Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Posted on 06. Jan, 2009 by Dean Whitney in Social Media, Web 2.0 Technology   and has   0 Comments

“Create fans, not customers,” describes the goal of social media marketing.
Every company has a personality that consumers can identify and describe. For that reason, marketing is not so much about getting people to make purchases as it is about getting people to like and trust you.

New media marketing comes in many varieties: online banner advertising, viral marketing, social networking, interactive Websites, blogs, podcasts … the list goes on. But no matter the tactic, the purpose is the same–turning potential customers into enthusiastic fans.

The use of social media websites for marketing is growing fast. Social media marketing is a method of promoting your brand (be it yourself, a product, a service, or company) by strategically making your presence known across various social media networks (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Myspace, etc.) This may seem overly elementary but “Making yourself known” is the kicker because each category of social media has a different, sometimes intricate method for effective promotion.

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Get {insert widget title} on your website

Posted on 22. Nov, 2008 by Dean Whitney in Advertising, Web 2.0 Technology   and has   0 Comments

I’ve discussed widget often with clients and speaking at events. Eventually everything will be a widget. Just like you have appliances in your house. You don’t go somwhere to ask them to toast your bread – you have a toaster. Today you wouldn’t build a mapping system, you’d use one that is available.

The key to creating an effective widget is making sure it is 1. useful and 2. frictionless.

Yahoo! Buzz has a good example. I may want to add Buzz content to my sidebar here on the blog. This blog is new but I hope it will occupy some lively chatter soon so the current Yahoo! Buzz top articles could be of use. We have satisfied the first objective. (more…)

Angelsoft 3.0 – Web 2.0 matchmaker for angels and ideas

Posted on 02. Sep, 2008 by Dean Whitney in Social Media, Web 2.0 Technology   and has   0 Comments

Angelsoft announced today their new release of their angel investor marketplace. I’ve heard the complaint that there was the application/quality ration was far too low on Angelsoft so they have built in some great crowdsourcing tools that allows members to rate both applications and portfolios. They have also reduced the number of applications, or how many angels an entrepreneur can submit an idea to. They have also included a Google mashup showing deals by location and they have a comprehensive listing of angel investors that you can sort and search through – that alone is a great resource. Unlike many Web 2.0 sites; its not free but if you have a great idea and have done the leg work its certainly worth the $250 to sign-up.

Angelsoft 3.0 Introduction Video from Angelsoft on Vimeo.

Microsoft’s pptPlex Makes PowerPoint Cool Again

Posted on 15. Aug, 2008 by Dean Whitney in User Experience, Web 2.0 Technology   and has   0 Comments

Microsoft has released a pptPlex which in a cool interface application for PowerPoint based on the experimental Microsoft touch interface operating system. I wonder if this will impact Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.

Flash meets Web 2.0

Posted on 05. May, 2008 by Dean Whitney in Web 2.0 Technology   and has   0 Comments

Today MSNBC launched a few new components including Spectra, and immersive visual newsreader experience that merges the news spectrum and the color spectrum into an expansive news viewing experience. With comprehensive live news coverage, striking design, complete customization, dynamic browsing, human body interaction and many other unique features Spectra is one of the coolest information visualization experiences I’ve seen. Check it out!

Open source ad network

Posted on 01. May, 2008 by Dean Whitney in Advertising, Web 2.0 Technology   and has   0 Comments

OpenX is a free ad server for web publishers manage online advertising. It allows you to control your ad inventory, when and where ads appear, select ads based on page properties like keywords, meta and content, and select based on visitor attributes like where they are from and other user data. Ads can come from every possible source including Google Adsense, Ad exchanges etc., and include all kinds of formats such as banners, Flash and rich media (Eyeblaster, TangoZebra etc.).

Google recently launched its own tool for managing ads called Google Ad Manager. What makes OpenX different is that you can install it on your own server, Google’s product is hosted. The PHP based OpenX is free and Open Source. You keep your user data for yourself.