A few weeks ago, I shared some insights from a report I had written on Seven Conflicting Trends in Corporate Social Responsibility.

The second part of this two-part series was recently released on Vault.com.  Key topics the article touches on include rising expectations, shareholders pushing harder than ever, and supply chain engagement. Part two focuses on the increase in shared knowledge, winners arising from clear leadership, greater localization, and the trend of greater transparency/accountability and integrity.

These days, a plethora of new media opportunities—interactive, experiential, social, mobile, etc.—amplifies every action. As each company looks inward examining the corporate social responsibility strategy and tactics of the business, it must also have a greater understanding the archetypes of all screens—mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop—and develop integrated communications strategies to share their efforts and their story.

You can also read the report in full on Forbes.com.

This past week I had the opportunity to present at the Business Development Institute (BDI) Social Consumer event in New York City and speak about one of Definition 6’s great customer case studies and success stories. The event was attended by over 300 people that work in marketing and media and come from a great variety of big companies including MTV, McGraw Hill, American Express, Citi Group and many others. I’m pretty sure I was one of very few people in the room that works mostly on the tech side of things.

It was a great event. The speaker from Unilever, Senior Communications Marketing Manager Stacie Bright (@Dove), has me honestly considering trying out Dove Body Wash for Men, and Senior Brand Manager Juliet Wilson from Kotex and Organic’s Julie Lee (@julielee75) showed off some truly game-changing work they are doing and even had the entire audience in various stages of discomfort reciting the word “vagina”. But the most energetic speaker by far was Bonin Bough (@boughb), the Global Director of Social Media for Pepsico who delivered a fantastic keynote speech and showed off some very innovative work they’ve done while talking about the importance of having Digital Fitness throughout an organization.

Of course, this made it a bit ironic that my presentation, which followed Bonin’s, essentially focused on some of the great work we’ve done over the past year or so with our customer Coca-Cola. So what’s a tech geek from Atlanta whose company does work for Coke supposed to do in this situation? Well… mostly just try to do his best to represent and share a little Happiness. You can view my presentation which is about 20 minutes long and judge for yourself. I think it went pretty well with the exception of a little technical glitch at the end where the presentation laptop froze up, though I think that happened because I was making jokes about IBM’s Watson at the time. Enjoy.

Many application development companies regadless of web development or windows development want or need to implement search functionality. However, it is a commonly underestimated function and it continues to evolve over time. Interestingly users want search to have minimal to no interaction while having a maximum result. With data and collection systems becoming more and more complex this becomes and increasingly difficult challenge. I remember a system I was architecting for a customer where the customer wanted to enter a DNA result that consisted of an 800 to 1600 character string into a web application and have it search a database using an algorithm providing scored search results. The customer was convinced that a basic desktop machine would act as a server and be able to conduct the search against a large database efficiently. The production architecture needed to support the customers’ performance requirements was a High Performance Computing hardware environment.  Like many customers they didn’t understand the complexity of certain functions. Thinking through this topic recently had me researching how functions in systems and their architectures evolved.

Architecting a system today has many facets, and search certainly is a prominent one. Searching for information is not a new concept but a heavily evolving one. Once computers evolved beyond just basic mathematics and started capturing, storing and manipulating other data the need for search began. Early systems collected data that was somewhat structured in files and databases. Search functions found data quickly within those structures. With the development of relational databases and more complex data capture search the tools for search had to grow. Also the acceptance and use of computers was growing and more and more.
Architecting search within a system has consistently had to recognize simultaneous evolutions. Database tools added the ability to index tables to help search perform better. Search appliances like Wizards emerged for more technically savvy users to pull data from a data source. Multiple levels of searching complexity were emerging. While these searches largely dealt with structured data stored in systems, at the same time this evolution was occurring what cannot be ignored is the emergence of the internet and its impact on search. 

Early on companies like Yahoo profited on the simple concept of locating content. While this wasn’t structure data as in databases internet standards of things like meta-tag’s and other items made it possible for users to find content early on. Searching on the internet allowed users to enter terms and content related to those terms would be returned. Later companies like Google would improve the algorithms and set that industries standard for a time. E-commerce companies were also integrating user shopper experiences with search as a means of driving revenue. So while a user shopped for shoes, related items and previous shopping items would appear in the links and advertising throughout the system. While the motives were different the capture of information and providing relevant data back is essentially an implied search. The evolution of the internet and its potential was impacting local systems.

