Customer Magnetism is sponsoring Media Fest tomorrow, Feb. 25th, from 5 – 9 p.m. at the Sheraton Waterside Norfolk Hotel. This is a great opportunity for local business owners to learn some unique approaches to Internet marketing and traditional advertising while networking with other Hampton Roads entrepreneurs.
There will be two seminars geared toward successful advertising. “The Power of Email Marketing, Online Survey and Event Marketing for Retail Businesses” starts at 5:30 p.m. “Social Media Boot Camp” starts at 7.
The event was organized by the Retail Alliance, a group of local retailers. Tickets are $15.
For more information about Media Fest 2010, visit www.retail-alliance.com.
If you are going to be there, stop by the Customer Magnetism booth and say hello. We would love to meet you.
Social media has been through quite an adventure in the past week. First, it was the launch of Google Buzz and its invasion of privacy in its quest to compete with Facebook and Twitter. Next, Yahoo! mail threw its hat in the ring with opt-out updates on its email users. Then, over the weekend, phishing attacks on Twitter and Bebo users compromised the security and privacy of their accounts, followed by spamming from those accounts.
One wise Harvard Law School student seemed offended by Google, kicking off a class action lawsuit. Most people, like me, were unaware they had been tapped into against their wishes until word got out on the social networks. There was an uproar, followed by changes in the Gmail policies.
Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product management for Google, seemed taken aback by the outcry over the poor privacy controls on Google Buzz. He told eWeek that it was “not anticipated.”
Horowitz (and Google) clearly did not understand that many people use email for business contacts or keeping in touch with people they consider acquaintances. These are not your BFFs. Fixing the privacy controls after the fact is admirable, but the sincere backpedaling gives the impression that Horowitz simply doesn’t “get it.”
Yahoo! is just as guilty, offering active updates and the opportunity to wish a happy birthday to your contacts. They didn’t tell users it was an opt-out service either. Yes, Big Brother is watching you. He’s also going to wish you a happy birthday while he’s at it.
Give Twitter credit, though. They have taken the phishing scam very seriously, warning users to steer clear of any LOL messages and trying to prevent any further damage to privacy. There is a warning to change your password if you suspect your account may have been compromised. There was genuine concern on their part. For that, they should be applauded.
Meanwhile, the events of the past week should serve as a reminder that in cyberspace nothing is really safe, so keep an eye out for something phishy, and don’t forget to opt out if you’re not ready to go public.
Graham Cluley at Sophos, an Internet security firm, gives a pretty detailed look at the Twitter attack.
People frequently ask me about the world of blogging. There have been some really good basic questions from beginners about having a blog page on their website or blogging elsewhere in an attempt to drum up web traffic to their business’ home page. I have addressed a few of them here. For those who have been around the blogging block a few times and are already familiar with it, this might seem like old hat, so just nod and smile as you read along.
Q. Should I blog?
A. Yes, but only if you can do it well and do it faithfully. It always sounds like fun for people that enjoy writing or sharing their thoughts. It can be. It can also be like your New Year’s Resolution to exercise more. Are you still going to the health club every day like you were a month ago? Only blog if you can spend the time and effort to do it regularly. It takes discipline, time and a decent command of the language to blog. When people can rely on you for something to read about and they like it, they will come back for more. If you ignore it for weeks or months on end, it defeats the purpose. Don’t bother.
Q. How often should I blog?
A. Choose something that fits into your schedule. Whether it’s daily, weekly or monthly, aim for a minimum. This will give you a following. If you exceed it, that’s fine, but do a minimum regularly. If you want to do them in bunches, post them regularly without writing them regularly. When you run out, do some more.
Q. What if I’m not very good with words?
A. Have a professional do it for you. This is one of the services we provide for our clients. For some, we do all of the blogging and post on a set schedule. For others, we split the duties with someone on their staff who is willing and able, but does not have the time to devote to it as often as they would like.
Big Tip: If you can’t spell your way out of a paper bag, make the spell checker your new best friend, then proofread it at least once after you are finished. Readers find typos and misspellings frustrating and your message gets lost in the shuffle.
