Tuvel Communications Blog

Continue reading "What We're Reading, July 30th" »

Technorati Tags: location-based marketing cause marketing associations social media marketing PR Facebook geo-location ASAE

July 26, 2010

Is There Such a Thing as a Social Media Marketing Agency?

I recently read a post on the HubSpot Blog entitled Please Don't Start a Social Media Marketing Agency. Since social media marketing is a huge part of what we do here at Tuvel Communications, it naturally caught my attention and peaked my curiosity.

My first reaction was "Oh boy, here’s another article slamming social media marketing agencies and calling their services 'snake oil'." I’ve been seeing a lot of that lately, not only in blog posts but in discussions on LinkedIn (not to mention the infamous "Social Media Guru" video that made the rounds not too long ago). I really wasn’t sure what to expect – but the title, of course, did a good job of pulling me in.

Please do take the time to read the post and (try) to read through some of the comments posted as well, but I’ll give you the executive summary: can an agency be built on social media marketing services alone?

Many of the comments that followed had to do with what social media marketing is (a tool, a tactic), what it should be (integrated, strategic) and how it's typically offered (as a "throwaway" service by web design, advertising and PR agencies). There was also a smattering of comments from those who regarded social media marketing as simply "tweeting and hitting the 'Like' button all day." Although I didn't get to read all of the comments, the general feeling I got was that agencies offering social media marketing as a primary service had their work cut out for them in terms of proving their worth.

Here was my response (in part):

I'm of the perception that an agency can be built on social media marketing services, but to be a successful agency in that space, it all comes down to what it is offering. A robust social media marketing offering will consist of:
• strategy development
• metrics development
• integration with other marketing channels
• set-up, management and monitoring
• relationship-building with social media influencers
• possible client training

And, not to mention a valuable, clear and concise message. So yes, I truly do believe that an agency can be built on social media marketing alone – and I'm not just saying this because I work for a firm that has developed and implemented successful social media and community-building strategies for our clients. To make a successful go at it, an agency must realize that social media marketing is so much more than just Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and needs to be part of a greater whole – not the whole itself.

But that's just my opinion. What is yours?

Continue reading "Is There Such a Thing as a Social Media Marketing Agency?" »

Technorati Tags: social media social media agencies social media marketing

July 22, 2010

Vote for Tuvel Communications for Inbound Marketer of the Month!

Tuvel Communications is in the running for HubSpot's Inbound Marketer of the Month Contest - and we need your votes to win!

Starting today, you can vote for Tuvel and their work with client the National Association of Broadcasters' 2010 NAB Show.

Voting ends at noon on Tuesday, July 27th - so vote early and often! Vote for Tuvel Communications today and spread the word! In fact, here's a tweet to help you tell your followers on Twitter:

Vote for @TuvelComms for @HubSpot's Inbound Marketer of the Month! http://ht.ly/2euO1 Pls RT! #imu #sm

Technorati Tags: Tuvel Communications social media inbound marketing HubSpot

July 16, 2010

What We're Reading, July 16th

Happy Friday! It's been a busy and exciting week here at Tuvel - wrapping up projects, kicking off new campaigns, seeing great results from current ones. It's always so exciting to see the fruits of our labor! Tuvel was also featured in two articles this week - from Convene Magazine and the Omnipress Blog - which are part of our weekly recommended reading list today (but don't just read them because we're featured - they are truly interesting and insightful reads)!

• Online Event Communities...A Social Media Marketing Opportunity for Exhibitors and Sponsors from The Conference Handouts (Omnipress Blog)
• Will location-based applications like Foursquare find a place in the meetings industry? from Convene Magazine
• 6 Social Media Metrics You Should Be Tracking from Mike Brown for Social Media Today
• The Boston Globe Takes Readers on Mobile Scavenger Huntfrom Mashable

Finally, we leave you this week with a fond farewell...from Old Spice Guy:

Continue reading "What We're Reading, July 16th" »

Technorati Tags: social media metrics event marketing community building Foursquare Old Spice Guy

July 14, 2010

2 Event-Friendly Location-Based Apps that Go Beyond “Checking In”

Location-based services are the newest trend in social networking, and as such the big players in the space (Foursquare and Gowalla) are getting all sorts of attention and scrutiny. While many users of such services love broadcasting their whereabouts to their online friends and earning badges and titles of distinction in the process (Player Please badge, anyone?), others are a bit wary of them and their usefulness – and are especially concerned with potential privacy issues.

Businesses, on the other hand, are starting to find value of their own in using location-based services as a marketing tool. Even event marketers are starting to experiment with location-based social networking to promote a conference, specific exhibitor, or special sessions – something we did for this year's NAB Show.

The only problem is when it comes to events and conferences, services like Foursquare and Gowalla aren't quite ready for prime time. While the concept of checking in to an event or exhibitor booth in order to drive traffic and generate interest is definitely cool, the functionality is not conducive to a conference setting due to two big issues:

• A venue page is built based on a single address – where several different events may take place over time.


• Lack of interactivity and ability for attendees to do what they would be naturally inclined to do at a conference – network with each other.

SCVNGR

Location-based gaming app SCVNGR looks like it's really going places (and racking up some points at those places, too). The Google-backed start-up combines the concept of "checking in" to venues with the fun and interactivity of an old-fashioned scavenger hunt. Players discover cool new places, find fun new things to do, share their activity with friends and can even earn virtual (and sometimes real-world) rewards. Upon visiting and checking in to a venue, users of the app are required to complete a "challenge", which could range from taking a photo to something more complex. Users can rack up points for completing challenges, which could be used to win prizes.

What impressed me most about SCVNGR is the applications in a conference setting are endless and benefit not only attendees, but also exhibitors. Conferences can create custom "treks" consisting of 20-35 locations, taking people on a certain path around the conference or expo. Imagine offering this to exhibitors as a value-add to drive traffic to their booths while interacting in a fun and engaging way with attendees/prospective customers, or even using this as a way to promote certain sessions or guide people through conference tracks. You might even create a social media hub at your event with a digital "leader board" displaying attendee names and their scores, along with photos that have been taken or other media created in the process.

It's free to create places and challenges at those places, however the creation of treks (what will link all those places and challenges together into a complete, branded experience) is only available to enterprise clients of SCVNGR. With the creation of custom treks come features like the leader board, an activity screen, analytics, game design and turnkey support.

