Four years ago today,'Twitter and the Ripple Effect: More than spreading your wings and tweeting,' 'evergreen marketing insighter' ▲▲▲ by Gloria Buono-Daly

To think over 98,000 hits and 232 posts later, the
AllThingsDigitalMarketing blog has reached the 4th year milestone. The very first blog titled Twitter and Ripple Effect: More than spreading your wings and tweeting posted here on September 22, 2009. Yay and happy 4th to the AllThingsDigitalMarketing blog.

Do you think the same strategy still applies for Twitter today?


Twitter, a micro-blog with a 140-character-limit blurb known as a “tweet” having potential to create a chain of social media networking events that can lead to exponentially larger alterations of social media networking instances. Twittering appears to have maximized the power of connecting. In less than 4 years, it is  estimated that there are over 250 million twitter accounts worldwide.

But if you think that Twitter and the bird’s far reaching effect is enough to make your media campaign a success, try spreading your wings and flying. You just might find yourself in a nose-dive!

Of course, everyone is twittering, with hopes of creating shifts in perspectives that will lead to greater connections, better businesses and stronger communities.

It’s been said that a sea gull’s simple flap of a wing can change weather, and so too a simple tweet can create ripple effects in the customers, employees, friends, colleagues and even those people and entities that you have never known and now suddenly have become your followers.

Why then are there still no analytics for measuring effectiveness, or tried and true processes and marketing solutions from this bird?

Although Twitter’s wide massive appeal has grown so quickly in such a brief time, it is still considered new. Twitter became available to the public in 2006 but really gained momentum in April 2007. According to Wikipedia “The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest, SXSW, festival. During the event usage went from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.” This all occurring after the Web 2.0 buzz of 2006, which arose 2 years after the first Web 2.0 Oreilly Conference, October 5 – 7, 2004, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA.

Today, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a social networking marketing campaign and Twitter is just one of the many digital integrated marketing tools. Besides having experience, skill and passion about what you are communicating, successful social media marketing requires a well thought out, detailed, marketing plan and timeline. Even with all this, there are still no guarantees; What works for one company or person  may not be as effective for another.

While there are no magic bullets that will guarantee the overall success of your campaign, below you will find a listing of some helpful tips to guide you through the process of integrating twittering into your corporate digital marketing programs:

1. Create momentum with effective communications and set up kick-off meetings well in advance of your deliverables

2. Optimal participation is key. Schedule regular (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings (virtual or in person) and involve as many employees/departments in your organization.

3. Ensure that your meeting handouts include guidelines for branding specs, e.g., having company logo included on all tweets, regardless of whether a company is using different blog/tweet names for different products,/themes, etc., appropriate tone, buzzwords, keywords, etc.

4. If your social marketing media campaign calls for multiple bloggers and twitterers, make sure your respective tweet names match respective tweet blogs; This information should all be mapped out (e.g., spreadsheet) and incorporated into your digital marketing plan alongside all of the other marketing tools you will be integrating

5. Use common sense and discuss best practice to ensure employee tweeters know their leaps and bounds when contributing to avoid compromising your blogs/tweets integrity and reputation

6. Tie in tweets with your company’s blogs – an example is how Martha Stewart’s tips, ideas, etc., from her blog into tweets – again, not necessarily coming from someone from her company, but created such a brand following that followers as well as employees include her ideas in their blogs

7. Understand and learn of the importance of following potential customers, existing customers, vendors, suppliers, etc.

8. Incorporate short and simple auto-respond tweets for new followers – assuring real-time reply in the event no one is able to respond immediately; Although the majority of folks recommend not using auto-responds, my suggestion is to test the waters but keep auto-responds short, thanking them for connecting and sharing relevant information.  If you feel auto-responding is working against you, simply remove it. At least you can say you gave it a try.