Users’ expectations were changing as the interaction was to enter in a few terms and that brought back content they wanted to see. At the same time computers continued advancing in hardware and use. Pictures, Videos, art, music files evolved to become more common to be stored on systems. In fact digital has become so big that companies like Kodak have stopped producing film based cameras. Users have embraced and ran with the lower cost and portability of digital media. This new media has presented a new challenge and forced search to evolve in multiple ways again.

Architects and systems were faced with growing use for search.  Users were searching as an exploratory exercise as more complex data and more types of data were being captured. Allowing for the advancement of tools like Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and reporting tools. Users weren’t looking for specific data as much as looking to see what trends might appear in the data. These tools while technically complex have easy to use interfaces that allow users to review and analyze data. The complexity lies in the architecture and backend. The emergence and development of these tools was a move from appliance parts of a system to search to a full blown system of its own.

Users now expect applications to be able to search both structured and unstructured data. They want to give as little information as possible and quickly find very relevant search results. Algorithms and techniques for searching continue to advance because they must--including incorporating e-commerce like changes in the system and having subtle changes help the customer get to the results they want more quickly. One of the many reasons unstructured data evolved was not only digital media but mobile devices.

This latest evolution has occurred simultaneously with the acceptance of mobile devices. Now users have a high level of portability and connectivity to data. These mobile tools work quickly using touch screen technology and other key changes that impact the user experience for working with data. This has resulted in a need for better performance and system architectures that incorporate different devices, connectivity, and desired results.

Today’s cutting edge searches involve grabbing information from a part of a picture and searching for related information. Searches that work from audio files or live audio and provide related information quickly on portable devices is another technology that has been developed. Users want more with less required of them, resulting in more complex algorithms and models for searching.

Successfully architecting a system means taking a lot of factors into consideration. A successful solution can't overlook what the implementation's search functionality has within an enterprise system. Architecting search as a part of a system today means taking many factors into account. Understanding the user’s expectations and desired results has become critical to the successful use of a system. What devices are targeted for use, what is the complexity of the data, what type of data, and other questions like these are all key to get answered to develop a successful search system. Working with customers to identify the business rules that lead to implicit and explicit searches is important as systems more and more are expected to show relevant data.

The Ragan Social Media for PR and Corporate Communications Conference, perhaps better known to its attendees as #RaganSM, proved to be a good show on several new and fun fronts – one of our D6ers who has requested anonymity and will be referred to as "Sunshine" repeatedly proved that what happens in Vegas doesn’t necessarily have to stay in Vegas (keep reading).  But before we get to "Sunshine," I’d like to discuss some of the key ideas from the conference:

1)     The concept of “brand journalism” – where brands have a more important and significant voice in culture was introduced by Mark Ragan and echoed by various other speakers.  This idea is fascinating for several reasons.  Moving brands to a more utilitarian and culturally relevant space has been talked about at conferences for years.  However, brand journalism is especially interesting when you consider how so many “experts” in recent years have discussed the death of traditional media and reporting.  Perhaps the next move for journalists is brand journalism.  Think about it.

2)     CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT!  While this seems to be a popular message at a lot of conferences these days, Ragan’s focus on content produced by people who truly understand how to tell stories + truly emotional engagement showcased the importance of great content in a way that is rarely explained at conferences.  Story telling reigns supreme.

3)     Microfailure is constructive.  In social, failure (i.e. prematurely tweeting, tweeting from the wrong address, etc.) needs to be embraced for social to succeed.  Social is clearly a situation where creating to think, rather than thinking to create should be the norm.  This couldn’t have been demonstrated any better that by the Red Cross “oops” tweet and their magnificent recovery.  How fortuitous was it having the Red Cross as a speaker?  Which reminds me…

4)     Listening is more important than talking – find out what’s important to people and become a part of the conversation to create connections.  An example of this is how The Red Cross of Chicago seeks out and aids people who have suffered house fires.  They didn’t create the reason for interaction, but they inserted themselves into the situation and helped people in need – thus fulfilling their mission.  How is your business heroic?