Double Dutch

Double Dutch is really touting itself as the location-based app for events, and for good reason. It's a white-label app that is custom-built for an event – which does away with the inherent issue I mentioned above with checking in to a conference (or specific location at a conference) with Foursquare or Gowalla. This means individual booths and sessions can be built into the app for attendees to check in to within the confines of the event venue itself, and they have the option of broadcasting their conference whereabouts to only other attendees.

Double Dutch can also be used by attendees to interact with each other and at different sessions. For instance, they can use it to rate speakers and even submit questions to them via RSS. A gaming element can also be built into the app and used in much the same way as Scvngr, incentivizing attendees with custom-branded stickers for completing tasks like checking in at exhibitor booths and sessions, taking photos and even rating speakers. For those of you in exhibitor sales and marketing, these stickers can be sold to exhibitors as a way to market their presence.

Double Dutch clients can also create leader boards and have access to an analytics dashboard to monitor activity, speaker feedback and how people are engaging with the app. They can also use the Double Dutch API to connect Facebook, Twitter and blogs to the app – allowing attendees to post their whereabouts and reviews to those places if they choose. The fact that it combines the gaming element with additional ways for attendees to interact with each other and with exhibitors and speakers makes this a valuable tool for event marketers.

Double Dutch is currently available on iPhone only at the moment, but should be available across all platforms soon.

The Verdict?

I think both of these apps have massive value to offer for event marketers and organizers – both from an attendee and exhibitor standpoint. There are costs involved in working with both Scvngr and Double Dutch, but I also think the potential for generating ROI on either one is huge, not to mention the opportunity to engage attendees directly with fun games, event networking and built-in feedback loops.

Have you used either of these apps for an event? Tell us about your experience!

Continue reading "2 Event-Friendly Location-Based Apps that Go Beyond “Checking In”" »

Technorati Tags: location-based apps event marketing geolocation social media SCVNGR Double Dutch

July 09, 2010

Is your online communications program in need of a tune-up?

Photo by Andy Henley

An ongoing dilemma for companies and organizations is defining successful online communication and outreach programs. If this is a dilemma you’re currently facing, then perhaps your online communications program is in need of a tune-up.

But, how do you know for sure? Try asking yourself some of the questions that follow:

Many communication and marketing departments define program goals before executing a campaign. Such strategic planning allows us to compare results to expectations. For example, are you trying to drive traffic to a website or event, create awareness, sell more products or services, build a house e-mail list, or perhaps raise funds? Have you assigned metrics to these goals? Maybe you want to grow an e-mail list by 10 percent, drive 500 new attendees to an event or even raise a million dollars. Preliminary numbers or even educated guestimates can provide a baseline for future efforts.

Another way to gauge success is to compare the results that your program is getting against industry standards. Typically, a grassroots online outreach campaign is executed via email, so we’re referring to metrics such as open, click-through and bounce rates. You may also measure success by the number of responses you receive from those on your outreach list.

Most importantly, however, is how well your program is converting for you – are people acting on the communications you’re sending? Are you selling or signing up more people as a result of online communication efforts? This is where it’s important to track your campaigns from first click to final conversion using tracking URLs for your campaign links. For instance, we use tracking URLs provided by Google Analytics.

In terms of deliverability success, have you tested your content, headers and footers against a spam content checker? Doing so will help you track how your messages are treated. Another best practice to aid with deliverability is to implement a list hygiene program to routinely clean your lists by removing bad names and incorrect e-mail addresses.

Some organizations rely on customer feedback to improve outreach programs, and it is important to have that feedback loop in place. Are customers engaged and providing feedback? When’s the last time you asked customers and supporters what information they wanted to receive? Along the same lines, do customers pass your communications along to friends and colleagues? Would you even know if they passed the word along about your company or organization? Do you make it easy for them to share your communications – such as through email and social networks?

In the world of communications 2.0, consumer-generated media such as blogs and social networks (i.e. Twitter and Facebook) are helping to define success and your online presence. It’s important that you’re actively and regularly monitoring these mediums. In addition to customers, what are others saying about your organization or brand? Have you Googled your company lately? What’s the buzz in your sector or industry?

Lastly, are you doing all that you can to make your programs a success? Do you syndicate content through RSS readers and partnerships? Do you make it easy for decision-makers to find your company or offerings through search engines and your website’s media room? Have you explored other communication and content marketing vehicles, such as wikis, video and podcasts? Are you delivering a consistent message across both traditional and interactive channels?

For information on how you can put a Tuvel Communications program to work for your company, organization, product, service or event, just contact us.

Continue reading "Is your online communications program in need of a tune-up?" »

Technorati Tags: online communications communications 2.0 social media PR email marketing online reputation blogger relations

July 02, 2010

What We're Reading, July 1st

Happy 4th of July weekend! If you live in the USA (or even if you're an American living abroad), you're more than likely gearing up for some serious food, festivities, and of course, fireworks, and we here at Tuvel Communications hope you have a spectacular - and, most importantly, safe - Independence Day!

To help you wind down your week, here are a few selections from our weekly reading list. Enjoy!

• Seven Reasons to Keep it Real in Social Media from: Marijean Jaggers
• The Debate on Scheduled Tweets from Jenise Fryatt (guest post at Liz King Events)
• Olay, Gap, Pepsi Run Geo-Social Campaigns - but Not on Foursquare from: ClickZ
• Welcoming New Members to your Online Community from: Laurel Papworth (via Social Media Today)
• Social Media's Impact on Healthcare from: Joel Selzer, HCNM Keynote

Continue reading "What We're Reading, July 1st" »

Technorati Tags: social media online community building Twitter Foursquare geo-location 4th of july video

June 27, 2010

VIDEO: Tuvel's Mitch Arnowitz on the Digital Media Conference's Social Media Marketing Panel

Tuvel Communication's managing director Mitch Arnowitz recently participated in the Social Media Marketing panel at the Digital Media Conference, which took place on June 25th in Tyson's Corner, VA. The panel was moderated by Elizabeth Shea, President and CEO of SpeakerBox Communications, and the panel members were:

• Mitch Arnowitz, Managing Director, Tuvel Communications LLC


• Hooman Radfar, CEO & Co-founder, Clearspring


• Matt Goddard, CEO, R2integrated


• Neal Sinno, VP Business Dev., Arkadium

Some of the topics covered: Social media marketing is growing as brands and marketers embrace the social web as one of the most effective ways to create buzz, attention and loyal followers. What are some examples of successful social media marketing campaigns? What are some of the pitfalls and practices to avoid? What is the future for social media marketing?

