360DigitalInfluence

Word of mouth practitioners often find themselves in uncharted territory. The majority of the digitally led programs being developed or put into the marketplace simply could not have existed two years ago.  Sometimes not even two months ago.

As a result, planners and strategists in our industry rely on piles of research to gain insights into what’s likely to work for a particular audience. Some of that research comes from inside our own walls, sometimes we consult outside experts and publishers to make sure we know as much as humanly possible about a particular topic. The latter can come from peer-reviewed academic journals or independent publishers like eMarketer or Forrester.

Beyond those sources, though, there’s been a sharp uptick in research from a new universe of resources.  Some doing great work.  Some not.

Here are a few warning signs that suggest you could be relying on some shaky data…

continue reading

In his famous visit to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin developed a theory suggesting a link between the environment and evolution. He cataloged the incredible biodiversity of plant and animal life and the unique evolutionary quirks that allows these creatures to thrive.

B2B Marketers are sometimes considered to be behind the evolutionary curve of most digital trends when compared to their B2C brethren.  But like Darwin’s turtles in the Galapagos, the B2B Marcom species is evolving in this space because the social web environment happens to be extraordinarily well suited for their needs as they work to build trust, generate and convert leads, and provide a mechanism for sustained engagement.

Here’s how… continue reading

Neatly six months after the feds officially dropped the “Swine Flu” term in favor of the scientifically-grounded “H1N1″, web users are finally showing signs of following suit as evidenced by recent shifts in keyword searches.

According to Google’s Insights for Search tool, worldwide searchers for the first time since the outbreak have searched for “H1N1″ in greater numbers than “Swine Flu.”

The data shows that while “H1N1″ never received the surge of search queries earned by “Swine Flu” during the height of outbreak, the science-based strain term has slowly climbed atop the level of swine searches.



So what does this mean for brands?

continue reading

A really interesting example of aggregation launched recently in the academic world. Fururity.org is a no nonsense aggregator, pulling the latest research from North America’s leading research universities, compiling the finding in an easy-to-digest interface complete with a by topic architecture spanning across major research disciplines.

continue reading

Mashable this week posted about the low numbers of teens on Twitter.  The post invited readers to weigh in on why they thought this was (e.g. they’re too private, they prefer texting, etc) – once the comment count spilled into the hundreds, Mashable wrote a follow up post further analyzing the issue.

At the risk of throwing my hat into an already crowded ring, here’s why I think Twitter sees low adoption among teens:  Teenagers, for the most part, do not yet posses weak social ties – the very connections that fuel nearly all of twitter’s growth. continue reading

Bloggers using creative commons licensed photos have reason to celebrate: Google has finally added a Usage Rights feature in the Advanced Image Search tool. I often use Google’s image search though, when I’m blogging, I usually am forced to go to Flickr and search for creative commons photos to make sure I legally use and credit the work.

Now, with Google’s new tool, I can search across photo sharing sites (Flickr included) as well as the broader web knowing that the images I’m browsing are okay use, assuming I follow the Creative Commons guidelines.

If you’re also searching for a particular color (or colors) in a photo, don’t forget about Flickr’s MultiColor Search Lab (powered by idee) to quickly scan Creative Commons photos based your pallet section:

Last month’s Trend Watching report mapped out the entrepreneurial spirit thriving through all corners of the social web. Coined “Sellsumers“, these individuals are making money in incredibly innovative ways. One site for example, hooks up land owners with campers looking for a spot to sleep, another helps gift card owners sell unwanted cards for cash.

I think some of the coolest models in this space rely on co-creation rather than just trading good and services. A brand new example of this in action just hit the market…

Quirky.com attempts to go from concept to product shipping in just a few days. To do this they rely on ‘influences’ to deign logos, sketch concepts, even come up with product names.

My favorite thus far? A broken arm sling called the Ouch Pouch.

[shameless plug warning: My colleague and I covered Quirky.com and other news in our new weekly podcast, That Social Media Show, check out the Blog Talk Radio widget on this blog's sidebar to listen to this week's show covering the launch of Quirky.com, Bing, social sites banned in China, Malho 2.0, and more.]

Amazon’s Kindle is scheduled to get a makeover in the near future with larger screen and a new format tailored for “displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks,” reports the New York Times.  Advertisers, too, are eying up opportunities with the new format as well as nudging some advertiser-friendly competitors into the space, according to the Wall Street Journal.

What’s most interesting to me about the Kindle is found not in the headlines of the major dailies but rather down in the trenches of Amazon’s own message boards…  continue reading

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is headed to Trinidad and Tobago later this week to participate in the Summit of the Americas - a somewhat annual gathering of the 34 democratically elected leaders from the Western Hemisphere. In preparation for the meeting, the State Department has launched a Digital Town Hall microsite, allowing users to submit questions to be answered by Secretary Clinton live from the Dominican Republic on April 17th.

There’s kind of quirky thing about the Summit of Americas site: it uses Howcast to power much of the content. From the URL (townhall.howcast.com) to the “How Tos” section on the top nav, it’s clear the State Dept adopted the instructional video sharing site’s format for presenting much of the content.

Howcast is best known for its simple, informative style for how-to videos - from How to Paint a Portrait to How to Hang Hooks in Your Closet.  (I admit to using the site myself; remembering how to tie a necktie is not, as it turns out, like riding a bike.)

continue reading