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The Washington Post Launches Platform for Crowdsourcing

The Washington Post Launches Platform for Crowdsourcing | Must Market | Scoop.it

If it is done right, this could be a collective intelligence platform as well as a crowdsourcing tool for journalists and an experiment in the public sphere. -- Howard

 

"The Washington Post today announced it has launched a new platform for crowdsourcing. “Crowd Sourced” is The Post’s special feature that allows Post journalists to ask questions about today’s concerns and begin a conversation about these issues. Users will be able to answer those questions and vote for the ideas they value most, so the most popular responses are surfaced on the page."

Marty Note
Howard is right as usual, but there is a lot of water that needs to go under the bridge between HERE where newspapers have never gotten social CRM and social CMS and THERE (when they do). The challenges of multi-author, multi-source, multi-tagged, multi-searched information management is not for the faint of heart (been there, done that and know it can HURT).


Is such a challenge perfectly suited for a newspaper? Of course, as it was 5 years ago when they could have won immeasurable competitive advantage from creating what it now sounds like the Post is trying to create. Still proof is in the UI, CMS, CRM and social support. 

Anything a newspaper can do to shake off the coma would be good, but I'm in the "wait and see" camp on this latest innovation out of Washington since it doesn't feel that innovative at least 2 years after it would have been.

Related: Platforms vs. Websites on ScentTrail Marketing (http://scenttrail.blogspot.com/2011/09/internet-marketing-platforms-vs.html )




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Is DollarShaveClub.com a Threat to Gillette and Schick? A: YES

Is DollarShaveClub.com a Threat to Gillette and Schick? A: YES | Must Market | Scoop.it

Blog post at Content Curation Desktop News : Now this is what I call spectacular viral advertising, read this post and discover how a company went head to head with two of the worlds la[..]...

Marty Note
Let's hope this wakes Gillette and Schick up since getting a mortgage to buy razor blades is getting really old. Maybe instead of piling one more blade on we should reduce the cost of blades? When grocery stores lock up their blades because they are so often stolen you know there is a problem. A problem or a tremendous business opportunity. 



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Meshing.it Author Lisa Gansky Inspires On Pinterest

Meshing.it Author Lisa Gansky Inspires On Pinterest | Must Market | Scoop.it

Marty
Lisa is one of my favorite entrepreneurs turned authors. Her book The Mesh is more movement than book and she is a capable, inspiring leader and guide. I find her Pinterest Big Idea board inspiring too.

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Meet the Moment Great Storytelling Marketing From Cliff Bar [+Video Marketing Tips]

http://www.MeettheMoment.com You don't plan Moments...they just happen.

Marty Note
I love the sweep and scoop of this video from Cliff Bar. It demonstrates some of my favorite video marketing tips too such as:

* Video's horizon should start wide and come in.
* Quiet pacing in a video creates confidence.
* Passage of time is very important.

* Passage of Time creates PLACE in a video (note the opening sequence).
* You need non-traditional characters (note use of nature for Cliff).
* VO (voice overs) work.

* Block VO to Images carefully.

* Hints of danger increase engagement.

* Too much danger decreases engagement.
* Man alone is commanding, inspirational and courageous.

* Man as part of a team is supportive, collaborative and reassuring.

* Let images do the storytelling, less VO is MORE.

* Words as graphics are powerful, less is MORE.
* Video is the most powerful emotional storytelling medium.


Great example of the art of storytelling on video by Cliff Bar :). M

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The evolution of Social CRM [infographic]

The evolution of Social CRM [infographic] | Must Market | Scoop.it

The evolution of Social CRM.#socialmedia (Social Media Dashboard: The evolution of Social CRM.)...

Marty Social CRM Note
The move to support toward those highly influential customers are Scooping, blogging and helping with brand advocacy can only HELP a company's bottom line. Profit takes many forms now and social currency leads to real bottom line gains. This infographic helps get a grasp on an important idea - Social Content Relationship Management systems. Great scoop from John.
:).M


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Discover How To Optimize Your Tweets To Increase Engagement [infographic]

Discover How To Optimize Your Tweets To Increase Engagement [infographic] | Must Market | Scoop.it

Some useful facts facts on increasing engagement on Twitter.