And now back to "Sunshine."  Above is a rare video of "Sunshine" besting Brooks Thomas of Southwest Airlines by a smidgen in the Inaugural Definition 6 - Ragan Communications Sprint For No Reason. 

As shown in the above pictures and previous video, Definition 6 hosted a great impromptu party in "Sunshine’s" humble suite (he somehow only got it with a $100 upgrade) that was attended by about 100 conference-goers, possibly one female escort (we still aren’t sure) and Alan Garner, of course.  Perhaps this should be an annual happening.

As you likely can tell by now, "Sunshine" of Atlanta, GA practically owned Las Vegas from February 14-February 16, 2011.  At one point he even lost his BlackBerry in a taxi, tweeted about it, connected with another conference attendee who, after seeing the tweet, miraculously connected the dots and reunited "Sunshine" with the cabbie who had his CrackBerry--Keith Nichols of Western Cab.  (If you’re in Vegas and need a ride – 702.736.8000 – they deserve the business).

A joyful "Sunshine" getting the cabbie’s phone number from Bo Edwards of Lockheed Martin.



 "Sunshine" getting his Blackberry back from Keith



 "Sunshine" dropping Keith some of his winnings for his honesty and generosity. It was a Ragan Conference miracle and a timely case example for the power of social media.



NASA Astronaut Douglas H. Wheelock



Video Courtesy of @Kevin_Hunt

But enough about "Sunshine" and back to the conference.  From the first astronaut to check into Foursquare from space (and who funnily enough, only realized much later that he has to do it twice before becoming mayor – #fail) to a singing David Pogue from the New York Times, the presenters were varied and provided a broad range of takeaways for the equally varied audience.  The 17 tools that everyone should know about for social media seemed to be the 17,000 tools that everyone should know about for social media and an always-entertaining Shel Holtz was equally as informative.  Congratulations Ragan on a great conference.

It’s that time of year again. A time for reflection and a time for predictions. On the outside chance you did something this year besides monitor your RSS feed from Defining Insights, we thought this would be a good time to reflect on the top posts of the last 12 months.

For those of you that don’t know, Definition 6 has a very open corporate blogging policy. All of our employees are welcome (and encouraged) to contribute to the blog. With a team that spans many different areas of expertise, we find this is a great approach to keeping our customers and other friends up to date on the latest trends in digital marketing and emerging technology.

It’s also an opportunity for us to share successful approaches to unified marketing, helping you develop and leverage strategies that deepen relationships and improve marketing ROI. Without further adieu, here are the 6 most-read posts of 2010:

#1 “Nike ‘Write the Future’ Ad Breaks Viral Video Record” by Jon Accarrino

It should come as no surprise that the leader of Definition 6’s social media operations published the most-read post of 2010. Before joining Definition 6, Jon launched many of NBC’s first social media initiatives, including the Twitter accounts of many of the Today Show stars you know and love.

Leading up to this year’s World Cup action, Jon had the foresight to write a quick review of Nike’s ‘Write the Future’ ad. As fans took breaks from vuvuzela tooting to search the Web, many stumbled across Jon’s post.

You can read the original post (and watch the video again) here.

#2 “Best Practices for Facebook Pages” by Ashley Reed

Definition 6’s social media team must know a thing or two about producing and sharing content on the Web, because its Atlanta-based social media manager Asheley Reed wrote the second most-read post of 2010, “Best Practices for Facebook Pages.”  Ashley’s post was jam-packed with practical information top brands can use to get more out of their Facebook marketing efforts. If your organization has a Facebook Page (or is thinking about launching one), you may want to check out Ashley’s post here. Of course, you might also find value in here “Why People Like Brands on Facebook” post as well.

#3 “How You Like Me Now?” by Matt Timpson

Matt Timpson gives us a great argument for why companies should open blogging to more employees. Matt doesn’t work in marketing, he’s not a client manager or on the sales team, he works in the engineering department.  But he contributed one of the most-read blog posts of 2010, an in-depth analysis of Kia’s 2010 Super Bowl ad (you know, the one with the Sock-Monkey, Squeak-Monster and the Robot?). With an unassuming title “How You Like Me Now?” (a nod to the music used in the spot), his post climbed the charts. If you are familiar with the commercial, you might find his analysis interesting. It’s hard to believe Super Bowl spots are right around the corner.