9. Understand the importance of hashtags and other application enhancements and use them carefully. E.g., including hashtags in your tweets, e.g., #followfriday; and applications, Tweet Meme, etc. There are pros and cons to hashtags - some folks feel the short 140-character blurbs get distorted from the #hashtag symbol while others are embracing it. So far, I haven't been incorporating hashtags into my tweets. I use hashtags every now and then depending on the topic and content. I also use name tags, e.g., @gbdaly, etc.

10. If you are interested in following please feel free to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gbdaly

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Four years ago today,'Twitter and the Ripple Effect: More than spreading your wings and tweeting," is part of the evergreen marketing insighter ▲▲▲ series by Gloria Buono-Daly

Google In Your Backyard: Has the internet gone far beyond mainstream advertising and invasion of privacy?

From internet cookies to your backyard, what next? Spying in your bathroom?

According to a recent Wall Street Journal investigation, see article by Jessica E. Vascellaro of The Wall Street Journal “Google Agonizes on Privacy As Ad World Vaults Ahead” (Tuesday, August 10, 2010, A1, or see video) Google senior executives are reviewing their confidential “vision statement” assessing how far they should go in monetizing from it’s massive database, which tracks all forms of internet usage patterns from what video you upload on YouTube, your Gmail messages and your physical home address, to your checkout transactions and what websites you visit.  All this enables Google to customize the ads you see, a term they call intraspace advertising. 

So as you search the web using Google for information, let's say about cars, Google will inundate you with automobile ads which is turning your internet service experience, that you pay for with your own money, for your own personal Web search use, into a plethora of target marketing gimmicks, not only annoying for consumers but essentially invading privacy.  This type of internet advertising self dealing has been going on for some time now, but is becoming more rampant as new technologies are added coupled with the use of thousands of third-party businesses.  Obviously, in the long run,  this is going to do more harm than good.

Statistics from comScore indicate that in the month of June Google had the highest internet usage of all the global web companies with 75% of global Internet users (943.8 million). Included in Google’s vision statement was the admission that while some of their uses of databases are safe, some are “NOT” safe.

Doesn't Google's data-trading marketplace and use of users' personal information from various sources equate to essentially exploiting individuals without their permission? Is the public going to allow Google to essentially cyber-stalk for the sake of target advertising?

Have Google’s aggressions gone far beyond “mainstream advertising” to virtually snooping in backyards? Are Government Officials and Google abusing their power and illegally spying on the U.S. population?

According to Aaron Dyles  of Infowars.com (8/2/2010), local government officials in Riverhead, N.Y. are using Google’s satellite technology to snoop in residents backyards and issue fines to those that have pools without permits. All this without the legal protocol of acquiring a search warrant! Is this a violation of our constitutional rights? From internet cookies to your backyard, what next?  Spying in your bathroom?

Please answer this LinkedIn poll. Should something be done to prevent Google and other internet companies from invading consumer privacy on the Web?


by Gloria Buono Daly
Founder of AllThingsDigitalMarketing.com

Back by Popular Demand, Twitter and The Ripple Effect: More Than Spreading Your Wings and Flying

Twitter, a micro-blog with a 140-character-limit blurb known as a “tweet” having potential to create a chain of social media networking events that can lead to exponentially larger alterations of social media networking instances. Twittering appears to have maximized the power of connecting. In less than 4 years, it is  estimated that there are over 250 million twitter accounts worldwide.

But if you think that Twitter and the bird’s far reaching effect is enough to make your media campaign a success, try spreading your wings and flying. You just might find yourself in a nose-dive!

Of course, everyone is twittering, with hopes of creating shifts in perspectives that will lead to greater connections, better businesses and stronger communities.

It’s been said that a sea gull’s simple flap of a wing can change weather, and so too a simple tweet can create ripple effects in the customers, employees, friends, colleagues and even those people and entities that you have never known and now suddenly have become your followers.

Why then are there still no analytics for measuring effectiveness, or tried and true processes and marketing solutions from this bird?

Although Twitter’s wide massive appeal has grown so quickly in such a brief time, it is still considered new. Twitter became available to the public in 2006 but really gained momentum in April 2007. According to Wikipedia “The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest, SXSW, festival. During the event usage went from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.” This all occurring after the Web 2.0 buzz of 2006, which arose 2 years after the first Web 2.0 Oreilly Conference, October 5 – 7, 2004, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA.