Marty Note
Duh, should have had a V8 On this one. Why is it we always forget to ask for the order? People like it when you let them know what you want them to do. We save thier time and create a bond, but we feel like used car salesmen when we do so (crazy). Good Twitter tips here such as ask for the Retweet.
:). M


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Why Content Curators Power Social Media Influece & What To Do About It

Why Content Curators Power Social Media Influece & What To Do About It | Must Market | Scoop.it

Content curators: How are you sharing content and influence online?

Marty Note
This is an important article. The idea that a small group of highly influential brand advocates are doing most of the work occurred to be when I created FoundObjects.com (now RIP except in the archive) in 1999. Here is a quick funny story that illustrates one of the problems hinted at in this article:

Martin's Maven Search Story
Not long after launching FoundObjects.com ( now RIP but you can see it here : http://scenttrail.blogspot.com/2010/02/martins-first-web-site.html ) in 1999 I read Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell explained something I intuitively knew - not all people visiting my new website were equal. I wanted to find out who were the Mavens, Salespeople and Connectors on our new website. I posted an offer. Help Foundobjects.com and I would send a free T-shirt with our thanks.

Each week we would get 2 or 3 requests and dutifully pack and ship a fee Found Objects tees with a thank you note. One rare Saturday we, my ex and I ran the company, took the morning off and had a long quiet breakfast before going to the office to pack and ship orders. Before heading into the warehouse I checked orders. Seeing 1,400 requests for free Found Objects t-shirts I panicked.

The offer had been placed on FatWallet.com long before I knew what a "coupon site" was. I pulled the offer and went across the parking lot to the people who printed our tees. Covering the costs was going to take $5,000 we didn't have, but I placed the order and we shipped the tees. Today I would have provided a coupon as a make good instead of risking being able to eat (LOL). We painfully got through my first lesson in viral marketing's downside. I learned a valuable lesson about the web's netowork effect, speed and power.

The real funny part of the story is months later I attended a Work With Seth Godin day (http://scenttrail.blogspot.com/2008/05/working-with-seth-godin.html ). Still broke since the tees ate our cash, I had to sell my beloved Litespeed bicycle to pay for the airfare. Seth generously let me in as a "schlorship student" not having to pay the gate fee everyone else did. In that meeting who do I met Tim Storm, the founder of FatWallet.

Point Of A Funny Story
The point of this story is twofold. It is hard to find your Mavens or "influencers" (I prefer advocates since advocates typically work from love and for free where influencers work for money) without disturbing the delicate balance that makes them so effective on your brand's behalf - they are belivers and so evangelical in their support. Secondly, things happen very fast online. Ever try to stick your hand safely into a fan? No right, because there isn't a way to stick your hand into a fan (at least not the ones with blades). The web's ballet is delicate and full of grace. Dance in with the wrong shoes and the gig is up.

This doesn't mean we should put some flypaper out and about to find out who is helping us and how. It does mean to be thankful for the cool air and not stick our hands where they don't belong.

:). M


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Radio Shack's Failure, Your Small Business Success

Radio Shack's Failure, Your Small Business Success | Must Market | Scoop.it

Small businesses can often learn valuable lessons from the missteps of big companies.


Marty Note
Radio Shack's failure can teach Small To Medium Sized businesses valuable lessons about what not to do. Radio Shack decided to invest heavily in a celebrity (Lance Armstrong), aligned with hot cool electronics brands (Apple and T Mobile) and re-branded away from their hobbyist roots. Here are some of the mistakes Radio Shack made:

* Celebrities are usually in it for themselves.

* Never leave a loyal group of customers in the lurch.

* Don't hurt those who already love you.

* Don't Siamese twin YOU to THEM.

* Tell new stories carefully.

* New stories come from OLD values.

* Values are Key (read Built To Last by Collins).

* Unfocused Inventory = Unfocused Brand (YES)

* Less is MORE especially when trying to differentiate.

* Some stories, like your branded past, are sticker than you realize.

Radio Shack would have been better served to redefine Radio Shack geeks as uber-cool. If you want a celebrity ask Woz to be your spokesman. Steve Wozniak gets you Apple's cool with the hobbyist / engineer overlay. Woz would have done it for a donation to his education foundation and that cause marketing would have made the brand meaningful in education. When apple was in peril where did the turn to make the rent - educators. More revolutions start with educators than you realize.

Q:Who isn't a techno-geek now? A: No One.