#4 “Babes... And Some Other Basic Truths About Re-Connecting With Audiences Online” by Al Leach

Al Leach leads the national strategic communications practice for Definition 6. Needless to say, he has a way with words. While the content of Al’s post is written from the point of view of a veteran communications professional, the lighthearted headline and lead demonstrates a point about capturing attention in a short attention span world. Al’s post presents 4 self-proclaimed “truths” about communicating with audiences today - a great read for any communicator. Read Al’s post here.

#5 “The Gap Logo Fiasco” by Chris Wojda

Work for an iconic brand? Want to generate a lot of buzz this year? Have an intern redesign your logo and swap it out on your website - the blogosphere will go wild and you’ll be top of mind for a couple of weeks (at least). While that’s not exactly how it played out, some suspect Gap’s re-branding efforts from this past summer were a publicity stunt. With ‘serious’ re-brands, you would typically see signs at stores change. In this case, it was really just the logo on Gap’s website. Regardless of what the strategy really was, Gap made a lot of noise with its logo ‘fiasco’ this past summer. One of Definition 6’s leading brand strategists, Chris Wojda, couldn’t resist chiming in with his ‘two cents’ on the whole mess. Read his take on Gap’s logo swap here.

#6 “Unified Marketing: A New Model for a New Era” by Michael Kogon

One of the most significant events for the agency this past year was our own re-branding effort. As most of you know, Definition 6 is now a Unified Marketing Agency. Definition 6 CEO introduced positioning and why we feel so strongly about this model in all that we do. The fact that this post rounded out the top 6 posts of 2010 shows that not only did the message resonate with you, but also that we continue to see coincidences with the number “6” in everything that we do. To get the full scoop on what our Unified Marketing Agency positioning is all about, read Michael’s post here.

Chris Thornton is Chief Marketing Officer of Definition 6 and was recently named “CMO of the Year” by the Technology Association of Georgia’s (TAG) Technology Marketing Association. Chris also serves on the board of the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA). When he’s not blogging, you can find Chris tweeting at @CMORocks.

While moderating a panel on “New Media” (I hate that phrase btw) at the Williamsburg Film Festival (Willifest) earlier this month, one of the panelists, Larry Banks, Chairman of Film/Media Arts Department at Long Island University, said “Context, not content, is king.”



Context? Hasn't content always been king? What happened?

Is Dr. Banks the only person to identify this shift? No, he’s not. Let’s take a look at what some notable people in the industry are saying about content versus context:

• In a recent NY Post article (the real paper of record in this town), Scott Kessler, Tech Analyst for Standard & Poor’s said about the music industry, “Companies are focusing more on user experience and distribution rather than content itself, and that is an overarching theme, it’s probably not something compelling for content providers.” Ya think?

• Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, guest writer for “TechCrunch” said, “The context—Facebook, Twitter, email—in which people are introduced to media and consume it is becoming more important than the content itself.”  As this chart shows, 81% of discovered video content comes from the blogs that people arguably already visit.

• “Context makes content relevant,” says Jeff Korhan of the blog NEW MEDIA & SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING. “If I give you information that is valuable, you will appreciate it, but possibly never use it.  If I help you appreciate the value of that information by showing you how it works for me or someone like you, then the context makes it invaluable.”

Alrighty then! These folks have a definite point of view. It’s about relevance, placement and a set of circumstances that surrounds the content. But I have a different take on it.

On TV context can help spell success. News, sports and specials have built in context. Comedy can be topical and relevant (From “Cosby" and "Seinfeld” in the 80’s and 90’s, to the more recent “Modern Family.”). Dramas can show real “ripped from the headlines” relevance with programs like “Law & Order.”

In advertising, both traditional and non-traditional, context is very important. That’s what targeting is all about.

Film is experience-oriented, but context is always at play in any given compelling scene. But after a movie plays out in a theater, viewing trends show that on line viewing is often the place for the following runs. Now there is a second layer of context…the place you go to when you want another experience and the way-in is more-and-more, an App. That is a condition that is relevant to the event.

Whether you’re listening to talk radio in your car, reading a billboard in Times Square, looking at a blog that takes you to a piece of video, watching the “Today” show in the morning or “Letterman” at night, you are doing so in “context,”

But at the end of the day (I hate that phrase too), there is no reason to engage with any content regardless of the context if the storytelling isn’t strong.

