Although this process of information harvesting has been in affect for some time, the level of sophistication and depth is increasing at an accelerated pace. With the recent backlash Facebook has received for its Beacon advertising, every good marketer should be keeping a watchful eye on this trend.

We here at Morpheus Media are lucky enough to have our very own all-knowing eye, Adam Broitman. Mr. Broitman who is Morpheus Media’s Director of Emerging and Creative Strategies was recently involved in the before mentioned Associated Press piece found here on USA Today.com. As always Adam’s insight and knowledge place him as a true industry authority.

As organizations such as Yahoo continue to demonstrate that data mining can be a useful tool for marketers new and innovative approaches can be taken to alert the world of the benefits of your brand. So as the digital marketplace is successfully taking all of the guessing out of the guesswork we here at Morpheus are thankful we have Adam Broitman to keep us well informed.

In an attempt to justify (in my opinion) a way over inflated valuation of $15 Billion Mr. Zuckerberg must continue his foray into cloak and dagger marketing techniques. Angry over the alignment of opting in versus opting out a percentage of Facebook users have struck back through the auspices of MoveOn.org. It is reassuring though to know that the same group that gave us General BetrayUs earlier this year is now after Mark Suckeredusberg.

At the heart of the issue is the assertiveness of Facebook’s willingness to air everyone’s laundry whether it is dirty or not. With Microsoft looming large over Zuckerberg’s head an effective advertising channel needs quantifiable ROI. So sure Facebook ruined everyone’s Christmas this year. But how else would you be able to complain about it to your friends if not via Facebook. Myspace? I don’t think so.

Although Facebook continues to be the social network of choice there are only so many aggressive pushes users will accept until they finally pull away for good. Although the American entrepreneurial spirit is one of two steps forward one step back. I believe Mark Zuckerberg has out paced himself on this one. Beacon was four steps forward, resulting in five steps back. It will take time to see if users are willing to accept such an aggressive approach to divulging personal content. In the interim if anyone knows of a good alternative to Facebook, friend me, please.

Once you’ve created your site you may have thought the toughest part of the operation behind you, but be weary.
Building great content is only the first step of the often-dangerous endeavor known as interactive marketing. The most treacherous element of your digital journey has yet to begin. Outreach.

Ask any professional in the interactive arena and they will tell you that content is king. What they won’t tell you is how to effectively spread the word to the digital community. Standing on your chair and screaming that you are relevant is no longer a viable option (if it ever was). How then do you build readership, drive traffic, and create conversions?

The simplest answer of course is the most effective, hard work.

Many tactics exist that allow marketers and public relations professionals to reach a large target field with minimal work and effort. Most of these efforts involve bulk emails driven by purchased target lists that claim accuracy.

Be careful.

Recently Chris Anderson editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail took more than 300 professional communicators to task by publicly outing them as industrial spammers. With over 300 response comments posted on his blog he obviously touched a nerve.

The uniqueness of your content in combination with the added value it provides your readers will eventually gain you a following. This being the case do not get yourself blacklisted before you are even out the gate.

By taking the time to understand your vertical and appreciating what editors are looking for you can initiate a productive outreach campaign

Read more:

Forbes.com Article

Rand Fishkin – SEO Moz – Comprehensive overview of Social media marketing essentials
-National Geographic plurality map
-Leveraging UGC Sites for Technical goals
-Using social media to control which results how up in search
-Reaching key influencers via blogs and social news portals
-Social Media Marketing supports both branding and marketing goals
-Rising rate of a single link lifts all of the links on the domain
-Helps with traffic and conversion goals
-Social media usage is up, but very few users actually create content -Social media participation
-Brand ambassadors
–Google’s “passionistas”
-Blogosphere engagement

Link-bait – Chumming for Traffic on Social Media Sites
-Attracting visitors on social media sites involves using the right bait — link-bait. Compelling content is best. Added benefit: it appeals to bloggers too. Do it right and they’ll link to you, enhancing the prominence of your brand and driving traffic to your site. This session explains link-baiting and provides examples and ideas to help you craft your own bait.