Today, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a social networking marketing campaign and Twitter is just one of the many digital integrated marketing tools. Besides having experience, skill and passion about what you are communicating, successful social media marketing requires a well thought out, detailed, marketing plan and timeline. Even with all this, there are still no guarantees; What works for one company or person  may not be as effective for another.

While there are no magic bullets that will guarantee the overall success of your campaign, below you will find a listing of some helpful tips to guide you through the process of integrating twittering into your corporate digital marketing programs:

1. Create momentum with effective communications and set up kick-off meetings well in advance of your deliverables

2. Optimal participation is key. Schedule regular (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings (virtual or in person) and involve as many employees/departments in your organization.

3. Ensure that your meeting handouts include guidelines for branding specs, e.g., having company logo included on all tweets, regardless of whether a company is using different blog/tweet names for different products,/themes, etc., appropriate tone, buzzwords, keywords, etc.

4. If your social marketing media campaign calls for multiple bloggers and twitterers, make sure your respective tweet names match respective tweet blogs; This information should all be mapped out (e.g., spreadsheet) and incorporated into your digital marketing plan alongside all of the other marketing tools you will be integrating

5. Use common sense and discuss best practice to ensure employee tweeters know their leaps and bounds when contributing to avoid compromising your blogs/tweets integrity and reputation

6. Tie in tweets with your company’s blogs – an example is how Martha Stewart’s tips, ideas, etc., from her blog into tweets – again, not necessarily coming from someone from her company, but created such a brand following that followers as well as employees include her ideas in their blogs

7. Understand and learn of the importance of following potential customers, existing customers, vendors, suppliers, etc.

8. Incorporate short and simple auto-respond tweets for new followers – assuring real-time reply in the event no one is able to respond immediately; Although the majority of folks recommend not using auto-responds, my suggestion is to test the waters but keep auto-responds short, thanking them for connecting and sharing relevant information.  If you feel auto-responding is working against you, simply remove it. At least you can say you gave it a try.

9. Understand the importance of hashtags and other application enhancements and use them carefully. E.g., including hashtags in your tweets, e.g., #followfriday; and applications, Tweet Meme, etc. There are pros and cons to hashtags - some folks feel the short 140-character blurbs get distorted from the #hashtag symbol while others are embracing it. So far, I haven't been incorporating hashtags into my tweets. I plan on giving #hashtags a try soon.

10. If you are interested in following please feel free to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gbdaly

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

When Next is NOW: My Promo Multimedia Video Gets Completed

All things about allthingsdigitalmarketing.com. My "next" project finally my "NOW" video!

Special thanks to Graphic Design Specialist, Maria Benevenga and to Gail Blanke author of "Throw Out Fifty Things Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life" for helping me make my "next" to "NOW" happen.

The New Web 3.0 vs Web 2.0: The Impact of Web 3.0 on Digital Marketing

According to OpenInnovators.net, at the Seoul Digital Forum 2009 (this past May), Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt was asked to define the term Web 3.0 and here’s what he said: “Well, the Web 2.0 is a marketing term, and I think you’ve just invented Web 3.0″ - Eric Schmidt

His response went on to describe the various aspects of technology driving Web 3.0 from building to combining applications and multi-platform devices, to social networks, blogs, micro-blogs, emails, etc.

All of the technologies have been around in Web 2.0, so it’s not necessarily advancements in technologies but advancements in creativity, innovations, new engine launches and how the new Web 3.0 is going to be utilized. Digital marketers will be required to revise strategies, media and marketing plans accordingly and quickly. Major differences have to do with the way search engines will customize searches more intelligently, intuitively, relevantly and most importantly, in real-time (e.g., social networks merged with indexed searches, etc.) as well as how companies will need to manage information more efficiently.  The latest application to help businesses for the new Web 3.0 is Twitter’s launch of CoTweet; For more information go to Wall Street Journal’s November 9, 2009 article, "Twitter Start-Up CoTweet Launches Paid Service" by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter. When Web 3.0 becomes mainstream, the entire strategy, research and analytics will need to change. Existing marketing and media plans that are successful for Web 2.0 will not have any impact in Web 3.0. For more on the basics of understanding these differences, I highly recommend reading “Web 3.0 -- Intuitive World Live Web69” by Benjimester.