So what does that say?

Maybe content, not context, is king!

 
A friend recently asked me what all the sensation was around Foursquare and Gowalla. These location based services (LBS) now gaining serious traction in the social media space. This same friend had asked me the same question a little over two years ago when I started actively participating and raving about Twitter and Facebook.

The first time I was asked this question, I initially struggled to answer it in a way that would easily explain the excitement and draw of using an online service to tell other people what I was doing, where I was eating, or why I think that (so and so's latest article) was so interesting. 

However, this time the answer came to me rather quickly. "It's all about our interaction with our communities. Mine and yours and how they overlap!" When I see a friend write that the Thai place down the street has some kickin' sushi, I give that more credence than the billboard I see driving to the office. When I see one of your friends talk passionately about their son's kung fu instructor, I take that as a more qualified reference than a yellow pages ad.


So what are we really seeking when we post our latest thoughts on Facebook and Twitter? Or when we check out where our friends are checking in on Foursquare or Gowalla? Are we just vain and think that what we are doing is SO important? Or are we just seeking a way to connect in an ever busy, ever moving, ever expanding world?

We have friends and family and colleagues and people we just admire with whom we go days, weeks or even years without actually laying eyes on each other. Or even more rare, actually sitting down and catching up on what has been going on in our lives, our careers, our family, friends, churches, baseball leagues … our communities.

Thanks to these online tools, I get to keep up with a larger number of people than ever possible before. And I learn more about their communities and the people and places in them. This in turn, expands my own known universe. It makes me bigger than I could be on my own. My boundaries are constantly expanded, and in a way that is relevant and meaningful to me and my friends (and your friends and their friends). Growth is good, is it not?
 
I live and work in Atlanta. I like to enjoy the occasional tasty local brew, listen to great live music and I also just so happen to really get geeky about the latest and greatest innovations in the .NET developer community. Wonder how many different ways those communities intersect and how they are related? Wouldn't be a cool thing if I could go somewhere and see my friends in these different circles talk about these things that are interesting to me and that we have in common. What if I can be the catalyst to help bring these different communities together in new and interesting ways?



One of the most interesting ways that new media tools have affected me and my community are when my online and offline worlds converge. Last November, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to host and moderate a panel for the TAG Consulting Society on "Marketing Your Practice to Build Loyalty and Brand Awareness". I was able to engage 2 panel members through my offline community and reached out to my online community to find the remaining two panel members.

Thanks to my network of friends, I was introduced to two extremely smart and engaging panelists who helped round out a wonderful panel. (Thanks again to @lisa_sherman77  and @johnreed3000). Another example of where my friends reach out to their friends who then become my friends who then can become your friends too.
 
I would like to extend this opportunity for us to become part of each other's community. Follow me on Twitter @andrewmccann or on Facebook or on LinkedIn. From there you can find me on Foursquare and Gowalla and whatever the next big thing is that allows me to connect with my friends and your friends and my friends with your friends.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.
-- Herman Melville

During the Vancouver Olympics in February, I conducted an informal experiment to arbitrate which mobile Olympics experience would be superior--the mobile site at www.NBCOlympics.com, or the NBC Olympics iPhone App. Other than the mens and womens medal round hockey games, my entire olympics experience was mobile-- I kept totally up to date using only my iPhone.

If I haven't convinced you yet that you should spend some marketing time and money by focusing on the Hispanic population, let me try again.  Media Post has several great articles on the subject.  Here is another one by Diana A. Terry-Azíos called "Brand Loyal, Yet Unbranded".

As a general rule, Hispanics are more brand loyal than other groups.  They are less risky with their purchases and stick to brands that have provided good quality products.  However, when many of them move to the U.S., they are likely not going to find their familiar brands here.  So they have to start shopping and they have tons of choices to choose from in the U.S.

Another issue is that they are not as compelled to buy "Made in USA" as other U.S. citizens nor will they be compelled to buy products endorsed by people they don't know.  If Hispanics don't know who Michael Jordan is, then he isn't going to help Hanes sell more underwear to them.  And Brett Favre isn't going to help sell more Wrangler jeans to them.

Here are some key points to marketing to the U.S. Hispanic population.