Instead of leaving your core customers and brand advocates expand your brand to say everyman is now a Radio Shacker. Bring the new group to the old (Always). Don't forsake your current group for anything, ever. Radio Shack has such strong nostalgia, we boomers love the brand, so use your history to rebrand. Ask customers to tell their favorite Radio Shack stories (there are millions of them). Then make the prize relevant to the rebrand. Bring the winners to Texas, Radio Shack is in Ft. Worth, and make them heroes.

As you do this always look to triangulate the new Radio Shack against key messages:

* Radio Shack helped create the digital revolution.

* New Radio Shack is Phoenix rising from ashes of old.

* Radio Shack is NEW and COOL.

* Radio Shack is a community of cool people like YOU.

* Radio Shack is for HEROES.


Instead Radio Shack made themselves a Best Buy clone and that didn't work (hardly working for Best Buy now). Why would such a great brand make such a huge mistake? Grass always looks greener over THERE. Some agency came in and played the grass is always greener card to Radio Shack The pitching agency probably had a stack of research and a golden throated pitch.


The guilty have now been shot, the CEO lost his job as he should have, and the brand is in free fall. Sad since a brand so precious, even if its relevance is tarnished, shouldn't be lost. Recovery now is doubtful. Radio Shack won't be here for your children's digital lives and that is sad. We can't buy everything from Amazon no matter how much they want us too.

Marty


GREAT Comment From My Friend and uber-Curator Brian Yanish. Brian is a self confessed nerd and founder of MarketingHits.com (http://www.scoop.it/u/brian-yanish ):

« In the middle today's big "Maker" world Radio Shack changed their story instead of going after their core type of customer of yesterday.


New Maker's are born everyday, they could have easily corned that market and kept it strong for years to come. It would be sooo easy in today social media world for them to get tons of free social marketing by loyal Radio Shack "Maker" customers.

Put on a few how to classes, used video, sponsor events, contests, etc.

Home Depot knows their future customers, big reason why they push things like the kids bird house building workshop.

No better way to sell a brand then to get the smiling little future customers on hands with your product and the parents sharing photos via Facebook. »

Marty Note: Agree with Brian who is pictured with a very cute future "maker" on his page. The community approach is so strong with this make tribe that an intelligent social strategy saves a beloved brand. Even a "do no harm" strategy would have allowed the brand to limp along, but putting the paddles on the chest so insufficiently powered was painful to watch and the damage is hard to repair. Thanks Brian.

Brian Yanish - MarketingHits.com's comment, July 20, 2012 11:30 PM
In the middle today's big "Maker" world Radio Shack changed their story instead of going after their core type of customer of yesterday.

New Maker's are born everyday, they could have easily corned that market and kept it strong for years to come. It would be sooo easy in today social media world for them to get tons of free social marketing by loyal Radio Shack "Maker" customers.
Put on a few how to classes, used video, sponsor events, contests, etc.

Home Depot knows their future customers, big reason why they push things like the kids bird house building workshop.

No better way to sell a brand then to get the smiling little future customers on hands with your product and the parents sharing photos via Facebook.
Martin (Marty) Smith's comment, July 20, 2012 11:39 PM
Great comment Brian. I pulled it up into the piece and noted how there is a future generation "make" sitting with you :). Marty
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Highly Persuasive Stories: 6 Storytelling Secrets

Highly Persuasive Stories: 6 Storytelling Secrets | Must Market | Scoop.it
One of the toughest persuasion tasks is convincing a jury in a courtroom.

...
If you are an Internet marketer and don't know Roger Dooley you need too. His book BrainFluence is on the cutting edge of neuromarketing. Neuromarketing is getting behind the brain's curtain, usually with MRIs or other tech, to understand WHY we Predictably Irrational (another great book) consumers do what we do. This post is about telling stories that persude, stories that cut through clutter and stop time.

Our lives are The Hero's Journey mired in BS. Any seller of anything must tell great stories or be eaten alive by Amazon (lol). Read this quick post and download Dooley's great book into your mobile reading device. If you sell anything, and who doesn't these days, you will be better informed, have more fun and be less worried. Let's see richer, smarter healther, yep that about sums BrainFluence and Dooley's blog up.