Continue reading "VIDEO: Tuvel's Mitch Arnowitz on the Digital Media Conference's Social Media Marketing Panel" »

Technorati Tags: social media marketing digital media digital media conference

June 16, 2010

Dealing With Sticky Situations in Social Media

Photo credit: somegeekintn

As social media marketers and online community builders, many of us have had our share of bumps and bruises along the way. But, how do you deal with the really sticky situations that come up when running online communities and executing social media campaigns?

Following are some real world situations that we’ve faced. Along with these sticky situations are resolutions or, how we dealt with them; however, we’re more interested in finding out how you would deal with these situations. So, I ask that you please read these through and leave your comments below about how you have handled similar situations, or if there are different sticky situations you’ve encountered.

Here we go:

Your research uncovers a blog whose content is spot on and has tremendous reach but, a highly questionable title.

We decided to engage the blogger in question and, as luck would have it, they were a top performer in Google Analytics during an outreach campaign. The client didn’t question having their brand associated with the blog but, did question validity of the traffic. Over time, the client became more comfortable with the blog. On our end, we changed the name of the blog in all reporting by reducing it to an acronym!

The wrong URL is sent out in a large mailing.

Our outreach campaigns ask influencers (such as bloggers, forum admins, social networkers and e-mail list owners) to pass along messages that they deem valuable. A group took us up on our offer and created a stand-alone mailing for its 1,500 members. Due to a webmail issue, recipients that clicked the link in the e-mail were taken to an incorrect log-in page. We could have tried to contact the group that sent out the message, but we didn’t have a relationship with them. Instead, we chose to wait it out, responding to every e-mail where the sender had a problem. Murphy’s Law ruled the day with lots of members responding over a long, hot weekend.

Your hashtag is hijacked.

A couple of years ago, an event occurring at the same time as our client’s started to use our client’s hashtag in outbound tweets. By this time, we had built up a sizable list of followers. At first, we took a ‘wait and see’ attitude. Eventually, we asked the client to contact competing show organizers and discuss best marketing practices. The competing event stopped using the hashtag.

Someone who loses a contest complains loudly across outposts.

Our client ran a contest for member generated content. Several entries were submitted and a winner was chosen. One contestant felt that he should have won. In fact, he felt so strongly about it that he began to publicly complain on Facebook and Twitter. Specifically, he questioned criteria used to determine the winner. True, this person made himself look foolish. But, he wouldn’t let it go. We opted not to engage him, and instead we waited it out because no other contestants we’re chiming in. The complainant eventually went away.

An attendee creates a lookalike blog that is mistaken for the ‘official show blog’.

An attendee at a client event set up a blog that was inadvertently being mistaken for the 'official' show blog. The attendee also created a Twitter feed to go along with the blog, all of which was launched before the official show blog was. Like many bloggers, his identity was anonymous. The last thing we wanted to do was create a Sampson and Goliath scenario. We asked the client to send him an e-mail that invited dialogue and gently pointed out that his blog was being mistaken as the official one. Thankfully, the blogger was simply very passionate and excited about the event – the reason he created the blog in the first place. He did not have any malicious intentions and responded positively to the overture, so we began to build a relationship.

Technology companies offer free services during 9/11 to the chagrin of list members.

An online community that we created found several company members offering free community building platforms to e-mail list members in the aftermath of 9/11, wanting to make it easier for people to congregate online. Several list members objected, claiming that these companies were trying to sell product under the guise of 9/11. We tried to calm tempers on the list but eventually had to pull the plug on the conversation.

A contact sends a spreadsheet of prospects over the transom.

During a recent campaign, a contact sent us an unsolicited spreadsheet of individuals, along with contact information. While our contact didn’t know these people personally, he vouched for how information for individuals and groups was collected. The issue, of course, was the relationship our contact had with those on the list. The contact assured us that the names were solid and they appeared to be qualified prospects; however, since it was sent unsolicited and we had not vetted the list ourselves, we opted not to mail to the list.

Exhibitors feel there’s value for all community members in hearing about show specials.

A LinkedIn group we created for a recent client conference started to get traction. Exhibitors, as well as members of the group, took notice and started to push offers through the community. Now, we do realize that there can be tremendous value in the show specials exhibitors offer, but we were concerned about these posts being construed as spam. So, we decided to set up an exhibitors sub-group specifically for the purpose of posting show specials, which we even promoted to the main group members and via Twitter.

Mom sends a note to the entire e-mail list by mistake.

Several years ago, a mom responded to a note from an e-mail list that we moderated, thinking that it was only going to the list owner. Unbeknownst to her, all e-mail list subscribers received her musings. The communication, while embarrassing, thankfully contained nothing earth-shattering. There was nothing that we could do but apologize and wait it out. Oftentimes, you can’t be certain of the direction that a community will take, and this was no exception. Several list members ended up corresponding with this mom, telling her how much they missed their parents or hoping that their mom would write more often!

Have you ever dealt with similar situations? How did you resolve them?

Continue reading "Dealing With Sticky Situations in Social Media" »

Technorati Tags: social media PR online community building blogger relations email marketing

June 11, 2010

What We're Reading, June 11th

Here's this week's rundown of some of the more interesting social media, online marketing and digital media articles, blog posts and other media we'd like to share with you:

• 13 Ways LinkedIn Supports Event Marketing from: Engage 365


• Is this Foursquare or Bore-square? from: {grow} Blog


• Facebook Launched Revamped Analytics Tools from: All Facebook


• 9 Tools and Trends to Help Planners Do a Better Job Right Now from: BizBash Toronto


• Upward-Facing Associations: Part 2 from: SmartBlog Insights


• Very funny video from the folks at PitchEngine, entitled "A Fond Farewell":

Continue reading "What We're Reading, June 11th" »

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June 08, 2010

9 Steps to Finding Your Rock Stars for a Community Outreach Program

In my previous post, I talked about the importance of a community outreach program to find your rock stars. To reiterate what community outreach is, it's engaging and building relationships with your influential customers (your "rock stars") in order to generate positive word-of-mouth for your company, organization, and/or products. I highly recommend reading the previous post to get a better idea of the importance of and principles behind community outreach, but today I'm going to talk about how to find your rock stars through community outreach.

Community outreach is more of an art than a science – it is, after all, about relationship-building. There are certainly different methodologies depending on the audience and marketing channel (blogs, forums, groups, social networks, etc.); however, there is a set of best practices that form the foundation of any community outreach program.

