Sam Puri's blog

Social Media Budgets

2009-12-23T14:04:00.001-08:00

It looks like budgets for Social Media in 2010 will not be affected by the current economic climate. In a recent article on , there is a forecast saying that Social Media budgets will actually increase for 2010 instead of decreasing. What's the issue here? The issue is that companies will either increase their budgets to do it, or may decrease budgets for other methods of marketing to accomplish this.

if you remember my blog post about the Innotech conference, the speaker, Giovanni Galucci, said that while it is smart to use Social Media as an avenue for Marketing, it should never be used as the the main function for Marketing. The basic methods of traditional marketing must still be used, and if companies are starting to move their budgets more towards Social Media, and away from traditional methods, this could actually hurt them in the long run.

While it is smart to allocate a higher budget towards Social Media, I believe this should only be done if the overall budget for Marketing is increased, as opposed to simply taking away funding from more traditional marketing methods. We'll see the benefits and consequences of this in 2010.

Social Media Getting A Boost from Google

2009-12-10T00:17:00.000-08:00

It looks like Google is going to start incorporating Social Media into its real time search results. What does this mean? It means that when you Google a topic on Google, it will start to look on Twitter as well as Facebook and other Social Media websites for anything that may relate to that topic. This is really incorporating what Google believes to be a "Real Time" search since what has been posted most recently will also be at the top of the results in Google.

This does not come as too surprising, after all Social Media is beginning to take over how we think and run our everyday lives. My main question for this is how it will affect SEO (Search Engine Optimization) performance. Will there be a point to SEO anything if everything is going to be updated in a real time format? Will bots be created that automatically spam the same topics so their results can come first every time?

As usual, we are on a ship with Social Media and we have no idea where it will take us. It is both exciting and scary at the same time.

PhRMA looking for FDA Approval via Social Media Markets

2009-11-13T17:16:00.000-08:00

A recent AdAge article mentioned lobbying group for the pharmaceutical industry, the PhRMA, made a case today during public hearings in Washington about using a FDA approved symbol for Social Media sites. The Social Media site, such as Facebook and Twitter, would be able to mention links that would contain the company's FDA mandated risk information. The other current issue is that there are not any guidelines or regulations about how pharmaceutical companies can market themselves on Social Media websites.

Earlier in the year, many pharmaceutical companies had posted search engine marketing ads, which resulted in warnings from the FDA due to the violated regulations of fair balance. The pharmaceutical companies fought back, saying that it is near impossible to convey what would be a traditional marketing ad in a Twitter message or banner ad.

This is showing the severe impact that Social Media is having on Marketing today. Web 2.0 is starting to take over, and while guidelines were not previously established for Social Media Marketing, it is now more important than ever to establish some sort of rules which pharmaceutical companies can follow.

It is apparent that companies will continue using Traditional Media avenues such as television and print advertising for much of their marketing, but the question still remains - How much Marketing will be attributed to Social Media? Will it be a 50/50 split between traditional methods and Social Media, or will Social Media become the dominant aspect of Marketing as we head into the future?

Facebook being taken more seriously by Marketers

2009-11-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

I recently read an article which talked about how the average median age of Facebook users has increased from the age of 26 last year to 33 this year. Due to this, Marketers are starting to take Facebook more seriously as a channel for their Marketing efforts.

I'm sort of surprised by this article to be honest. We have to wait for the median age to increase to the mid 30's before Marketers consider Facebook to be a reasonable Marketing avenue? At the age of 26, much of the population is working, finishing up school, or looking for a position. To ignore an avenue of Marketing for an age as high as 26 surprises me. I guess the amount of potential revenue earned may increase exponentially once the median age may be past 30? I would like to see some evidence. If anyone knows more about this please let me know.

Innotech Conference

2009-11-02T15:42:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the Innotech conference we had in Austin. I signed up for the eMarketing track, where almost all of the presentations revolved around Social Media Marketing and how it affects us today.

The first presentation I attended was "Exploiting Social Media to Master Search Marketing." The presenter, Ian Strain-Seymour spoke specifically about how we can leverage the Social Media markets to help expand our business or brand. As a brief summary of his presentation, he spelled out a few key things we should do:

1. Grab Real Estate
2. Build a Platform
3. Get Local
4. Blog
5. Participate in Existing Social and Community Sites

Overall I found Ian's presentation to be very effective and was much more in depth than other presentations I attended about Social Media Marketing.