Mary

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SOSTAC® marketing plans [infographic] - Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice

SOSTAC® marketing plans [infographic] - Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice | Must Market | Scoop.it

SOSTAC® is a planning model, originally developed by PR Smith in the 1990s to help marketers develop marketing plans. Paul is my co-author on Emarketing Excellence, so when we created this book it was natural to work together to show how SOSTAC® can best be applied to planning for digital marketing.


**** This was interesting if a tad self serving. Not sure slapping registered trademarks all over everything was necessary, but cool way to organize a marketing plan.
Marty

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15 MONSTER Web Design and Development Trends for 2012

15 MONSTER Web Design and Development Trends for 2012 | Must Market | Scoop.it

Craig Grannell quizzes the industry’s finest about the web design and development trends that will occur over the coming 12 months and that you need to be mindful of...

**** Each of these trends rocks your world even the ones you don't fully understand. My favorite is MORE GAMES since the browser is collapsing into something more like an adaptable skin. I've been thinking the phone is really a game console for several months just can't form that idea into a product/company someone will fund (yet :).

Marty

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Pinterest: 80% of Pins Are Repins So More Viral Than Twitter

Pinterest: 80% of Pins Are Repins So More Viral Than Twitter | Must Market | Scoop.it
This is an article about using Pinterest to market to women and compares engagement with Twitter.

...


Fascinating study showing little or no Pinterest decay thanks to list replenishment and the generational nature of repins. Think of a stone thrown into a pond, as the ripples move further from the splash their wave length gets longer and longer. Throw another stone in and the first generation of waves may still be rippling. As new people come onto y0ur Pinterest boards they pick up and repin older pins continuing the lifespan of the first generation ripples.

Returning visitors visit and see new pins and repin creating new generations of ripples and so on into infinity. The study says Pinterest has the generational longer life idea down better than Twitter. Ever try to re-engage on an old Tweet?


You can repost an old, popular tweet, but you better put "from the archive" or you will churn your most valued members off your list - those rare birds actually paying attention, but this study says twitter's decay rate is steep (true) and that the environment is less supportive of a tumbling generational effect (also true).

This study points to a larger issue - Visuals vs. Textuals.

So much of our brain is allocated to visual processing it makes sense a Pinterest board would be more memorable and so more robustly supported by new and returning visitors than the less spell binding Twitter. Twitter is stream is a constant NOW.


Pinterest, because it is so visual, can bring the past (nostalgia is very strong on Pinterest) or future (think about a Sci Fi board). Pictures engage and words explain. It is no mistake that some of most popular pins on Pinterest are words as paintings, words as posters ad words as illustration.

Words as poster and illustration make a cliché or fable easier to remember. Rereading Made To Stick by the Heath brothers today I got back in touch with the idea of the schema. Brands are schema or visual symbols that may evoke a deep well of meaning. The image the link wanted to put on this post was a graph. I changed it to the Pinterest logo because any viewer will get more messages faster from the red P than from a graph requiring close examination.

Pinterest is sharing an important lesson with every Internet marketer. Choose your words carefully and images even more so :).

Marty


Thanks to Kelly for her Pinterest expertise.


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Marketing Revolution: The SEOgadget Guide To Conversion Rate Optimization

Marketing Revolution: The SEOgadget Guide To Conversion Rate Optimization | Must Market | Scoop.it

A step by step, epic guide to learning conversion rate optimization. 

So, What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

At the heart of conversion rate optimization is the notion of removing barriers to conversion. These are the forces stopping your site from converting visitors into sales.

Barriers to conversion can include usability errors, weak persuasive techniques and often, page relevancy issues.

By learning about your customer’s objections – “barriers to conversion” you’re addressing the real reasons why people don’t convert.

Why doesn’t guesswork, work?

Changing the colour of your buttons will have no effect if people find your website lacking in credibility. Targeting the root cause with security logos and social proof (for example, reviews, accreditations, and association) is a much better solution.

Step 1 – Set up Funnels

Setup your funnels and analyse the points where your users enter, until the point they exit. Try to identify the “missing links” or barriers to conversion.

Step 2 – Analytics

Find out what’s actually happening when people land on your site, analyse what they do, what keywords they discovered you for and where they land.

Step 3 - Barriers

To identify barriers to conversion, you’ve got to build up a profile of people’s objections and opinions.

When it comes to using these tools we’ve found that all you really need is one question. Allow users to really express themselves by asking them an open-ended question.