Today, I'd like to share with you Tuvel's outreach methodology in the hopes it gives you a better understanding of these best practices.

Step 1: Articulate Goals & Develop a Plan — Like with any marketing and communications campaign, it’s very important to define achievable goals and lay out a clear plan for your community outreach program. Ask yourself these questions:

• What is the purpose of the outreach campaign? Increase awareness, increase sales/donations/membership/other type of conversion, or all of the above?


• How many influencers do you intend to find and reach out to?


• What is your timeframe for the campaign?


• What kind of response and/or conversion rates are you expecting? What are other metrics are important for determining success?

Step 3: Identify & Validate Groups — As you conduct your research, be sure to validate each group and individual for overall effectiveness as message carriers, based on criteria such as marketing opportunity, activity (has anything been posted recently?) and relevance. Actually read some of the posts on each blog, forum, or group to get a good idea of the hot topics and how you can best be of benefit to them.

Step 4: Create Contact Database - Include information for researched bloggers and other new media publishers. Each entry includes the name of the communication vehicle, marketing channel, contact name and e-mail address.

Step 5: Communications Planning - Develop appropriate campaign messages based on audience, marketing channel and mode of communication for those identified, then test messages to determine the most appropriate formats for online dissemination. It’s also important to give a very brief background and get to the ask as quickly as possible – don’t make the message too long or heavy with marketing-speak. Speak to your community in their language.

Step 6: Program Execution — Once messaging is right, begin rolling out the campaign:

• Customize and personalize each note you send, referencing a specific post you found of interest.


• Make it as easy as possible for them to post something, whether that means providing sample text or a link to the information they need.


• Engage in discussions within the community – It’s important to engage in open and transparent conversations with your community influencers on their blogs, forums, or other platform. This means representing your company, but identifying yourself honestly and not hiding behind a logo. For instance, posting thank you comments in response to blog posts published as a result of your efforts is a way to further engage blogger and build relationships with them.


• Encourage others to pass the word along by providing an easy way for them to share your message.

Step 8: Program Reporting and Analysis - You’ve already determined your metrics for success as part of step 1, so now it’s time to analyze the effectiveness of your program and return on investment. This also includes gauging response and feedback to your program from those to which you reached out. Don’t wait until the end of your program to do this – it’s important to gauge effectiveness throughout the campaign (see step 9).

Step 9: Revise, Improve and Do It Again —Revise your messaging based on feedback and campaign response. Test different messages to determine best response.

Our methodology will, of course, differ from other methodologies for outreach programs – but this will still give you a basic idea of how you can find and reach out to your rock stars – and build lasting relationships with them. For examples of how Tuvel has implemented community outreach on behalf of clients, check out our case studies for the National Association of Broadcasters and Share Our Strength.

Continue reading "9 Steps to Finding Your Rock Stars for a Community Outreach Program" »

Technorati Tags: community outreach blogger outreach

June 04, 2010

What We're Reading, June 4th

Welcome to the newest feature on the Tuvel blog, "What We're Reading"! This is a weekly rundown of the articles, blog posts, videos, and other media we found interesting and thought-provoking enough to share with you, the discerning reader.

Here's what we were reading this week:

• PR stunt or the new journalism?: The titans of public relations are going direct to viewers and readers from: The Independent


• The Twitter Experiment in Face-to-Face Learning from: Interactive Meeting Technology Blog


• 8 Must Haves For Your Twitter Contest from: Small Business Trends


• Niche Networks: Should One Be Part of Your Marketing Mix? from: Chief Marketer


• eBook - Social Media Marketing GPS: A New Media Roadmap For Creating A Social Media Strategy from: Diva Marketing Blog


• National Donut Day Draws 80,000+ RSVPs on Facebookfrom: Mashable


• HOW TO: Download Google Pac-Man Game for Free from: Mashable


• 100 Tips for Trade Show Lead Generationfrom: B2B Lead Generation Blog

Continue reading "What We're Reading, June 4th" »

Technorati Tags: social media social media marketing PR event marketing lead generation Google social networks Twitter journalism

May 26, 2010

Finding Your Rock Stars: Why a Community Outreach Program is Important

Photo credit: DavidDMuir

How do you use PR to reach your buyers? Do you issue press releases and pitch to your media list of journalists, hoping to get a write-up or some sort of media exposure? Or do you reach out directly to the people who are actively buying and evangelizing your products or services and influencing hundreds or thousands (hundreds of thousands, even) other buyers via blogs, forums, social networks, news sites, podcasts, and other consumer communities – your rock stars?

Let me ask you another question: which one of these methods just mentioned do you think is more effective?

OK, I didn't mean to lead you on this, because even if you're using the former method (press releases to a media list), you may be getting the results you want – and that's excellent. I'm not trying to say that there's a right answer and a wrong answer, but I am telling you that in the last 5 years, outreach has become so much more than simply media outreach. The PR landscape has shifted to community outreach. According to David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR (an excellent book I highly recommend, by the way), "The Internet has made public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media."

What is community outreach? It's about generating positive word-of-mouth and building relationships with your influential customers in order to drive conversions (whether that's buying a product, attending a conference, subscribing to a publication, getting donations or another action taken). It's also about finding, as I mentioned before, your rock stars. These are actual customers who are bloggers, forum admins, list owners, group leaders, or other thought leaders who are actively talking about your products and spreading the good word about your company to other buyers like them; but, most importantly, they are influencers within your customer community. When they talk, people listen.

So, if a press clip and media exposure is what you want, then the media is who you reach out to. If you want buyers, though, you find and reach out to your rock stars. This is why community outreach is so crucial to both your PR and marketing efforts. Besides, if you don’t find the influencers, you can be sure that the competition (or even your "coop-etition" – a cross between a competitor and someone with which you're in cooperation/partnership) will!

But you don't just pitch to them like you would a media list of journos – you have to build relationships by following these principles:

• Offer value. Tune your radio to WIIFM (What's In It For Me) and listen to what this person needs and/or wants from your products, then offer them something that addresses those needs and wants. Make your communication benefit-driven, rather than feature-driven.


• Be authentic. Introduce yourself. Tell them who you represent and why you're reaching out. Don’t hide behind a corporate brand or misrepresent yourself. Don’t overhype or speak in too much marketing jargon. Put on your buyer's cap.


