Archive for April, 2009
Spring Creek Group to WOMM-U in May
Monday, April 20th, 2009Quick travel announcement. Clay and I will be crossing the country next month to attend WOMM-U, May 13-14 in Miami. (Apparently no one at WOMMA checked with us to see if it was convenient to travel from one corner of the country to the exact opposite corner.)
We don’t get too many chances to see our East Coast friends. So if you’re headed to WOMM-U as well, let us know through any of our channels (Email, Twitter, Blog, Facebook, etc…) and we’ll schedule some time to meet up.
Getting the Digits
Friday, April 17th, 2009
The world (we’re talking the normal adopters here, not early adopters) is finally seeing the writing on the wall: social media isn’t going away. The thing about the rest of the world is this: they love numbers. And we’re not talking about just liking numbers: they love numbers. So naturally, those in the know are starting to pump out some increasingly astonishing numbers about the social media space.
In keeping with that trend, here are some of the numbers that jumped out at us in the past week:
100 million – Monthly viewers for YouTube in the month of March. That’s a lot of people watching meaningful videos.
2:1 – The near-equivalent ratio of YouTube to Hulu. At their current growth rates, YouTube is growing at a pace that puts it doubling the size of Hulu.
8 – The time, in months, it’s taken Facebook to grow from 100 to 200 million users. That’s more users than the population of Brazil.
‘Bout to Be a Tweetfight
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Ashton Kutcher has thrown down the Twitter gauntlet, and as further explained in an article featuring our favorite headline of 2009, septuagenarian journalist Larry King has answered the challenge.
We were all set to write about how instead of a meaningless race to 1,000,000 followers, Kutcher should abandon this quest for popularity and instead follow the lead of Hugh Jackman and use his considerable Twitter powers for good–but then we saw the below tweet:
Making it seem as though Larry King does not care about malaria? Well played, Lady from Ghost‘s husband. Well played.
Regardless of who comes out on top, this will no doubt prove to be a battle royale of epic proportions. In this corner– old media and suspenders; in the other corner– social media and trucker hats.
UPDATE: Electronic Arts has apparently chosen sides and upped the reward for the lucky devil that becomes Ashton’s 1,000,000th follower. Better think of something quick, Larry.
Shiver Me Twitters
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
No matter on which side of the fence you may fall, there is one thing on which everyone can agree: pirates and piracy are a big topic of conversation on the Internet these days. Of course, we at SCG have taken notice of this recent trend and have taken a look at piracy-related issues of all kinds through the lens of social media. Observe the following:
- Mashable provides a comprehensive look at social media’s effect on piracy!
- Facebook says no to pirates!
- A former notorious pirate associate shares her feelings about social media!
- Was there any doubt that this man would get a Facebook fan club?
- Pirates sail in ships, and ships often have to weather storms, so while the following may only have a tenuous relationship to the supposed topic at hand, here is an interesting article about weathering a social media storm!
StumbleUpon Pulls a U-Turn, Breaks with eBay
Monday, April 13th, 2009The road to achievement in the startup biz is usually a one way street with many broken-down cars littering the shoulder. However, in the case of StumbleUpon, the content discovery engine is entering back onto the startup superhighway after an amicable split with former parent company eBay.
According to a release, original founder Garrett Camp said the group “realized there were few long-term synergies” between the content discovery engine and the online auction portal.
Some can argue (and they may be correct) that companies struggling with getting off the ground and gaining funding are usually out to be more creative. Let’s hope this return to their investor-backed roots will spur a bit of creativity and create an even better product – something more social perhaps?
SMC Seattle Event This Week
Monday, April 13th, 2009Spring Creek Group will be spending happy hour at Elysian Brewery this Wednesday for the SMC Seattle and OMS April Meetup. Here are the details:
What: SMC Seattle and OMS April Networking Event
Who: Anyone interested in online marketing and social media
When: April 15 at 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Elysian Brewery Capitol Hill, 1221 E Pike St, Seattle, WA
http://www.elysianbrewing.com/Elysian.html
Please RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/6qaboh
See you there.
Get the Most out of Free Analytics: How Much Does a YouTube Video Comment Weigh?
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
There are many questions in the world of social media: how much should we be doing? How do we track what we’re doing? Are we doing it right? For each question there are numerous answers; enough, thoroughly, and yes, but you can do better.
In the world of search, Google and Microsoft battle for supremacy, their algorithms locked in a digital battle for search superiority. In the world of social media, though, searches pop up every day that often look, act, and sometimes even are exactly the same.
