travelocity becomes first brand to use chatroulette for marketing.

via mashable.com

it was only a matter of time before the first marketers discovered chatroulette and use it for marketing purposes. the official travelocity gnome is the first to jump in and use chatroulette for marketing purposes.

screenshots sent to mashable.com by travelocity confirm that the gnome is hiding out there in chatroulette’s mysterious corridors on people to market travelocity's services to: he wants to motivate chatroulette users to step away from their webcams for a moment and take vacations.

according to adweek, “the idea is that folks sitting around video-chatting with strangers could use the excitement of travel.”

the iconic gnome uses signs to get his message across (see above). they read messages like, “this would be more fun if we were in rio.”

when asked if they are tracking activity or offering special promotions, travelocity responded, “we’re still experimenting so we haven’t applied any measurements just yet. once we figure out how we’ll move forward we will think about other applications like deals and offers.”

i believe that chatroulette is more than just seeing random penises, so it’s great to see that companies like travelocity agree. it still remains to be seen what becomes of this experimental test run, but it's definitely a clever approach to utilizing this new channel for marketing purposes.

how will the future of chatroulette marketing look? as always with any new form of digital media i believe that solid marketing / advertising strategy is that backbone to any success: focus on the marketing objectives, marketing strategies, and then the marketing tactics.

Posted via web from connected marketer.

Blogs can help brands get started with social media

via 10e20.com

I've often thought about how Blogs fill in nicely as the bridge between a stale corporate website and social networking websites(Thanks for the info-graphic 10e20). Moreover, it helps a brand jump-start their online presence in the world of social media.

The simple creation of a blog in order to bridge the space between a site and a full-blown social media presence is often overlooked. I am often asked by overwhelmed clients what they should create first in this fast-moving online world where the groundswell is in full effect. My answer 9 out of 10 times is: A Blog.

A good blog is very powerful in the online world. Instead of simply adding social networking badges on a homepage saying “Follow us on Twitter” or “Find us on Facebook" a blog can help a brand successfully create social awareness for itself rather than just pointing website visitors to where the official social media account are.

According to 10e20, online social media users "are constantly looking for new and fresh content." I couldn't agree more - that is why my number one advice to clients is that 'content is king.' This mantra applies to all aspects of Interactive Marketing. Using SEO as an example: Having great content creates strong links to your site which in turn will increase your rankings in the Search Engines. A blog can create this great content for your brand. You may not always be able to change the contents of a corporate site, but you can almost always make new posts to a blog. A blog helps you reach users that are constantly on the search for fresh content. With ongoing, strong and effective content creation related to the brands business and sharing by the brand of the blog content into the social presence a brand can create a tremendously effective link between its social networking presences and its main company website.

Of course, there is always the question about how to create content for a blog. The answer will vary and depend very much on the brands industry and comfort level with the online world. However, most of the time it can start out by simply turning a newsletter into "bite-size" pieces on a blog. Getting on a fairly regular schedule and figuring out who will contribute are also very important considerations.

The most important thing is to remember that a brand can easily live and thrive in the world of the Groundswell & Social Media: It can all start with the creation of a blog.

Posted via web from Connected Marketing

Coca-Cola "Happiness Machine"

via youtube.com

First "Viral" Ad of 2010?

Posted via web from Connected Marketing

The most priceless Ad in the world? Try Google's Homepage

Having an Ad on Google’s famously bare homepage is something money can’t buy (see above).  Because Google never features any extra graphics, especially not ads, you can bet that with be the Ad with the highest click-through-rate anywhere.

Coming Soon: Click-to-Call in Ads on Mobile Devices with Google AdWords

Posted via web from Connected Marketing

Google Browser Size - How Much of Your Website Do People Really See?

via mashable.com

I just had to share this great new tool by Google - "Browser Size". It lets you figure out how much of your website people actually see without having to scroll. In the future, this can help determine where to place buttons, call to actions, importnat content, etc.

According to mashable "Browser Size is very simple: It overlays a transparent image on top of any website, displaying what percentage of users (on average) will see your content without scrolling. Because people use various browser settings, monitor sizes and screen resolutions."

Posted via web from Connected Marketing

The Future is now: "The Golden Triangle"

Reading a great blog post by Brian Solis on "The Future of Interactive Marketing" got me thinking about the "Golden Triangle" that I frist heard about a few weeks ago. By the way the aforementioned blog post is a MUST READ for any marketer. 

 

In a nutshell, in addition to my favorite local search, the three current big megatrends in the web/tech sector are: mobile, social, and real-time. It's like a "golden triangle.” It's why the search engines were so keen on being the first to implement real-time search (Google), design mobile apps (bing), and partner with social networks (yahoo with Facebook & Google with Twitter).

As with Brian Solis puts it "the Golden Triangle [...] facilitates a new genre of content production, distribution, and consumption as well as social interaction and collaboration. It’s borderless, untethered, and practically device agnostic.

“You” are at the center of the Golden Triangle and remain connected to your social and professional graph via devices, applications and networks hosted on mobile and Web-based (cloud) platforms."

Posted via web from Connected Marketing