• Be personal. Call them by name. Talk about their site and a post in particular that you found of particular interest. Make the connection between their site and your company/products so they see that your paying attention and not just pitching blindly.


• Be relevant. Reach out to those individuals and groups that will be interested in what you have to offer. Your chances of building a relationship are much greater if those to which you're reaching out understand why you are making contact.

Continue reading "Finding Your Rock Stars: Why a Community Outreach Program is Important" »

Technorati Tags: online communications community outreach blogger outreach social media social networking wom marketing word of mouth marketing community building

May 21, 2010

7 Not-to-Miss Twitter Chats for Association, Non-Profit, Event and B2B Marketers

We here at Tuvel LOVE Twitter chats! We host and moderate Twitter chats for clients (like the NAB Show and Share Our Strength) to help generate interest in a cause or event - resulting in donations, registrations, and overall awareness. We also participate in quite a few Twitter chats, and I'd like to share a few where you might find @TuvelComms, Mitch (@mitcharno) and me (@KariRippetoe) joining the conversation.

In case you're not sure what a Twitter chat is, here are some tips for participating in a Twitter chat. Also, here's a pretty comprehensive list of other Twitter chats covering a wide variety of topics and interests.

The following are chats that focus on marketing and communications, particularly for B2B, event, non-profit and association marketers. I hope to see you at one (or more) of these chats sometime (and be sure to say that Tuvel sent you!).

• #engage365: Hosted by the Engage 365, the online community for using social media for events, this chat takes place every Friday at 1pm ET.


• #assnchat: This chat takes place every Tuesday at 2pm ET and focuses on hot topics in the association world.









• #npchat: Non-profit profs share ideas for mobilizing supporters, generating awareness, and increasing donations every Wednesday at 3pm ET.


• #b2bchat: Participants talk about B2B marketing topics of all kinds, from social to search to email and everything in between. Takes place every Thursday evening at 8pm ET.


• #imcchat: Looking for ideas on creating integrated marcomm strategies? Join the the Integrated Marketing Communications Chat every Wednesday evening at 8pm ET.


• #eventprofs: Chat for event professionals about event marketing strategies - online and offline. It takes place on different days and times, so check out this schedule for the next one.


• #archat: This is a chat for marketers and business profs from all walks of life focusing on "influencer relations" - Analyst Relations (AR), Public Relations (PR), Investor Relations (IR). Takes place every Monday at 1pm ET.

Continue reading "7 Not-to-Miss Twitter Chats for Association, Non-Profit, Event and B2B Marketers" »

Technorati Tags: Twitter marketing event marketing association marketing B2B marketing social media tweetchat Twitter chats #assnchat #engage365 #b2bchat #imcchat #eventprofs #archat

May 19, 2010

HOW TO: Use Foursquare for a Conference (or an Exhibit Booth)

Tuvel Communications is the online PR firm for the NAB Show, and in addition to being the "voice" behind the show's social media outposts (Twitter, Facebook pages, LinkedIn group), we also devised and implemented creative pre-show and on-site social media promotions to engage attendees, drive registrations and generate excitement.

This year Foursquare became a major player in the social media game, and although we did not implement a full-scale location-based program, we did monitor how people were using Foursquare at the show, plus we came up with a last minute on-site contest that utilized the geo-location social network. What we learned was quite interesting and makes all of us here at Tuvel very excited about the possibilities Foursquare presents for the event marketing and conference business(s).

What did we do?

• We created a Foursquare page for the NAB Show using the address of the Las Vegas Convention Center, where it takes place every year. Here's how to do this:




1. Log in to Foursquare, or create an account if you don’t have one already. If you don’t have a smartphone, that’s OK – you can still create an account without it.


2. Set your location to the city where the event is taking place.


3. Click on Add Things at the top of the page.


4. Click on Add a New Venue.




• We came up with a last-minute contest to drive traffic to a particular session (namely, a session called "In Conversation With: Stan Lee", moderated by comedian and G4 Channel personality Chris Hardwick). We wanted attendees to check in to the session for a chance to win a copy of "The Amazing Spider-Man" comic book, autographed by creator Stan Lee himself. So, we created a Foursquare page by following the steps above and including all the pertinent details for the session (session name, event name, room number) in the Name field. We then promoted the contest the morning of the session via Twitter, Facebook and a post on the official NAB Show Blog.

I mentioned earlier that throughout the show, we were monitoring how attendees were using Foursquare on-site. We found that in addition to people checking in through the show page we created, others were creating their own NAB Show pages on Foursquare and checking in through those. We also found that some exhibitors had created Foursquare pages for their own booths, using the same method outlined above (they used their company names and booth numbers in the Name fields).

I recently talked about our use of Foursquare in a discussion on the Engage 365 Community, and a great comment was made by John Barber that "the more event Foursquare pages that are added by your method, the longer becomes the flat list of places that all come up at the venue's main geo-location." This is a great point, and I would certainly not say our implementation method was in any way foolproof. This, however, is more attributable to the limits of the tool itself. When it comes to Foursquare's use at conferences, it's definitely not ready for prime time (although I hope to see that change soon).

As for our Stan Lee session contest, we garnered a grand total of 15 check-ins. Considering that it was a last-minute guerilla marketing tactic with literally a morning's worth of marketing to promote it and where we were basically experimenting with Foursquare's use at an individual conference session, I would say it worked pretty well.

Have you ever seen Foursquare used (or used it yourself) for event marketing? What were the results and how did you gauge them?

Continue reading "HOW TO: Use Foursquare for a Conference (or an Exhibit Booth)" »

Technorati Tags: Foursquare social media NAB Show geo-location location-based social networks event marketing

May 10, 2010

11 Lessons Learned: Social Media & Event Marketing

Here at Tuvel Communications, we have executed conference and expo social media programs for clients like the NAB Show and 1105 Government Information Group. We've learned several lessons along the way, and I thought it would be useful to get these thoughts down on digital paper to share with you so can be better prepared when it comes to social media marketing at events.