Spelling hint via The Oatmeal
Q. What should I blog about?
A. Go with what you know. When blogging on your company website, aim for things pertaining to your industry or daily happenings. Trends, upcoming events or topics your customers ask about are just a few things to get you started. Unusual occurrences or funny things make good topics as well. If someone is doing it for you, it’s ok to give them ideas and information if they need it and want it. When blogging elsewhere, try to keep a theme and tie it to your website whenever it makes sense. There are many websites that have nothing but blogs, so you can create your own and take it from there. Check out blogger.com or wordpress.com for examples.
Q. Will anybody read it?
A. If it is interesting and done regularly, yes. Tell people about it. Make a blog tab on your website. Include it on the site map. Most importantly, make it worth reading. After you’ve done a few, ask yourself if you would want to read them if you weren’t the author. If the answer is yes, keep up the good work. If the answer is no, maybe it’s not for you.
Q. Does it really make a difference?
A. When done properly, yes. Adding fresh useful content always helps a website. Use photos and outbound links to make it more interesting. Link to other pages within your website. Give people something to do when they are done reading. Make it attractive for the search engine spiders crawling your website and the people surfing on it, too. If you do something worthwhile, other people will link to it without any prompting. They will Tweet about it and Digg it. This will bring more traffic to your website. Hopefully, it will increase your sales, too, when they see what you have to offer.
It’s only Wednesday and it has already been one of those weeks where internet giants pull out all the stops to one-up one another. This time the fight is over who can have the most comprehensive social network, and as time goes on, more companies are stepping up into the ring.
In one corner we have Facebook.
Now don’t think that Facebook is standing there alone, because this week they also seem to have AOL and Microsoft crowding into onto their side, allied against one monster opponent: Google.
As you might have heard by now, Google launched Buzz yesterday, a new social service connected directly to your Gmail account with the capability to join up Flickr, Twitter, and any Google account you might already have. While the hype over Buzz might at this point be a little much (like say, for example, Google Wave’s hype), there are a few interesting points to notice concerning what this move from Google will provoke from its opponents.
You see, Google wasn’t the only one with a social networking announcement yesterday. Facebook and AOL also recently announced a partnership that will pull Facebook contacts into AOL Instant Messenger – feeding on Facebook’s popularity while helping keep AIM alive and well. Plus, let’s be real, Facebook chat can more often than not be a headache while popping up on your browser window and AIM’s 17 million users seem to be pretty pleased with its interface.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is backing Facebook, which makes sense considering their confirmation that Bing will soon be integrated into Facebook search.
And of course we can’t forget (or have we already?) Yahoo! in another corner, probably pissed that Google had the audacity to also name their social network “Buzz”, just like the easily neglected Yahoo! Buzz. There are actually more similarities than just the name considering the email exclusivity, ability to integrate other sites, and the public/private comment streams to contacts.
Maybe one reason Yahoo! Buzz never picked up was simply the fact that our email contacts aren’t necessarily the people we want to share everything with. We pick our Facebook friends and we block AIM users we don’t want to talk to, but the people we email most often unfortunately might not be people we actually WANT to talk to. You might not add your boss on Facebook (even though I did), but you’re definitely not going to delete them from your list of email contacts. Sure, any social network has some privacy issues, but from what we’ve heard of the way Buzz will prioritize your streams, it could get a little awkward.
What do you think? As we sit back and watch these internet heavy-weights battle it out, will Google Buzz really hold its own?
As of March 1, Google will stop supporting Internet Explorer 6.
For some, it is a sad moment. For the rest of us who have already moved on, it’s about time. Why, you might ask, does this have anything to do with search engine optimization, web page ranking and why should I care?
Maybe you shouldn’t care, but I’m willing to bet that your friendly neighborhood computer programmer and web designer care. When they are looking at your website and adding in some goodies for you, they’ll be grinning from ear to ear. One less step to take, one less line to modify. One less error to wrestle with. The less time they spend accommodating outdated browsers, the more time they have for other things that will improve your website and its rankings. If Google isn’t spending the time to support it, should anyone?