- You have to prove that your product is of good (or the best) quality.  Hispanics will often spend a little more if they are getting the best quality.
- Start a marketing campaign that will speak directly to Hispanics, perhaps with Hispanic stars, but definitely with Spanish content (and not just English content translated directly to Spanish).  Your marketing campaign needs to address quality, convenience and emotion.  But also keep in mind that the growing young Hispanic consumer considers himself/herself as Latino AND American.
- Use multiple touch points to stay in contact with Hispanic consumers. For example, studies have shown that Hispanics are more likely to respond to text messages than other groups.

For more Key points, see the article I am referencing.

Oh, and by the way, here are some interesting facts about the growing Hispanic population.

45.5 million -- The estimated Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2007, making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority. Hispanics constituted 15% of the nation’s total population. In addition, there are approximately 3.9 million residents of Puerto Rico.

About 1 of every two people added to the nation’s population between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, was Hispanic. There were 1.4 million Hispanics added to the population during the period.

3.3% increase in the Hispanic population between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, making Hispanics the fastest-growing minority group.

Want more?  Here are some interesting facts.

So what are you waiting for?  The growing Hispanic population is waiting for you to give them a good reason to buy your products and to tell their friends just how good you are.  As word spreads through their community, your profits should start growing at a faster and faster pace.

We can help you.  We are an Atlanta interactive advertising agency.
 
Definition 6 is an interactive media agency that creates marketing initiatives that engage people.  We capture and analyze relevant metrics from web analytics, email marketing, online media, and social media campaigns to continue to test and refine marketing plans.  We’d like to help you meet the challenge of addressing the new expectations of consumers.

Business owners often times find themselves at odds with the popular proverb “the best things in life are free.” Fortunately even in business this enchanting life lesson can at times prove to be true, and it just so happens that some of the best ways to boost your organic page rank really are free. Below I’ve compiled a small list of ideas, tools, networks, and websites that every business should be utilizing whether it’s an owner of a small business undertaking these strategies personally or a major CEO using his resources to have an interactive marketing agency with more experience and manpower tackle the tasks outlined below. (If you outsource this work I  would suggest using Definition 6  - an Atlanta Internet Marketing company - of which I of course recommend without bias)

The top 7 free ways to boost your organic page ranking;

1)    Link Building:

Links are to rank as to what Sunny is to Cher. Of all the ways in which marketers try to lure search engine spiders to their page, link building is perhaps the most used as well as one of the most effective in search engine optimization. In laymen terms, you want to have links on your site that link to other sites and vice versa that have relevant, useful information and resources for your visitors. If you link to irrelevant or random content, the search engines will shun you. The more relevant the content, the more likely search engines are to recommend your site to others.  It’s important not to abuse this strategy as over-linking will become more harmful than helpful.  You can build your link network by simply requesting your partners link to you, registering on link directories (you can add yourself to almost every link directory in one single swoop at http://www.addurl.nu/), or by consistently interacting with other websites on forums and blogs in the hopes that they link to you naturally.

2)    Online Press Releases: 

If you’ve launched a new site, redesign, application, service, or online utility it’s important to get the word out through the virtual newswire. Telling news outlets relevant information about your technology or business developments is a great way to get instant linkbacks and even social bookmarks for your article. It’s important to once again not to abuse this strategy, as sending out irrelevant press releases every day will get you banned.

If you’d like a one-stop-shop for getting your releases to the major players I’d recommend using www.prweb.com and www.prleap.com .

Here’s a great example of how Definition 6 used PR to increase its organic search rank and traffic; http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-27-2009/0005066618&EDATE=

3)    Squidoo Lenses

Think of Squidoo Lenses as free micro sites that allow you to create debates and forums for topics specific to your industry or company. They are quick and easy to set up and allow you to link back to your website along with each corresponding lens you create.  If you post thought provoking, controversial, or useful lenses the odds are very good you’ll not only see a big boost in ranking but a significant boost in traffic. I personally come across dozens of Squidoo lenses every day by way of Google search and end up at the lens creators’ website. 