Step 4 – Go Offline

If we know our target then the objective becomes easier. Study your website and understand your customers.

Step 5 – Prospect for Missing Links

It’s all about wheeling and dealing, discovering those hidden gems within your company and using them to grow sales.

If you don’t sell yourself and mention all of your achievements, they won’t easily learn about you. The same rule applies for websites.

Step 6 – Strengthen Average Order Value (AOV)

There are so many ways to strengthen your AOV.

Not all competition is competition, strategic partnerships can be a great way to grow and gain maximum exposure especially for start-ups.

Step 7 – Wireframe the Solutions

As soon as you’ve got a plan, list and prioritise the main conversion killers and derive solutions on how to fix it and increase conversion.

Step 8 - Testing

Don’t test too many things, instead create a clear structured hypothesis.

Step 9 - Review

Review your test, analyse the analytics, click density and form analytics and compare it to the original page, check the difference.

Step 10 – Rinse & Repeat

Repeat the process and keep building successful tests.


Follow this methodology and it will be extremely hard not to increase your site conversion.

By Fabian Alvares -- http://bit.ly/NsmVKg

Source:  http://mz.cm/LNV9rA


****** About as good a summary of the Internet Marketing revolution's process as you are ever going to find. Marty


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The Portfolio Problem And What To Do About It

The Portfolio Problem And What To Do About It | Must Market | Scoop.it

Note: The link is to a very good portfolio that demonstrates the issues outlined below not to a further article discussing this issue. All of my thoughts, at least for the moment, are here :).M

Portfolios are important visual stories with a problem. When you work a long time on a website you develop intuition and what the Heath brothers define as a, "Curse of knowledge," in their highly recommended Made To Stick book about how we interact with and transfer cultural ideas (or memes).

After working months to solve a design's problems, challenges and to address the client and business opportunities behind its creation it is easy to forget few know that story. Designers are visually gifted and love clean, spare lines.

The problem is clean spare lines all look the same. Compare 5 web design portfolios and you will see the mind numbing sameness of the approach. Here are some ideas for how to make your portfolio stand apart and help your website convert better:

* Tell the story ABOUT the design with words and pictures.

* Pick one BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and explain it.

* Create an animated video timeline of your process.

* Remember that any PROCESS is also PRODUCT so capture everything.

* Ask for feedback, create a contest, have a deadline and an award.

* Be sure to use some of the feedback and give credit.

* Test, Test and Test some more and do MVT testing if you can afford it.

* Have clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and watch like a hawk.

* Don't make your portfolio static; find ways to make the pages pop daily.

* Include a social feed on Portfolio page to create daily frequency pops.

* Share warts and all of at least one web design journey (human, approachable, honest).

 

Pretty pictures that all look the same don't help conversion and they send the, "We are the SAME," message, a fine message for IBM but not for most Small To Medium Sized businesses (SMBs).

Do you have examples of great tactical use of a portfolio? Please share as this is such a critical and common feature getting to "best practices" could help any site convert better.

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Social Media's Marketings Magic Feedback Loops | Atlantic BT

Social Media's Marketings Magic Feedback Loops | Atlantic BT | Must Market | Scoop.it
Marketing is social now so understanding how quickly the distinction between US and Them is eroding by using social media marketing's magical feedback loops is beyond important.

...

Marty Note - 2nd Post
The idea of feedback loops is so central to successful Internet marketing I'm posting a piece I wrote about those magical loops on Saturday via Atlantic BT'S blog (http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog ) again here on Marketing Revolution. Same post is also on Curation Revolution.


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Video Marketing Tip - The "Rule of Ones" | Imagination Media

Video Marketing Tip - The "Rule of Ones" | Imagination Media | Must Market | Scoop.it
Give your video marketing more focus, purpose and impact using the powerful Rule of Ones to guide you as you deliver high content value to your auience.

...

Marty Note - Great video marketing tips here and very sticky under Rule of One umbrella.


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Mobile Wallet Revolution & Amazing Cliff Ad [video]

Mobile Wallet Revolution & Amazing Cliff Ad [video] | Must Market | Scoop.it

Recently there has been an increase in mobile wallets and payment solutions offered on the African continent. It has been said that Africa is in fact leading the mobile revolution.  Wallets allow f...

