Filed under: Affinity Groups, Altruism, Authenticity, Blog Messaging, Blogger Influence, Book Reviews, Brand, Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Brand Intelligence, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Brand Reputation, Branding, Branding Online, Business Intelligence, Buzz Marketing, CRM, Consumer Generated Media, Conversation, Conversation Marketing, Customer Ratings, Customer Reviews, Customer Service, Customer Supprt, Guerilla Marketing, Honesty, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influencial Bloggers, Influential Brand Advocates, Influentials, Integrity, Internet Culture, Managing Conversation, Market Research, Marketing Conversation, Markets are Conversations, Media Virus, Memetics, Messaging Online, New Media, Online Advocacy, Online Brand Reputation, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Messaging, Online Monitoring, Online Outreach, Online Participation, Online Reputation, Online Reputation Management, Online Reviewers, Online Reviews, Online Virtual Communities, Reputation Management, Social Intelligence, Social Meda, Social Networking, Viral Marketing, Viral Media, Viral Propagation, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

The culture of participatory social media is having some surprisingly significant effects on both the way satisfied customers play a role in contributing to the marketing message development of products and services. And it is also playing an increasingly important role in defining the key touchpoints that customers use in the deciding factors one what to purchase. What makes this all the more noteworthy is that much of this is rooted in offline purchases. I’m putting this together from two recent studies…

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1 Comment » Posted on December 2nd, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Abraham Harrison LLC, Advertisements, Behavioral Targeting, Blowback, Brand Promotion, CRM, Controversial Marketing, Corporate Intelligence, Corporate Partnering, Corporate Responsibility, Cult of Personality, Facebook, Facebook Apps, Guerilla Marketing, Internet Culture, Internet Strategy, Legal Issues, Managing Conversation, Marketing, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, Messaging Online, New Media, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, Online Brand Promotion, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Marketing, Online Messaging, Online Participation, Online Privacy, Online Strategy, Privacy, Social Meda, Usurp Marketing, Web 2.0, Web Ads, Web Advertising, Web Applications, Web Apps, Web Strategy

I keep on trying to legitimize the reasons that Facebook is using to justify their new marketing program, “Facebook Beacon”. But it’s just not happening. It keeps on coming back to user relationships, user privacy, and user benefit. You know, the USER.

If you’re not sure what Beacon is, it’s basically this. Facebook is setting up agreements with online retailers that aren’t part of Facebook to have the retailer directly send information of what people buy on the retailer site to their “friends” on Facebook. The user is first supposed to see a notice on the retail site for which they need to give the thumbs down if they object. So the system is supposed to be opt out. But there’s been some circumstances where the information is just automatically sent without approval or even notification of the buyer. That means the next time you buy a book from Amazon or an item from Overstock.com, the retailer could end up letting your friends know what you bought unless you explicitly stop it.

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17 Comments » Posted on November 24th, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Advertising, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, Old Marketing, Online Advertising, Promotional Strategy, SEM, Web Advertising, Web Strategy

Apparently we digital marketing types have a good future. At least that’s what Accenture tells us via their recent survey of 70 advertising, technology, and media industry leaders. But more telling is their view of who is the most likely to suffer because of the evolution and integration of digital technologies into our lives: traditional ad agencies. Via Adverganza, ClickZ, Five Blogs Before Lunch, Pushing Envelope, Think Multicultural.

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1 Comment » Posted on November 18th, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Blogger Activation, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Influence, Blogger Outreach, Blogger Relations, Citizen Generated Media, Election Strategy, Facebook, Facebook Apps, Google, Google Applications, Google Apps, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influencial Bloggers, Influentials, Internet Strategy, Jaiku, Mainstream Media, Mobile, New Media, New Media Strategy, Online Engagement, Online Influence, Online Outreach, Political Strategy, Pownce, Public Affairs, Public Affairs Blogging, Public Policy Blogs, Social Engineering, Social Graphs, Social Intelligence, Social Meda, Social Network Services, Social Networking, Social Networks, Tumblr, Twitter, Viral Marketing, Viral Propagation, Virtual Communities, Web 2.0

This past Wednesday I attended an excellent forum on Capitol Hill put on by the New Politics Institute. Entitled “Social Networking Tools in Politics”, it featured both excellent speakers and content. The Institute bills itself as a think tank dedicated to helping progressives better understand today’s politics in todays everchaning technology, media, and demographics.

