Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

...I recently came across a blog post by Scott Brinker of ion interactive, explaining why they bet the whole company on marketing apps. He sees interactive web experiences (fueled by these marketing apps) as the fourth wave of content marketing. The first three waves, according to Scott, are 1) text-based web content, 2) rich media content, and 3) personalization.

As Scott notes in his post, interactive content can include wizards, configurators, calculators, assessment tools, contests, interactive white papers, games, quizzes, surveys, guided tours, portals, social hubs, diagnostics, workbooks, galleries, utilities, sweepstakes, learning exercises – in short, anything that consumers interact with. As the fourth wave of content marketing, this interactive content is the future.

The “Guess Which Won” AppTo give you an idea of how powerful this kind of marketing can be, check out ion interactive’sGuess Which Won app. The app gives you five A/B tests to judge, and for each test, you’re shown two variations of a landing page and asked to guess which one performed best....

What needs and priorities define the contemporary American consumer?

The Future Foundation took a look as at some key trends shaping emodern life, and using its findings, selected four startups the research firm feels will appeal to these consumer needs and desires.“They all skirt the boundary between the real world and virtual world in ways that suggest that very boundary is breaking down. They all help people take control of their lives and its objectives, and they all propel real trends.

That’s why we’re watching them with keen interest,” said Meabh Quorin, managing director of the Future Foundation. “When a startup addresses actual changes in consumer behavior, it’s not just an innovation; it’s a solution.”...

Want to earn earned media in a somewhat unique but proven way?Follow the lead of McDonald's, Starbucks and Amazon by using gamification for PR.

You’ve probably seen examples like this type of gamification everywhere. 

WPP defines gamification as “the use of game play mechanics or non-game applications, particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications.”

But for our purposes, I want to show you how gamification generates media impressions, both on social media and earned media platforms.

First, a caveat: generally I hate to use huge corporations as case studies in a blog intended for small- and medium-sized businesses, but I think in each case described there are aspects of their campaigns that are scalable and illustrative....