It seems anyone with access to the Twitter API and a code monkey is coming out with some sort of Twitter-related application these days. Even perennial old-school PR house Waggener Edstrom recently got in the game. Hopefully, the name is a Beta.
You can scrape the important data rather reliably, but that, like knowing, is only half the battle. Here are five ways you can strengthen your approach to free analytics:
1) Know your metrics for success – if you’re gathering data just to gather data with no benchmarks for success, you’re not working efficiently. Check around. See what the competition is up to and how they’re claiming their “success.” If you’re not using their measuring tape, you better be prepared to tell the world why.
2) Hit for the cycle – every day there are countless new apps to track basically anything on the Web, but if you’re constantly changing your method of data analysis, you’re not creating continuity in your reporting. Decide on a plan and execute a full cycle of reporting that offers enough data to spot and analyze trends. Don’t just abandon the work you’ve already put in for the shiny, new tool.
3) Know when to fold ‘em – you’re smart. You can spot the point of diminishing return when you see one. Know when to change your approach and how that change will relate to the feedback and analysis you’ve already done.
4) Submit to the gods of the interwebs – there’s one problem with using online-based interfaces for valuable analytics: the Internet fails, a lot. Knowing this truth that even the mightiest of systems has downtime from time to time, set yourself up for success by having multiple accounts tracking the same data. Chances are these accounts will be on different nodes and chances are a complete failure won’t happen, while individual technical difficulties will – constant Failien, anybody?
5) Partner up – every good cop has a good partner, right? Well, every savvy marketer should have partners as well. It’s one thing to use a technology, but becoming a partner to the team behind the tool can bring nothing but good karma to both sides. Open lines of communication and you’ll see nothing but good.
A Good 40 Time is Nowhere Near As Important As Who You Choose to be Your New Facebook Friend
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009The amount of articles and blog posts about how important it is to keep one’s online social networking profiles free of embarrassing or questionable content seems to be increasing exponentially as the number of social media users increasingly grows. Even being summoned for jury duty can get the dirty details of your online identity scrutinized and placed under the microscope.
Although the simple fact that what you post and do online can affect others’ perception of you keeps this article from Yahoo! Sports from being surprising, it doesn’t keep the article from remaining interesting. The idea that everyone, particularly those in the public sphere, should be constantly maintaining the perception of and reception to their identities online is old hat to us, but it appears some folks out there are a little slower on the uptake.
Here’s what we take from the article: professional athletes (as well as those aspiring to be so) would do well to consider their social media profiles as part of their overall brand rather than their own personal site. They now essentially face the same kinds of pressure that companies attempting to manage their online brand perceptions do, so why not behave accordingly?
Also– entrapment via fake profiles featuring attractive individuals that are used to gain access to a person’s potentially embarrassing/compromising information? And everyone thought social media ghostwriters were an issue. . .
Speak Your Tweet
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Twitter just got even easier thanks to the recent launch of a new service known as TweetCall. By simply dialing 1-877 -Tweet-Call you can actually voice your tweet, which is then transcribed and uploaded to your Twitter account.
According to the release, TweetCall is the “. . .perfect solution for those lacking the skill, patience or time to send SMS messages conventionally, or those wishing to post tweets while driving. In fact, TweetCalling is faster and easier than texting.”
Though we personally would not recommend TweetCalling while driving, the service overall seems like it might be worth a try.
And this comes in light of the NY Times article that generated hype around the issue of ghostwriting. The idea is that TweetCall will “. . .result in an increase in the overall number of tweets that ultimately get posted while at the same time reduce the need for ghostwriters.”
We suppose the assumption is that our favorite celebrity twitterers like Shaq and Faith Hill will no longer need personal Twitter assistants as TweetCall is so easy that even the busiest and least tech savvy celebs can figure out how to use it for themselves.
On the other hand, maybe the follow-up in the Times will be about “ghostspeakers.”
Random Acts of Shaqness
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
It’s no secret that thanks to his prolific Twitter account, the world is currently in the midst of a Shaquille O’Neal renaissance. Here at Spring Creek Group, we view this as a very good thing.
Apparently, his current team, the Phoenix Suns, have decided to follow the Big Aristotle/Big Cactus/Wilt Chambermeezy’s lead and get in on the action, devoting an entire section of their website to their fans’ Twitter accounts.
This further verifies that while Shaq may have made some rather questionable decisions in regards to some of the projects he’s been involved with, his embracing of what he calls the “Twitizens of Twitteronia” was certainly not one of them.
It just goes to show- everyone could stand to learn a little something from The Diesel.