With the nail in the coffin for IE6, its share will go either go to IE7, IE8 or, quite possibly, the Internet Explorer users will jump ship and go to Firefox. IE8 and Firefox have been dueling for supremacy since September. A few months ago, Firefox exceeded IE8 in user share. At the moment, IE8 is on top. This might be a way for Firefox to get some of it back. Guess that means our programmers and web developers will continue doing double duty with both browsers at more than 20%.
As websites become upgraded to attract Google’s bots, this will certainly affect your rankings since it’s easier to optimize without jumping through hoops. If you are upgrading, you will be happy. If your competitor who just figured out what SEO is has upgraded, it might not be such a banner day.
As those of us on the East Coast are still digging out from the weekend snowstorm, I keep thinking at least it didn’t happen next weekend. The 18th Annual Polar Plunge is on Saturday, Feb. 6th at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
It's quiet now, but the beach will be packed for the 18th Annual Polar Plunge.
One of the most popular fundraisers for Virginia Special Olympics, organizers are hoping to surpass last year’s 3,200 plungers raising more than $800,000. Some of CM’s own are participating. A few are running into the chilly Atlantic, while others (like me) are helping out as sponsors. Polar Plungers must have a minimum of $100 to participate. Overall, $4.7 million has been raised by about 26,000 brave souls since it first began.
The event kicks off at 10 a.m. between 6th and 9th Streets at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. The actual plunge is at 2:30 p.m. There are prizes for the best costumes and largest group. It’s fun to watch and those who go always seem to have a great time.
The weather should be a little warmer next weekend for the big event. We’re expecting rain instead of snow. The water temperature today is all of 51.3 degrees. Not much hope it will warm up by Saturday, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
If you cannot participate, consider sponsoring someone who is, or send a donation to your local Special Olympics. It’s a worthy cause.
For details, check out the official Polar Plunge website.
So Twitter just launched local trending topics this week. This seems like a natural thing to do since trending topics from certain areas make the main list all of the time; for example, snow in Texas.
Of course Twitter only offers select cities as of now, but once this feature does roll out globally, what will that mean for ol’ #hrva? Actually, it won’t mean much unless we do something about it.
From what I can tell, once you click on a local trending topic, say D.C’s current trending term “Salinger died,” (by the way, may the author rest in peace) the results actually aren’t very local at all. The first tweet I clicked on was from Indiana, so it seems that while #Salinger died is trending right now specifically in Washington D.C, the tweets that appear are still global. So we know that everyone in D.C has something to say about a particular topic, but we don’t know exactly what it is that they’re saying. Bummer. Because local trends could be a really powerful tool.
Just think, if local trends were already available for Hampton Roads today, getting the word out about the public hearing on the possibility of a high speed rail in Richmond/Hampton Roads tonight at the Halfe Moon Cruise & Celebration Center in Norfolk from 5:30-8:00PM would be a lot easier. Local businesses could get the word out to their immediate audience without having to fight through Twitter’s inevitable noise, and you could even find out about local events on weekends. Sure, every now and then we hashtag #hrva, but do people know to search for it? Having national and international conversations through social media pathways like Twitter daily is fascinating and educational, but our physical, locational community is part of who we are.
If things continue as they are, we will only be able to sift through the “#imthetypeto”s and the “#omgthatssonottrue”s to get to the good stuff if we make an effort as a #hrva community to tweet about local issues and events that are important to us.
So why not make it a point, whether local trends come to Hampton Roads specifically or not, to tweet local every once in a while? Spread the word: hashtag #hrva and search #hrva to inform and be informed about local topics we all should really care about.
Feel free to leave some locals you suggest to follow in the comments!
Customer Magnetism is sponsoring Media Fest tomorrow, Feb. 25th, from 5 – 9 p.m. at the Sheraton Waterside Norfolk Hotel. This is a great opportunity for local business owners to learn some unique approaches to Internet marketing and traditional advertising while networking with other Hampton Roads entrepreneurs.