• Start early. It takes time to build a relationship. You don't want the first communication from your event to be about passing a promo code along! We always try to keep in mind the old Internet adage to give and then take. We typically like to begin outreach efforts 6 months prior to an event.
• Create excitement! Content doesn't create excitement, people do. We were recently charged with driving attendees to an expo. People love to win, so we created Twitter raffles and contests. People got really excited about winning a conference ticket. We also ran a recent Facebook promotion where 'likes' (aka: fans) were asked to post photos from past shows. People got excited about posting and seeing each others photos (especially the ones from shows 15 or more years ago).
• Don't underestimate the power of face-to-face. This is really a lesson learned from Netpreneur/Coffee & DoughNets days. Developing an online relationship can be cemented by a face-to-face meeting. Nothing beats the interaction we see at client events. Strong online community building and networking done prior to the show complement offline meetings. Even better is if attendees are located in the same market as the event and you can bring them together before and after the show.
• Feedback and buzz are huge! Our company is metrics focused. Whether it's 'ROI', attendee increases or exhibitor traffic, we look to the numbers to partially determine our success. Other program metrics include size of the communities and how well they're engaged, profile traction, website analytics, and promo code tracking.

  Having said all of that, don't underestimate the importance of feedback from conference organizers, attendees and exhibitors. It's easy to feel excitement in the air when you hear comments like "you guys are doing something different this year" or "there really is a lot of activity, I notice it."

• Think through, take a deep breath and consider implications before acting. We recently identified a potential conflict when an attendee at a client event set up a blog that was inadvertently being mistaken for the 'official' show blog. We took a very deliberate 'honey vs. vinegar' approach of not reacting in a negative or aggressive fashion. Instead, we began building a relationship that eventually led to shared traffic. It would have been fool-hardy on our part to do anything else.
• Don't be afraid to try new things (or, you never know unless you try). At a recent client event, show organizers were nice enough to offer us a vacant booth, which we turned into a Social Media Suite. We got some perplexed expressions and strange questions for sure. Traffic was light, so on day two of the conference, we made a CVS run, dressed up the booth and held a Tweetup. We produced a Twitter chat for another client, unsure if anyone would even show up for the party. We ended up doubling registrations as a result of the hour-long chat.
• Beware of technology (or, the best laid plans...). We had a great on-site social media plan for a recent event, only to find out that lack of stable wifi prohibited us from uploading any photos, tweeting or posting. On another occasion, we were all set up for a Twitter chat only to have chat tools slow down to a screeching halt. Moral of the story: don't be surprised when inevitabilities of technology happen.
• Be patient. It takes time to get traction. We 're big on momentum and were dismayed when a couple of recent promotions didn't get off to a quick start. It took time for the word to spread and traffic to build up. But, we soldiered on and both promotions ended up going well. Thankfully, we didn't pull the plug before they took off.
• Always follow best practices. This goes without saying, but I figure it's worth repeating. Following best practices in terms of transparency and communication isn't only the right thing to do-- it's just good business.
• Its not just the numbers, it's who they are and where they're doing it that also count. We'd trade larger groups of passive readers for a handful of passionate supporters any day.
• Ask for referrals. We execute word-of-mouse campaigns. As soon as someone posts or passes our message along, we ask for referrals - bloggers, moderators, social networkers and list owners in their network. These folks might be interested in our communication and nothing beats an introduction!

Continue reading "11 Lessons Learned: Social Media & Event Marketing" »

Technorati Tags: event marketing social media marketing social media for conferences outreach word-of-mouth marketing

April 29, 2010

Marketers: Do You "Like" Facebook's Open Graph?

With last week's pivotal announcement of Facebook's Open Graph, the "one graph to rule them all" as it’s been referred to rather humorously (and yet, at the same time quite ominously), the Interwebs have been all abuzz with talk of how this will affect the web as we know it. While the ubiquitous term "Web 2.0" refers to the next generation of the web - an increasingly social entity due to social media and networking sites like Twitter, YouTube, and of course Facebook - the question on many minds is how the web will evolve with the introduction of Open Graph and whether it will now become one big social network.

As an online marketer, however, I've been more interested in how Facebook's new set of Open Graph features can be used to extend the reach of a brand and its content. Gone is the ability to become a "fan" of something, whether it's a brand, product, or business. If you have a formerly-known-as-"fan page" (not sure what it's called now – just a "page"?), then your fans are now people who "like" you. Kind of reminds me of those little notes we used to pass to each other in school ("Do you like me? Check Yes or No").

Using the new set of social plugins provided by Facebook, "Like" and "Recommend" buttons can now be integrated into virtually any website - so if you're signed in to Facebook and you visit a website with these buttons perched next to its content, you can share that content with your Facebook friends with just a click.

On top of that, Facebook now also has widgets that display content your friends recommend and like on a website. For instance, when I visit CNN.com, I can see from the Facebook widget on the homepage the articles with which my friends have interacted in some way – recommended, liked, shared, and commented on.

Can you imagine the possibilities here? These widgets can be integrated into blogs, news sites, e-commerce sites, and online communities in so many different ways. While there has been a bit of a backlash in response to Open Graph regarding privacy concerns (aren't there always when it comes to Facebook?), I see this a positive boon for marketers and the social web as a whole.

Your turn: What are your thoughts on Facebook's Open Graph and its marketing possibilities?

Continue reading "Marketers: Do You "Like" Facebook's Open Graph?" »

Technorati Tags: Facebook Open Graph social media social media marketing content marketing

October 05, 2009

What we learned from our latest Twitter party

Last week, we produced another client Twitter chat. We do these on a monthly basis with the twin goals of fundraising while building relationships. Once again, there were takeaways that we'd like to share. You can read what we learned during our last chat here or, check this out to learn what a Twitter chat is all about.

Marketing- we continue to be successful in driving interested and interesting peeps to our chats. Putting the right message in the right hands drives the right people to your event-- it's that simple. We use Twitter to deliver our message and rely on past, active attendees. It turns out that Twitter is great for getting the word out about time sensitive events. We try to be insistent that people use our #SOSFood hashtag when spreading the word. 115 ppl showed up for this chat, down from 175 for the first but... the conversations were more robust.

It's always about people, not the technology- some things don't change. From the earlier days of the WELL to The Virtual Community to other luminaries, it's always been about community building. Twitter is one of many solid community building tools. We're seeing a community start to form that returns, gets involved and tells other peeps about it. Folks are courteous, respectful of differences and threads or conversations develop during chats. Like we said, a community is developing.

It's all about the technology- boy did we have a slow night on the networks. It seems as if nothing was going our way. Twitter chats are notorious for tech gaffles and ours was no exception. Twitter tools like TweetDeck, TweetChat, TweetGrid were all running slow. This means delayed postings and reactions- tough if you're trying to run a live chat or communicate with your moderator!