Director Peter Leyden handled the event featuring Facebook Chief Security Officer Chris Kelly, Grassroots.com President and CEO John Hlinko, Cheryl Contee of Flieshman Hillard’s San Francisco office, Change.org’s Ben Rattay, and Simon Rosenberg, head of the New Democratic Network and a founder and officer of NPI.

The crux of the program was part how-to and part what’s-in-store for 2008 and beyond.

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No Comments » Posted on November 16th, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Abraham Harrison, Advertisements, Advertising, Affinity Groups, Affinity Sites, Birds of a Feather, Blog Strategy, Brand Advocacy, Brand Promotion, Branding, Branding Online, Buzz Marketing, Consumer Generated Media, Conversation, Conversation Marketing, Digital Marketing, Facebook, Facebook Apps, Guerilla Marketing, Hearts and Minds, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influential Brand Advocates, Influentials, Managing Conversation, Marketing, Marketing Blogs, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Industry, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, MySpace, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, Online Advertising, Online Applications, Online Brand Promotion, Online Branding, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Engagement, Online Entertainment, Online Evangelism, Online Influence, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Online Outreach, Online Participation, Online Strategy, Popular Culture, Promotional Blog, Social Meda, Social Networking, Social Networks, Sponsored Blog, Sponsored Blogging, Viral Media, Viral Propagation, Virtual Communities, Web 2.0, Web Advertising, Web Strategy, Widgets and Gadgets, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

The November 8th edition of The Economist has an article that asks us “Will Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites transform advertising?”

In truth, the article is poorly written. It asks the wrong question, it’s lazily researched, and it provides little actual theory or empirical evidence to justify the premise they are trying to suppose. Perhaps the reason for this is that The Economist is a general news publication – one that I respect – and that the article was intended for a mainstream readership that’s likely mostly interested in reading about general trends and not deeper analysis. But nevertheless…

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No Comments » Posted on November 11th, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Ad Buys, Brand Promotion, Digital Marketing, Internet Strategy, New Marketing, New Media, Online Ads, Online Advertising, Online Applications, Viral Marketing, Web 2.0, Web Advertising, Web Applications, Widgets and Gadgets

Chris Cunningham of Freewebs has put forward a suggested metric for measuring the effectiveness of widgets as an advertising vehicle. In a MediaPost article, Widget Marketing Metrics That Matter, he outlines the three metrics that matter most: views, usage, and uploads/installs.

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No Comments » Posted on October 10th, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Activating Bloggers, Advertising, Blog Strategy, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Influence, Blogger Outreach, Blogger Relations, Blogging, Brand, Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Brand Intelligence, Brand Promotion, Branding, Branding Online, Conversation Marketing, Digital Marketing, Guerilla Marketing, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influencial Bloggers, Influential Brand Advocates, Influentials, Internet Culture, Internet Strategy, Marketing, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, New Media, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, Online Branding, Online Collaboration, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Promotional Strategy, Social Meda, Strategic Consulting, Viral Marketing, Web 2.0, Web Advertising, Word-of-Mouth, YouTube Marketing

Kelly Mooney has a great piece in AdAge, For Relevance, Think Three Way, in which she talks about the concept of ‘triangulation’ involving the brand, the customer, and the community and that all three need to embrace one another. She also blogs at MooneyThinks.

She’s quite right in that, for many of us, we’ve moved much of our media gathering experience online. Websites, blogs, social networks, forums are the areas that we discuss brands or experiences with brands or our impressions of brands.

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1 Comment » Posted on October 9th, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Abraham Harrison, Abraham Harrison LLC, Astroturfing, Authenticity, Black Hat Marketing, Black Hat PR, Blog Counter-Messaging, Blog Messaging, Blogger Effect, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Influence, Blogger Outreach, Blogger Relations, Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Brand Reputation, Branding, Branding Online, Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Journalism, Client Service, Cluetrain Manifesto, Conversation Audit, Conversation Marketing, Counter Messaging, Crisis Management, Customer Ratings, Customer Reviews, Customer Service, Customer Supprt, David Weinberger, Defensive SEO, Domain Name Registration, Domain Name Strategy, Domain Registration, Edelman, Flogging, Flogs, Google Gaming, Google PageRank, Google Search, Guerilla Marketing, Hate Speech, Honesty, Industry Reputation, Integrity, Internet Forensics, Internet Strategy, Managing Conversation, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Hubris, Marketing Industry, Marketing Language, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, Messaging Online, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Blogs, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, New PR, New Public Relations, Online Advocacy, Online Brand Promotion, Online Brand Protection, Online Brand Reputation, Online Branding, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Crisis Management, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Influence, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Online Outreach, Online PR, Online Participation, Online Public Relations,