Below is a listing of three helpful tips for all digital marketing executives to consider incorporating into their media and marketing plan as Web 3.0 becomes mainstream:

1. When Web 3.0 becomes mainstream, the most important challenge will be that search engine algorithms will be relying more heavily on customized, relevant, real-time responses particularly with the wide array of applications, devices, multi-platforms, and how companies and digital marketers will need to react.  More applications e.g., Twitter’s CoTweet, will be offering their own pay per click programs, and indexed search results will no longer have impact as it did in Web 2.0. Therefore, the existing advertising and marketing strategies and campaign spending used today to leverage SEO in Web 2.0 will no longer apply in the new world of Web 3.0.
   
2. Anticipate implementing innovative new strategies and understand that most of the metrics you utilize today will most likely not be relevant with the new Web 3.0 search engine marketing and optimization algorithm.
   
3. Stay on top of new applications (e.g., CoTweet), optimization and marketing trends and learn all you can about how these changes in search engine algorithms will impact your internet marketing SERP (search engine results pages) and revise your marketing and media plans accordingly.

There's a lot more to come and that will have to go into the Web 3.0 digital marketing strategy. Stay tuned for more information and helpful tips by bookmarking this blog  and visiting more often.

Also I would love your opinion; please answer this poll   about Web 3.0 vs. Web 2.0  Thanks!

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Twitter’s Business Model: Will figuring the figures shift the social networking paradigm?

A recent article by Jessica E. Vascellaro and Michael Corkery of The Wall Street Journal “Twitter Lines Up Additional Funding” (Friday, September 25, 2009, Corporate News, B3) has sparked my interest and prompted me to share my thoughts on the latest funding fury. Twitter is in negotiations to receive up to $100 million to enable them more time to determine an appropriate business model they can transfer into economic value. According to the article, the business model may include the implementation of a database of twitterers segmented by keyword content from tweets which I believe may result in altering Twitter and the social networking media paradigm.

Many corporations believe that like RSS feed concerns back in 2005, Twitter is creating more risk of compromising ad spending since internet users are able to create their own PR buzz and get the information they want for free, and may push Twitter to incorporate a pay per click (PPC) program. When and if this occurs, I see Twitter becoming a “micro-search engine marketing” program, competing for dollars with the Googles, Yahoos, and MSNs of the world.

RSS and Twitter are almost identical systems which is why I believe a smart move for Twitter, besides due diligence, would be to model their business after Real Simple Syndication (RSS) as well as the leading search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). RSS feeds, initially developed in 1999, became mainstream in 2005 and have been successfully and effectively publishing many updated periodicals in real time in an open free environment ever since. Anyone with a web site or blog can add the RSS icon to their site and get subscribers for free.

Although RSS and Twitter are different, both share the identical process:

• a user clicks on an RSS icon (twitterer’s icon) to subscribe (follow) to a feed (tweet)

• Twitter is limited to 140 characters, RSS is not and can be as long as it needs to be

• RSS feeds are used for publishing blog entries, news, audio, video, etc. and users can bookmark the feed; Twitter users are still new and are not yet using Twitter to it’s full potential the way others are using RSS

• Users add RSS onto their blog and submit their blogs to submitter sites or directories to increase the chances that people subscribe to their RSS feed much the same way twitterers follow others to get followed and post their Twitter links

• A big difference is that with Twitter, users post information about a new web site they have, include a link to it, write brief promo copy to attract other Twitterers to visit their site or follow, something we are unable to do with RSS

When used creatively, Twitter, like RSS feeds, can add hype and increase the chances of creating various internet revenue streams. RSS has been enabling many companies and individuals with the potential for additional revenue streams and affiliate programs on the internet; All this for free. Why then would anyone want to pay for Twitter should they create a database when we are able to have the entire Twitter universe now for free?