www.squidoo.com 

4)    Social Media

Unfortunately I would do this topic a great injustice by pretending I could summarize each social media outlet and the use/benefit of each. Instead, I will simply say that if you’re not currently on the social media landscape your competitors are one step ahead. Statistics show time and time again a direct correlation between businesses social media activity and their websites rise in page rank and traffic.  Definition 6 alone has received numerous business leads this month from its Twitter & Facebook social media marketing. Unfortunately many marketers have shyed away from these mediums mainly due to their lack of understanding, but I would highly recommend if you’re unwilling to dedicate a respectable portion of your budget to social media marketing that you attempt to read up on your own and establish your presence on the following social media sites which have been proven to significantly boost page rank;

•    www.facebook.com
•    www.myspace.com
•    www.twitter.com
•    www.flickr.com
•    www.technorati.com

Here’s a good example of how Definition 6 has leveraged Twitter; http://twitter.com/definition6

5)    Social Bookmarking/Voting Websites 

Social bookmarking sites are quickly becoming one of the most powerful ways to drive traffic to your site. Many businesses abandon the use of bookmarks because they themselves fail to keep their social content (blogs, facebook, twitter, etc) updated. Moreover, many marketers fail to provide useful, relevant, engaging content for their viewers. Major businesses such as Dell & Apple have made millions of dollars just by leveraging social bookmarking sites. By providing users with contents, breaking news, or useful tools and resources one of your website landing pages can spread as virally as a yawning kitten video on youtube. Here are a list of the most important social bookmarking sites;

•    www.stumbleupon.com
•    www.reddit.com
•    www.digg.com
•    www.delicious.com

6)    Forum Signatures

It’s not enough to simply have a space in the interactive market; you need to interact with it as well. Another free (and at times laborious) link building/traffic boosting strategy is forum & blog posting. By engaging with consumers and peers on industry forums as well as blogs you accomplish a multitude of goals: you show you’re engaged in your field, you are accessible, you are knowledgeable, and most importantly you can end your posts with your website link thereby building your rank, credibility, and traffic.

7)    Blogs

Lastly, and perhaps the fastest of these growing trends, creating a blog. Just like the strategies before this, it’s important to note that creating a blog for the sake of creating a blog does nothing for your website or your brand; in fact it may negatively impact it. If you plan on creating a blog, which you should, be sure to actively post but more importantly post relevant useful information. It’s better to hold off posting for a few weeks to wait for an exciting topic or item than to boring and unhelpful articles every other day. Blogs are a great way to tie in social bookmarking, social media, and link building.

As an Interactive Ad Agency executive I get questions all the time from various people about eMail Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design, Social Media Marketing, and Online Advertising. Often times it is from a frustrated marketing manager who says something like: "My boss doesn't get digital marketing and it is frustrating", so one of the things I try to do is help map digital marketing back to a deep seated belief in the executive mind.

Let's take banking and social media marketing, this conversation came up at Mashable Atlanta, "how can I convince my banking boss that social media is something we should use?"  I asked the marketing manager if her boss believed that banking was based on relationships? And of course, the answer was "yes", then I asked if he was one of those bankers that thought it was important to be a member of the right country club, right business club and school alumni network; And of course, the answer was "yes". Well, then it is very clear to me that the banker was the perfect candidate for social media marketing, because social marketing is about "RELATIONSHIPS" and the banker clearly believes that you need to have a relationship with your customer and prospects. So I pointed out that we should talk to the boss about joinning the best new club in town, "the social media networks" - be it Facebook, LinkedIn, or Affluence, it was the new club where RELATIONSHIPS were made and strengthened.

We will see how the conversation ultimately goes with her boss, but I wanted to share that the technique to selling Interactive Marketing to management is to start where they are and move from there to the digital world. Check out our thoughts at twitter.com/Defintion6 or my personal tweats at twitter.com/mkogon.

Social Media Strategy is one of the most interesting things we do here at Definition 6, Atlanta Interactive Agency.  The rise of Web 2.0 Applications as commonplace within our daily lives has made Socail Media mainstream.  Sometimes we are asked how can we use social medai to improve search engine optimization and other times we are asked how can make social media fit into an integrated online marketing plan.  But it is a daily topic of conversation and I've found a really good report from destinationCRM.com that talks about a 5 year forecast for social media. The key points from the author, Jessica Tsai citing Jeremiah Owyang, are:

The report breaks down the past, present, and future state of the social Web into five overlapping eras:

1. The era of social relationships: Beginning in the mid-1990s, people signed up for online profiles and connected with their friends to share information.
2. The era of social functionality: As it exists today, social networking is more than just a platform for "friending," but one that can support a broader array of what Owyang calls "social interactive applications." However, identities are essentially disconnected silos within individual sites.
3. The era of social colonization: By late 2009, technologies such as OpenID and Facebook Connect will begin to break down the barriers of social networks and allow individuals to integrate their social connections as part of their online experience, blurring the lines between networks and traditional sites.
4. The era of social context: In 2010, sites will begin to recognize personal identities and social relationships to deliver customized online experiences. Social networks will become the "base of operation for everyone's online experiences."
5. The era of social commerce: In approximately two years, social networks will be more powerful than corporate Web sites and CRM systems, as individual identities and relationships are built on this platform. Brands will serve community interests and grow based on community advocacy as users continue to drive innovation in this direction.

So if we are doing a good job of being Interactive Marketing Strategists to help prepare our clients for the "era of social context" and upgrading our customer's sites to incorporate OpenID and Facebook Connect today. This will help them meet their customers where they are and with what they are doing online today.  I'll talk more about being ready for your customer in some future posts.

Domino's Pizza's response to a video on YouTube is getting good marks for crisis management.  A video on YouTube shows an employee "doing gross things to a Domino's sub sandwich he is making."

Two employees were fired and face felony charges of food tampering.  You can read the USA Today artlcle at www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-04-15-kitchen-pr-dominos-pizza_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip.

What I wanted to focus on was key things experts say marketers can do to quickly and effectively respond to similar social-networking attacks.

• First, you have to actively monitor the social media space so that you are even aware of conversations that involve your company or products.  Domino's responded within hours.  

• Domino's first responded on The Consumerist blog and asked for help tracking down the employees involved.  Then, Domino's responded on Twitter where it was a hot topic. 

In summary, the critical factors to success are monitoring and timeliness.

Two other items mentioned in the US Today article shouldn't have to be mentioned:

• Foster a positive culture so that employees and customers aren't the source of negative press.  Duh!

• Set clear guidelines about what is allowed during working hours — and what isn't.  Do you really have to tell employees what NOT to do to food being served to the public?

As a result of the incident, Domino's is looking at banning video cameras in stores.  I think this sends the wrong message.  Customers want assurances that food preparation is safe.  Banning vidoe cameras implies that Domino's doesn't want to know if its happening.  I agree with everything else they've done to manage the crisis but not this.

Definition 6 provides Social Media Marketing Consulting.  We're located in Atlanta, but have clients across the nation.  We'd love to help you optimize your efforts in the social media space.

As the CEO of a traditional Atlanta Interactive Agency I find the evolution of Socail Media Marketing to be a great emerging domain for our consultants and our customers. I am attending Socon 09' and will be bloging a few times today.
The breadth of this conference is pretty wide and it appears taht the use of eMail Marketing, Web Site Design, Search Engine Optimzation have evolved as teh buidling blocks of a digtial stragey but the newest engagment tool has truly become the social network. That community of on-line users who connect to share, colloboarte, publish, listen, learn and grow, all digitally and all the time. This makes the job of a marketer harder than ever because the messages crafted to describe why to use our customers products or services is now being absorbed and maniupulated by the end users and then enforced by feedback from others. Like an echo chamber the expereince, good - bad - or avearge is amplified, repeated, and heard hundreds or thousdands of times over.

It should be an interesting day, I imagine a few new thoughts will emerge and couple of old ones will die and mostly more details will emerge as the conversation continues.

There is a lot of buzz around Social Media/Networking these days, and in a turbulent economy it may pay off to utilize this medium as a way to get your brand out there.  Social Media is not only hot in the marketplace, it is also a low cost way to market and leverage your employee and customer’s network of friends.

What does Definition 6 offer when it comes to Social Networking?
• Branded social media/networking corporate profiles on some of the major sites
• Guidance and planning for promotion, launch and governance

And what can Definition 6 deliver for your company?
• Branded company FaceBook, MySpace and LinkedIn profiles
• Launch and promotional plan
• Suggested governance and maintenance plan
• 2 hours of training

Check out the Definition 6 branded FaceBook page and you’ll see how we leveraged this technology for our own company: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Atlanta-GA/Definition-6/6666941028?ref=ts