Marty Mobile Wallet Revolution Note
Good article about the coming mobile wallet,but a GREAT storytelling adventure video "Meet The Moment" from Cliff Bar you can see here: http://youtu.be/1tNYzS_GhJU .



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Seth's Blog: The circles of Marketing

Seth's Blog: The circles of Marketing | Must Market | Scoop.it

Most amateurs and citizens believe that marketing is the outer circle. Marketing = advertising, it seems.

Marty Note
Hard to beat Seth for fresh insight even though graphics have never been a Godin strength (lol). :).M

Picked this up from my friend and Agile Marketing guru @JimeEwel (https://twitter.com/jimewel )and then forget to credit him on my Tweet. Sorry Jim it is much earlier where you are :). M

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People Love Amazon And WANT To Spend Money And Fear Facebook - 4 Fixit Tips

People Love Amazon And WANT To Spend Money And Fear Facebook - 4 Fixit Tips | Must Market | Scoop.it

Harris Interactive recently surveyed 2,262 adults about their views towards companies using personal data for target advertising. The survey provided startling results on how consumers prefer their purchasing data is used.

The fact that 66% of consumers are ok with Amazon using their history but only 33% are ok with Facebook using their profile information volumes to how the mindset of users on different sites changes based on the nature of the site.

Marty Note
After being a Director of Ecommerce for almost 10 years there is one immutable Internet marketing truth: No Trust, No Money. Facebook has a money/trust problem. I find this money/trust problem ironic since CONTENT is the new money and people share the most valuable pieces of their content life on Facebook without a care.

Breaking out the credit card seems to be a horse of a different color. Ways Facebook could solve their money / trust problem:

* Bridge to money from the core of what people do trust Facebook for, so imagine a tag like, "Facebook Thanks You For Trusting Us with Your Life." Don't have to go all the way to money to make the point.

* Partner with a trusted money brand like PayPal. Create a Facebook's & PayPal Security badge and plaster it all over. Better yet, make it able to be plasered all over other sites too.

* You can't survey this problem since to do so would be to make people feel less secure, but you can contest it. Create a "My Favorite Facebook Purchase" campaign to gather User Generated Content and hear some real voices. People convince other people of security not the vested interest company. Make the prize newsworthy and brand reinforcing, a trip to Ft. Knox or a visit to the Federal Reserve in NYC.

* LifeLock It - Create an insurance policy with an absurd award if anyone ever has a problem. The founder of Lifelock putting his social security number on an advan driving around NYC was what made that guy a hit and very, very rich. His service is just what any consumer could do by contacting the credit bureaus but $100 for a sense of security = why not.

What are your ideas for how Facebook could solve their money / trust problem.

Marty


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Yahoo Becomes A Zombie As Share And Traffic Plummet [infographic]

Yahoo Becomes A Zombie As Share And Traffic Plummet [infographic] | Must Market | Scoop.it

There was a time when Yahoo! had a higher market cap than Google and Apple. The portal and search engine started losing its identity in 2006 and ha been on a steady decline ever since. Revenue growth has gone into the red.

Marty Note
There are only two states inside of a content network: gaining share at exponential rates or losing share in the same way. Yahoo has entered its zombie stage where they are still walking around but all but dead. The web is set up to heap increasing benefits or pain on its members (websites).

Yahoo's inability to best Google, understand Facebook or hold their network together provides many lessons including:

* It isn't what you think it is.
* By the time you think things are bad they are worse.

* Innovator's dlemma - stop innovating and death or zombification is assured.

* Your worst enemey is always inside the wire never "out there".

* Values, values and VALUES.


Internet marketing moves too fast to understand. You have to feel it, surf it and want to do it again. There is no STOPPING or slowing down. There is only more and more, faster and faster and better and better. Yahoo forget this and are now zombies, dead man walking, because of their inabliity to get out of their own way. No outside force made Yahoo a zombie. They accomplished that largly on their own.

:). M


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ORM, SEO And A Kicking Panda [Infographic]

ORM, SEO And A Kicking Panda [Infographic] | Must Market | Scoop.it
Appearing on the first page of a Google search can be the difference between the success or the failure of your business.

...