Below is a listing of some factors that I believe would need to be considered before developing and implementing a business model for Twitter:

1. “Twitter Narcissists”: How do you weed out “Twitter narcissists?” There are individuals doing up to 100 tweets per day to get thousands of followers so they can brag about it. And then what, do you sell a “Twitter Narcissist” list to a corporation for them to post an online ad? That just might happen and prove to be phenomenal.

2. Revealing Identities: Twitter and other social networks enable users to create profiles where they can include all personal things about themselves including age, gender, geographical area, hobbies, interests, join business groups, etc., along with all other types of content

3. Privacy: Some folks are putting personal things about themselves for the world to look at without ever realizing what they are doing, e.g., Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc. Issues are going to arise such as invasion of privacy, etc. prompting the FTC to intervene and incorporate more compliance laws. Our economy is strapped enough and now more government spending due to Twitter. Can our government afford this?

4. “What’s in it for me?”: Twitter is still so new.  Individuals are still learning and do not want to post without a clear reason and direction; There is no way to determine what twitterers are tweeting for their employers vs. who is tweeting individually, etc. Why would individuals continue to create buzz about something if Twitter is capitalizing on it without anything in it for the Twitterers making the buzz?

5. Identity-Centric Database: People are following other tweeters because of interests and the feeling of freedom associated with Twitter. Some even end up meeting them at events to discuss their passions, becoming colleagues, etc. Commercializing databases of Twitterers who originally participate for the uniqueness and freedom of Twitter may possibly hinder the uniqueness of the original intention of the social and professional networking media paradigm.

6. I’ve been tweeting for the fun of it and to let folks know what concerts, professional events, fundraisers, other places, etc. I’m attending or have attended,  as well as topics I’m interested in, blogs I’ve written, etc. I'm not utilizing all of the tool enhancements out there that can add thousands of followers to my Twitter account in one simple click. I’m Twittering to learn of groups that have similar interests similar to how I use my LinkedIn account.  Every now and then I  llike  to announce my new web site http://allthingsdigitalmarketing.com (which is still not up yet) but I will continue to include it and mention the status of this project. I’m also thinking about ways to capitalize (e.g., Adsense, etc.).

7. Twitter Account Segments: Corporate, Non-Profit, News Media, Non-News Media, Political Media, Non-Political Media, Individual Twitter Account – Segmenting corporate twitterers is going to be a very subjective and difficult task. Currently, many companies and individuals have multiple Twitter accounts. There is risk that many will opt out if they are forced to pay for accounts, posting links to their company site, blog, etc.

8. Assessing Twitter Analytics: Many experts are looking way too deep into the shallow stats and believe that they can judge the effectiveness of twitter by analyzing Twitter percentage rates of people's tweets (aka Twitter rate %) . All a Twitter rate % means is that that people are tweeting back and forth to each other. I’m not sure how a company can justify spend advertising dollars based on a Twitter account % rate. People talk back and forth on the phone, back and forth via email, via blogs, etc. Does that make your telephone wire or email more successful than another persons? It is going to be very difficult to measure which tweets are effective and which are not especially when attempting to base on the amount of tweets going back and forth to one person. There are also those of us who use the auto-responds, purchase software to get additional followers, etc.

9. Compromising Corporate Productivity: With all of the Twitter buzz lately, I still believe that anyone spending inordinate amounts of time Twittering at work is doing a big disservice, wasting valuable time and compromising corporate productivity; Eventually ending up with our country having more corporations going under and being bailed out at our (we the taxpayers) expense

10. Twitter is simply one of the many internet tools (i.e., RSS, email, podcasting, webcasts, micro-blogs, social and professional networks, etc.) used to integrate into a marketing program. There are many other social networks that can be used. Changing or adding on to Twitter other than what it currently is, may shift Twitter into an entirely new product, like a “micro-search engine,” or risk losing uniqueness, and tweeted into oblivion by becoming another friendster, lifestream, linkedin, facebook, flickr, etc.