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Brent Csutoras, Online Marketing Specialist, BrentCsutoras.com – Linkbaiting on dig
-Linkerati looking to tap into crowd
-Gotta act fast on current events
–Offbeat or extreme gets good hits

Rebecca Kelley, Search Marketing Consultant, SEOmoz
- Successful link bait creates a domino effect
- One page can strengthen your entire domain
-Research your sectors link worthiness- Dig, Engadget, Boingboing, Flickr, Yahoo buzz, AOL search hot searches, Google trends Ask.com IQ
, Lycos top 50
- See if there is some way you can put a new spin on your topic to make it sync up with what is popular on the internet at any give moment

Extra! Extra! The Social News Sites – Digg, Netscape, Reddit, Newsvine and others allow community members to share and rate news stories. They are primary news sources and influential outlets that must be considered by marketers. But don’t expect to post your old-school press release and get a good response! Learn how these sites work and how to best tailor your message for maximum visibility on them.

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Neil Patel, CTO, Advantage Consulting Services – Intro to Digg
- Many 19-24 year olds
- Mostly male (data from quantcast)

Chris Winfield, President & Co-founder, 10e20
- What works to get on dig
- Creative idea
- Links from other websites
- Submitting to dig
- Use numbers
- Have a compelling description

Tamar Weinberg, Search Marketing Strategist, Rusty Brick, Inc. – How to make good content for Digg

A Marketer’s Guide to Social Bookmarking & Tagging – Consumers are sharing best-of-Web content with bookmarking and tagging sites like Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. Flickr, YouTube and Technorati tap into “tagging” to categorize material, so people interested in topics can locate community finds. This session is a marketer’s guide to using bookmarking and tagging effectively.

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Guillaume Bouchard, CEO, NVI – Guide to social bookmarking and tagging
- Tagging
- Parses down information
- Benefits
– Helps for search results
– Natural incoming links
- Increased in online social communities

Michael Gray, President, Atlas Web Service – Deli.icio.us – Social Bookmarking
-Bookmarking tool to research and share pages on the web
-Site navigation and functionality walkthrough

Neil Patel, CTO, Advantage Consulting Services – Stumbleupon

Keynote Q&A: Joshua Schachter of del.icio.us & Garrett Camp of StumbleUpon – StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp and del.icio.us founder Joshua Schachter head up two of the most important social bookmarking and discovery services on the web. In this session, the two will talk about trends in social media, where the future may be heading and entertain questions from attendees.

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and others allow people to connect with others and foster networks of friends or colleagues. Participate appropriately, and your company will find “friends” interested in what you have to say (and sell). Cross the line and the mob may turn on you and reject your message. In this session you’ll learn to network and participate in an acceptable and effective manner.

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Cindy Krum, Senior SEO Analyst, Blue Moon Works – Myspace Woahs and Woes
- Good things
– Flying Dog Brewery
– Using their myspace profile to drive sales and drive traffic to brewery
– Using the photos section to post flyers about upcoming community and brewery events, as well as starting discussion about their branding and labeling artwork.
– Using events listings to get people involved in community events
- Bad Things
– Westwood College Branded Profile
– A large number of people had self identified as westwood students, and they wanted to create a community online for them
- Lessons
– A cool branded profile takes time and skill to create
– Must keep content fresh
– Friends must be managed

Tags: Meg Minuskin Morpheus Media Fashion Week Tent Reem Acra Neiman Marcus Blog InSite Fashion Week

The team has designed 8 executions all promoting different aspects of the New York Times’ home delivery, guaranteed early delivery and weekender packages.

Take a look at one of the executions: Coffee Early Morning Delivery
The creative can be seen on sites like HopStop.com, New York Observer and others.

                                                                   Pt Chg vs.
                                                                    Previous
                                       Jan-07          Feb-07        Month
     Total Internet Population          100%            100%           N/A
     Google Sites                       47.5            48.1           0.6
     Yahoo! Sites                       28.1            28.1           0.0
     Microsoft Sites                    10.6            10.5          -0.1
     Ask Network                         5.2             5.0          -0.2
     Time Warner Network                 5.0             4.9          -0.1

Tags: Search, SEM, SEO, Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK, Time Warner

]]> http://www.morpheusmedia.com/mlog/archive/search-market-sharefebruary/feed/ 0