You learn a lot by listening!- We have a great moderator. Even though we call Kate a moderator, she's actually a facilitator. Our chats are producing creative, crowdsourced ideas. The only way to get there is by listening. This works well with Twitter chats where everyone's on the panel and can participate.

Everything has to work together- the client does a great job with communication vehicles like it's website and social networking tools like Facebook, youtube and it's own Twitter feed. Can't overstress how important it is that all traditional and new/social/digital media work together to deliver a consistent message.

Continue reading "What we learned from our latest Twitter party" »

Technorati Tags: social+ media twitter SOS twitter+ chat mitch+arnowitz tuvel

August 02, 2009

What we learned from our Twitter foodie chat

We recently organized a Twitter foodie chat for client Share Our Strength. The goals of our chat were to raise money, create awareness and build community. You can find out what a Twitter chat is here.

I wanted to get lessons learned down on digital paper before we forget! Our chat was held on July 30 with a moderator and panel of 5. See the details here.

Before continuing though, I must thank some very smart Internet folks whom we learned a great deal from. Jeff Hurt is an assn. guy and involved with Twitter chats #eventprofs and #assnchat. Sarah Evans runs her own PR shop and the #journchat twitter chat. Robert Swanwick runs #SpkrChat and all of it's parts. And, of course there's Carissa Rogers who runs the wildly popular #gno/Girls Night Out chat. You can check out a more complete listing of Twitter chats and their corresponding schedules here.

From these folks and others, we learned about moderating chats, setting up chat rooms, chat wikis and topic polls. We also learned more by reading this and this. We actually created and even distributed our own #sosfood chat guide.

One of the biggest lessons we learned was that an online chat takes as much preparation as a traditional event! Here are some of the other things that we learned from our first Twitter chat:

Lessons learned:

Have a mission or message that resonates. Share Our Strength is a great client with an easy to understand message. Clarity and brevity help when staring down the barrel at 140 characters :-)

Get a great moderator. Kate Miller, of Cooking During Stolen moments moderated our chat. Kate is a respected community builder and experienced foodie. She also has lots of friends- key to attracting a valuable panel, securing giveaways and getting the word out. Probably most important, Kate has the right temperament to run a chat.

Moderating a chat is really not about moderation! A good moderator is a better facilitator! Kate was able to ask questions and then get out of the way. This is easier said then done when tweets are zipping by at the speed of sound. She was able to keep the conversation rolling along without stifling it.

Along with a moderator, it helps to have a great panel. Panelists add value, draw attention and help to create excitement. Many established chats have a moderator but no panel or maybe one guest. We felt it was important to reach for the stars in our first chat and ended up with a panel of 5 foodies. The fun thing about a chat though is that all the participants can be panelists while sharing experiences and knowledge.

Try to establish a personality. Chats, like other online conversations have personalities! Think about what you want yours to be before show time. Granted, your chat's personality will, in part, depend on the topic and tweeps but... you can also help to shape it. We liked the feel of #gno's chat. Our moderator took a warm & fuzzy approach for our night time chat and foodies responded.

Get the word out. To spread the word, we searched through Twitter directories such as wefollow, Twellow and TwitterPacks. We then compiled a list of foodies, developed a message, contacted folks and asked them to come to our party.

Since the Twitter chat was the 2nd half of a campaign, we were fortunate to have lots of bloggers to reach out to that supported our cause. We also contacted the clients Twitter followers that we thought might be interested.

For every person we contacted, we asked for a retweet/RT. Most important, we asked partners & panelists to tweet it up! We started the marketing outreach effort one week prior to the chat. We felt pretty good when we saw traction from initial tweets.

Have a place that offers an explanation and a way to get involved. There are lots of peeps that aren't familiar with chats. Twitter chat archives can also be posted to the website. what the hashtag offers a free chat archiving service along with metrics. We were also able to use webpage our page for fundraising.

Use giveaways and prizes to create excitement. We worked hard to secure great giveaways and raffle prizes. Again, we tried to tailor everything we did to the chat's topic and this also pertained to prizes. People still love something for nothing!

Work out the logistics ahead of time! We figured out fulfillment for giveaways and raffle prizes in advance. We also had a schedule along with cued up questions. We created tweets ahead of time. We also tried to work out smaller details before the chat started so that we could focus on the conversation. We also had a team in place while the chat was going on. This allowed our moderator to focus on the conversation while we took care of business.

The conversation moved at a quick pace- some said, it went by to fast. We raised almost $1,000 in 2 hours and had 175 people involved in our chat. We made new friends and followers, discovered new niches, learned by watching and listening and had a great time!

So, when are you doing your next chat?

Continue reading "What we learned from our Twitter foodie chat" »

Technorati Tags: mitch+arnowitz twitter social+media twitter+chats

January 03, 2009

How @comcastcares and Twitter save Birthday for recovering 10 yr old

Our son is recovering from surgery. It's a long road but he'll be fine.

Elan's a New Year's baby. This year marks double digits. Unfortunately, he'll mark it at Sinai Hospital's Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics. We decided to take Elan home for one day though- his Birthday. I decided to buy and install a large screen TV. We've wanted one for some time now and figured that it would help with Elan who will continue to lie low once we return home.

I bought the TV at retail and had all the vendors lined up for the install. I explained the situation and all assured me that they would do their part. No small feat as a few people had to show up at the same time on the same day to get it all done. Most were sympathetic to our plight and understood that I'd be home for one day only before heading back to the hospital.

I raced home to begin the wait. The usual snags happened with incorrect windows, customer service that couldn't find me in their records, etc. We did however have a stoke of luck with 3 guys finally standing in our family room on a Monday afternoon.

Several hours into it, and several trips to Radio Shack, the Comcast repairman realized that he brought the wrong cable box. I begged him to return with the correct box and make a 10 yr old smile. No go though. Comcast still hasn't figured out that the guys they put in front of customers are on the front line. They make or break the customer experience and relationship. I wasn't as bothered by the fact that the repairman couldn't deliver as I was that he didn't care. And, this guy didn't care... But, this is a story about great service and caring people so we'll leave it at that...

Several hours later, the TV was up on the wall and Firedog had done a workaround to at least test the TV to make sure it worked. I was at wits end though with one missing piece to the puzzle and that was Comcast.

I called customer service only to be told several times that the earliest date they could correct their mistake was a week away. Not real good for a Birthday 2 days away! So there I was with a dilemma.