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Twitter and the Ripple Effect: More than spreading your wings and tweeting!

Twitter, a micro-blog with a 140-character-limit blurb known as a “tweet” having potential to create a chain of social media networking events that can lead to exponentially larger alterations of social media networking instances. Twittering appears to have maximized the power of connecting. In less than 4 years, it is  estimated that there are over 250 million twitter accounts worldwide.

But if you think that Twitter and the bird’s far reaching effect is enough to make your media campaign a success, try spreading your wings and flying. You just might find yourself in a nose-dive!

Of course, everyone is twittering, with hopes of creating shifts in perspectives that will lead to greater connections, better businesses and stronger communities.

It’s been said that a sea gull’s simple flap of a wing can change weather, and so too a simple tweet can create ripple effects in the customers, employees, friends, colleagues and even those people and entities that you have never known and now suddenly have become your followers.

Why then are there still no analytics for measuring effectiveness, or tried and true processes and marketing solutions from this bird?

Although Twitter’s wide massive appeal has grown so quickly in such a brief time, it is still considered new. Twitter became available to the public in 2006 but really gained momentum in April 2007. According to Wikipedia “The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest, SXSW, festival. During the event usage went from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.” This all occurring after the Web 2.0 buzz of 2006, which arose 2 years after the first Web 2.0 Oreilly Conference, October 5 – 7, 2004, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA.

Today, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a social networking marketing campaign and Twitter is just one of the many digital integrated marketing tools. Besides having experience, skill and passion about what you are communicating, successful social media marketing requires a well thought out, detailed, marketing plan and timeline. Even with all this, there are still no guarantees; What works for one company or person  may not be as effective for another.

While there are no magic bullets that will guarantee the overall success of your campaign, below you will find a listing of some helpful tips to guide you through the process of integrating twittering into your corporate digital marketing programs:

1. Create momentum with effective communications and set up kick-off meetings well in advance of your deliverables

2. Optimal participation is key. Schedule regular (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings (virtual or in person) and involve as many employees/departments in your organization.

3. Ensure that your meeting handouts include guidelines for branding specs, e.g., having company logo included on all tweets, regardless of whether a company is using different blog/tweet names for different products,/themes, etc., appropriate tone, buzzwords, keywords, etc.

4. If your social marketing media campaign calls for multiple bloggers and twitterers, make sure your respective tweet names match respective tweet blogs; This information should all be mapped out (e.g., spreadsheet) and incorporated into your digital marketing plan alongside all of the other marketing tools you will be integrating

5. Use common sense and discuss best practice to ensure employee tweeters know their leaps and bounds when contributing to avoid compromising your blogs/tweets integrity and reputation

6. Tie in tweets with your company’s blogs – an example is how Martha Stewart’s tips, ideas, etc., from her blog into tweets – again, not necessarily coming from someone from her company, but created such a brand following that followers as well as employees include her ideas in their blogs

7. Understand and learn of the importance of following potential customers, existing customers, vendors, suppliers, etc.

8. Incorporate short and simple auto-respond tweets for new followers – assuring real-time reply in the event no one is able to respond immediately; Although the majority of folks recommend not using auto-responds, my suggestion is to test the waters but keep auto-responds short, thanking them for connecting and sharing relevant information.  If you feel auto-responding is working against you, simply remove it. At least you can say you gave it a try.

9. Understand the importance of hashtags and other application enhancements and use them carefully. E.g., including hashtags in your tweets, e.g., #followfriday; and applications, Tweet Meme, etc. There are pros and cons to hashtags - some folks feel the short 140-character blurbs get distorted from the #hashtag symbol while others are embracing it. So far, I haven't been incorporating hashtags into my tweets. I plan on giving #hashtags a try soon.

10. If you are interested in following please feel free to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gbdaly

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009