing, Social Media Weekly News

A study recently released by UCSD describes in detail the amount of data Americans consume on a yearly basis.  A snippet below gives a quick glance at the staggering numbers…

“In 2008, Americans consumed information for about 1.3 trillion hours, an average of almost 12 hours per day. Consumption totaled 3.6 zettabytes and 10,845 trillion words, corresponding to 100,500 words and 34 gigabytes for an average person on an average day. A zettabyte is 10 to the 21st power bytes, a million million gigabytes.“

David Veneski Marketing, Traditional Media Americans, Data Consumption

Every week, I send a growing list of internal and external customers a list of 10 compelling reads for the week.  This is a SMALL sampling of what I come across in my media consumption addiction, but that would be an overwhelming amount of content to share through this means.  Each Friday, I’ll post my summary out to a larger audience than my mailing list through this blog.  If you’d like to be on my mailing list, please email me and I will add you.  Here’s the list for this week:

Tech Boom: Intel’s Earnings Up an Astounding 875% – Mashable article

10 Tips for Becoming a Smarter, Social Business Person – GigaOm article

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over – ReadWriteWeb article

The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration – Mashable article

The Starbucks Formula for Social Media Success – The Next Web article

In-store facial recognition ads from Intel and Microsoft – Econsultancy article

The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s – NYTimes article

Is 2010 Your Year for a Mobile App? – ClickZ article

Nexus One and Android 2.1: Apple Better Watch Out – ReadWriteWeb article

Why Apple Bought Quattro Wireless And Is Getting Into Advertising – Silicon Alley Insider article

David Veneski Marketing, Social Media Weekly News

This is not a new rule by any means.  However, brands are becoming more and more aware that listening to their customers wants/needs is crucial if they are going to stand out in a sea of choices.  I’ve used this quote by Barry Judge in previous posts – it bears repeating:

“You’re a part of the conversation, a part of what is being said about your brand.  You don’t get to tell customers what they get to think anymore”

The video below, sent to me by my PR counterpart, Becky, illustrates this very simple tenant to a tee.  Distilling down to one key point, customers are relaying a very powerful messages to advertisers these days: “I’ve changed, and you haven’t – we don’t even hang out in the same places anymore“. 

Simple as that – advertisers and brands must recognize that their customers are interacting with their messages differently these days.  It’s not enough to raise the megaphone and simply talk TO your customers.  You have to be willing to engage with your customers on their terms, listen to what they are saying about your offering, and incorporate their input into your future interactions with them.  The successful brands recognize this and are engaged in a 2-way dialogue with their target audience – using that input to shape future brand experiences with that customer.  Those that don’t recogize the value of this input and the power of customer sentiment around their brand are doomed to fail.

David Veneski Advertising, Marketing Brand, Customer, Loyalty

Summarized from Ad Age and their reporting from last week’s Digital Conference.  Unilever’s CMO, Simon Clift  had some interesting and bold things to say about Social Media and its role in the success or failure of Brand Building.  As Ad Age states, he ‘Throws Down the Social Media Gauntlet’ and warns those brands that don’t recognize and adapt to constantaly changing role of digital media are in danger of extinction through ‘accelerated natural selection‘.  He makes a great point.  Survival of the fittest (or most adaptable) –  Darwinism in marketing.

“Brands aren’t simply brands anymore. They are the center of a maelstrom of social and political dialogue made possible by digital media.”

He’s right.  He went on to discuss how brands are becoming ‘conversation factors‘ and the ‘conversation is no longer one way or 30 seconds.‘  In effect evangelizing an open dialogue model – truly cracking the brand disccusion wide open and letting the consumer share in the building, or eroding, of that brand through their social voice. 

As a postscript to the article, Ad Age outlines their “New Rules” to maintain pace in this ever changing digital world.  5 great points that I’ve summarized quickly, you can find the full list on their site.

• Listening to consumers is more important than talking at them.
• You can’t hide the corporation behind the brand anymore, or even fully separate the two.
• PR is a primary concern for every CMO and brand manager.
• Cause marketing isn’t about philanthropy, it’s about “enlightened self-interest”
• Social media is not a strategy. You need to understand it, and you’ll need to deploy it as a tactic.

David Veneski Marketing, Social Media Brand, Marketing, Social Media, Unilever