***** Like the breadth and scope of this article. There are more connections between things like Online Reputation Management (ORM) and Search Engine Optimizaiton (SEO) than it seems or we can understand at the moment. Stay with this article long enough to see the great Panda infographic. Marty

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Put Scoopit on Your WordPress Blog, Blogger Or Your Website

http://BasicBlogTips.com Scoopit is a hot new curation tool that I mentioned in a previous video. You can add Scoopit to page on your WordPress or Blogger blog with these simple instructions. This is a response to a question that came in through Speak Pipe from Bart Nash from BartNash.com

Read the blog post http://basicblogtips.com/scoop-it.html 


**** Good suggestion from Ileane Smith (no relation :) Marty








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Why Crowdsourcing is the Future of Content Marketing

Why Crowdsourcing is the Future of Content Marketing | Must Market | Scoop.it

"Crowdsourcing is helping to solve complex engineering problems, so why couldn't it be applied to our marketing issues?"

 

It's a good question. I, for example, am crowdsourcing the editing and reviewing of my next book. I posted a LinkedIn Question, got some volunteers, and am getting great feedback.

**** I can go one better. Crowdsourcing has to be the future of any content marketer's site because the demand for content so far exceeds any team's ability to meet even half of it crowds, mobs and huge floods of UGC (user generated content) will be required.


Amazon has 600M pages in google much of them crafted from the DNA of the new marketng - content (reviews in particular). You may see Amazon as in another galaxy and you would be correct, but one of your competitors is winding up a content creation engine as I write this.


Doubt that? Use Google's site:www.yoururl.com to see how many pages YOUR SITE has in Google's index vs. your competitors. If they don't have more pages by 30% I owe you lunch and a hearty congratulations. If you are like most you will be overwhelmed by that data. Don't be overwhelmed but get to crowdsourcing since it is in your site's future and the future is NOW.
Marty



Via Mike Ellsworth
Martin (Marty) Smith's comment, July 18, 2012 9:24 PM
I Thought it sounded cool too and I hate having free time too. Figure if I'm going to drown I want to do what I LOVE and writing a book is on my bucket list. We can probably pull in other great curators like Robin, Brian, Michele and Susan too (just to mention who popped into my mind first but there is at least as many other good ones on Scoop.it. I pissed Guillaume so bad the other day we ought to dedicate to him (LOL). Marty
Mike Ellsworth's comment, July 18, 2012 10:22 PM
Marty, count me in. Let me know if you'd like to review my book. Hoping to publish it yet this month. Waiting for cover design and final edits.
Mike Ellsworth's comment, July 22, 2012 4:38 PM
Nikola, thanks for the rescoop!
Rescooped by Martin (Marty) Smith from Latest Social Media News
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Crowdsourcing vs Collective Intelligence. What's the diff?

Crowdsourcing vs Collective Intelligence. What's the diff? | Must Market | Scoop.it
***** Least you think the difference between crowdsourcing vs. wisdom of crowds is a distinction without a difference this great article uses some of my favorite Internet marketing (like Threadless) so you will know the diff between an intelligent crowd and a rich one :).
Marty
Via Gianfranco Barbera, Spaceweaver, Minter Dial, Gerrit Bes
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Rescooped by Martin (Marty) Smith from Thinksmart
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How Your Brand Colors Impact Your Audience

How Your Brand Colors Impact Your Audience | Must Market | Scoop.it

This article and infographic posted by Chelsey Kilser and Daily Infographic and is about the of findings from Entrepreneur, TheLogoFactory and Logodesignworks


Jan Gordon:


Effective social business requires a strong brand messagegreat content and the ability to build community through deeper engagement and is first and foremost. However, the way you package your services matters and the colors you use are very important.


Excerpt:


"Colors matter and they are one of the factors that keeps your company standing out, gives your company a voice and gives you leverage over other similar companies."


Here are a few takeaways:


**The true colors of the world's top brands:

   

     *29% use red

     *33% use blue

     *13% use yellow

     *28% use black or grayscale


**Good information about how people respond to different colors


     Here are just a few:


      *Red is agressive, provacative, attention-

        grabbing


      *Purple signifies royalty, sophistication, mystery


      *Black means prestige, value, timelessness


      *Brown is earthlike, natural, simplistic


Selected by Jan Gordon covering "Content Curation, Social Business and Beyond"


See article and infographic here: [http://bit.ly/OjaJjM]  


Via janlgordon, thinksmart.it
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