This is where @comcastcares steps in to save the day. I sent a tweet out at 12:30am on December 30th- 2 days before the New Year's birthday. 3 minutes later, @comcastcares tweets back, asking for details. In the morning, I send details. @comcastcares responds immediately, telling me that they have their local team looking into it. I couldn't find or get arrested with a 'local Comcast team' or office- believe me, I tried.

30 mins. later I get a cell call from Comcast letting me know that they are pulling someone from an existing job to fix our problem! Sure enough, Mario arrives at the house within the hour with the correct equipment. I, of course, beg the Comcast guy that initially called to stay in touch should something go wrong. And, he does!

By around noon on the 30th- 12 hrs after my first tweet went out- the problem is solved. Needless to say, our son's jaw dropped when he saw the TV. He had a great 10th Birthday- watching the ball drop in high def and all.
One of the amazing things about this story is that Frank of @comcastcares fame was on vacation while this was all going on! Talk about great customer service...

Those of us in the business know that Twitter can be a great customer service tool. Hopefully, more and more companies will get on the band wagon and tweet their way into better relationships!

Thanks again to @comcastcares for saving this day and making a 10 yr old smile.

Continue reading "How @comcastcares and Twitter save Birthday for recovering 10 yr old" »

Technorati Tags: @comcastcares Tuvel Comcast

September 12, 2008

Social media event marketing

We've been using social media to drive traffic to events. Examples include Bridge2Growth, CreateAThon and the Tech Council of Maryland.

These thoughts focus on events but are easily applicable to most Internet marketing & community building campaigns. Some of the things that we've learned so far:

Grow your community in Web 2.0 calendars like upcoming and eventful. Not only will people RSVP for your event through these free services but they'll begin to congregate here as well. And, that means that there's an opportunity to build relationships with new people interested in the topic. You can also solicit content ideas in these groups. Generally speaking, the people that we meet through these services are new to clients. This of course means that we're able to grow the pie. Think through resources necessary to facilitate these groups before you set them up. It doesn't make marketing sense to establish a community and then let it languish.

Integrate campaigns with more traditional methods like telemarketing. Doing so will increase response rates but make certain that your message is consistent throughout! We do well when telemarketer sends prospect an e-mail and directs them to the website for more info. and to register.

E-mail works. E-mail is still the common denominator and one of the best ways to build a relationship. A great way to get the word out and build excitement is through social media outreach to e-mail lists, forums and relevant individuals and groups.

Don't be a carpetbagger or astroturfer. To be successful, you have to get dirty by participating in the conversation. Adding value vs using social media to broadcast your message is also key (more below). There really is no shortcut to success. If you do find one, please leave it in the comments below!

Have a strategy that's actually thought through and ties efforts together. Setting up a twitterfeed might be a good tactic but it is not a strategy. Try to figure out how you can add value to the conversation, what the message and ask is, what the current landscape looks like. It also makes sense to have a plan after the event ends. Now that you've begun to create relevant relationships, what are you going to do with them? How will you feed and nurture them? You want to make sure that the next time they hear from you isn't when you're promoting an event!

Think through keywords and make sure to use them with a social bookmarking strategy.

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn work. Like other communities, these sites have to be cultivated. Growing the community around a topic or sector and not the event makes marketing sense. Like with the 2.0 calendars though, getting people to register at your website after confirming participation on these sites can be tough. Those using online reg services like Eventbrite may have more luck.

Research is always key. Find the people and groups that make a difference for your event.

Make sure there is value for the reader. OK, this one is obviously the lynch pin of any successful marketing campaign. It's worth a reminder though. Whether it's the message, ask or call to action, website or event itself- make sure there's value beyond 'come to our event'.

Drive offline action through online interaction. I was reminded of this through a good article written by Mashables Leslie Poston. Meetup is certainly one way to drive foot traffic to your event. Downloadable forms is another.

What did I miss?

Continue reading "Social media event marketing" »

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September 11, 2008

Tenants of social media

Its all about you (iow: listen).

Don't use social media to broadcast.

There must be value- I call it the what's in it for me syndrome.

Use online interaction to drive offline activity.

Nothing beats face-to-face.

Research is still key- finding those that might be interested in building a relationship.

email is still one of the best way to build a relationship!

There are no shortcuts- you gotta get dirty. Participation is key.

There are rules of the road, this isn't all new.

Learn to faciliate, not moderate.

Start small, bottom up!

Start building relationships now, not when you need someone.

Give, then take.

When you put yourself out there, everyone can see you (customers, competitors, coopitors, friends, family).

Like with other types of marketing, .transparency is key.

Continue reading "Tenants of social media" »

Technorati Tags: social media tech council of md mitch arnowitz

September 02, 2008

To socialize or not?

Along the lines of last week's social media thread, I have another question. A PR person presented me with the following scenario and I thought I'd toss it out for your input.

A client org of theirs is taking a beating about some decisions that they've made. Some opponents have been vocal on industry e-mail lists. Unfortunately, the client hasn't been able to develop relationships with those that others listen to.

Do you think that the org should include social media outreach as part of an overall strategy? Should they actively try to engage their detractors now or sit on the sidelines until the brew-ha-ha simmers down? Again, there are several parts to a planned response but this question is specifically about social media's involvement.

What do you think?

Continue reading "To socialize or not?" »

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August 26, 2008

(con't) Has social networking reached a tipping point?

The original conversation continues here and here (facebook membership required).

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August 21, 2008

Has social networking reached a tipping point?

I had a interesting exchange with Victoria Pickering that made me think about a couple of things. We are marketing a client event, mostly through social media. Attendees will be businesses that want to learn more about Web 2.0.

The marketing twist is that many local businesses may not be using social media. Sure, there's LinkedIn and other business networking groups but by marketing to the Twitter crowd, are we preaching to the choir? Are we building relationships with techies, potential business employees or maybe both? Sure, it depends on what type of business and people you want to attract but are prospects participating in social networking? In other words, has social media reached a tipping point?

Is the way to find business, and the people that run them, through more traditional means? Or, are more and more businesses digging and stumbling these days? As usual, maybe it's a mixture of everything you do. To be sure, there are several pieces of the marketing mix but Victoria's comments got me thinking about the campaign's social media aspecs.

The other reoccurring piece of the marketing puzzle is that it's supposed to be about businesses finding YOU and not you broadcasting to them. And, to do that- you have to put yourself in the right places for people to find you. Like I said, maybe it's a combination of everything you do.

What do you think?

Continue reading "Has social networking reached a tipping point?" »

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