The next presentation "Why Buyers Fail to Take Action on your Web Site" revolved around more of the selling aspect of the website, and why a site visitor would purchase your product or services. Brian Massey (who wore a lab coat, I'm not kidding), said there are two keys to converting a site visitor to a customer:

1. Direct correct traffic to website
2. Have relevant content

Brian then started to identify different demographics of the types of site visitors that may visit your website, and how to use these demographics to make sure you receive the correct traffic. With relevant content he did not show too many examples, but basically stated the obvious in that a website should not be confusing in what message it is trying to convey to its site visitors.

After a fantastic lunch provided by Innotech, I then had the opportunity to listen to Bryan Rhoads speaking about "Integrating Your Business and Brand into Social Conversations." I'll be honest, I do not remember much of Bryan's presentation. Bryan went really in depth into theorizing the future of Social Media and came up with all these theories which I could not understand. I am sure a lot of the people in attendance got a lot out of the presentation but it all went over my head. I just felt like it was too much too soon. We still don't know where Social Media will take us, and I felt like his strategies were too far our there, and by the time anyone may try to implement those strategies, Social Media will evolve again and take us in a different direction.

The final presentation I attended was by Giovanni Galucci. He spoke about "Top 10 Extreme Social Media Promotion Hacks." He actually ended up giving us 40 of them. This presentation was my favorite at the Innotech conference. The presentation ended up going over a half hour it's time limit due to the amount of questions from everyone in the audience. He named many ways to use Social Media to our advantage in branding and marketing. While I won't list all 40 I will point out that he did say it is extremely to use Social Media Marketing as an addition to the traditional marketing that we are already doing. He said that Social Media Marketing on its own will not work. Hmm, I wonder if he read my post about Paranormal Activity? I do, however, agree with him. Traditional Marketing is still extremely important, and the success of Paranormal Activity may be an exception to the rule.

Overall, the Innotech conference was extremely informative and a great learning experience. Although we are not sure where Social Media will take us, the presentations at the conference attempted to guide all of us in a direction which we may be headed. I highly recommend attending an Innotech conference if it is in your area, it was a very beneficial event.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy week or so and I apologize for the lack of updates. I was a Phantom for Halloween and after that outfit did not work very well I switched to being a Chef which turned out to be pretty good.

I went Halloween costume shopping at a place called Spirit Halloween which only has Halloween items such as costumes, fog machines, signs, and other scary paraphernalia. I like how they market themselves as specifically a Halloween company but I really wonder how business is for them for the 11 months out of the year which are not October.

Starbucks and Coca Cola taking over Social Media Market

2009-10-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

I recently read a fantastic blog post on the American Marketing Association Austin chapter website. The author, Kara Marshall, discusses the Social Media strategies which Pizza Hut and Starbucks are currently using to attract further business and revenue.

Starbucks has created a fanpage which has over 4 million fan followers on their page. The followers post new ideas for the companies and communicate with one another through the fanpage. For Starbucks, it is an opportunity for them to promote new products through status updates.

Pizza Hut has added an IPhone application where a user can create their own custom pizza and order it online through the application. This sounds familiar to the Chipotle application I personally use which allows me to order Chipotle food from my phone and even pay for it ahead of time.

I love the ending of Kara's post where she is asking where Social Media is taking us and if it is a trend or something which may be replaced by something better in the future. These are the same questions I have been asking and hopefully we can find an answer to it soon.

Happy Diwali

2009-10-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Diwali. Diwali is also known as the "Festival of Lights" and is celebrated within the Indian culture as the official "New Year."

Social Marketing?

2009-10-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

I attended a meeting this morning for jobseekers by the name of Launch Pad Job Club. They are nonprofit organization which is designed specifically for helping jobseekers find positions in the Austin area. As a new member of this group, I had to stand up and introduce myself to around 300 other jobseekers. While speaking, I mentioned that I was looking for "Social Marketing" jobs.

Interestingly enough, I had two people come up to me after the event was over and ask me specifically what "Social Marketing" is. I realized that I never said "Social Network Marketing" or "Social Media Networking." It's interesting to me that just by using slang language, I was able to cause a bit of confusion and intrigue from the other jobseekers.

What's the lesson? Always say "Social Marketing" and be vague when making introductions. I'm kidding of course, but I thought this was an interesting story to share.

Movie rakes in over 9 Million by Social Media Marketing?

2009-10-14T12:08:00.001-07:00

I recently read this review by the Washington Post on a movie called "Paranormal Activity." Apparently the movie was made back in 2006 and it used social media outlets to help market the movie. Fans would vote to bring the movie to their town and respective theaters. The result? 8 Million earned on a movie that only cost $15,000 to make! Now the movie will be wide released on October 16th for all moviegoers to enjoy.

I think this is a clear example of how powerful social media can be in marketing a product. Believe it or not, we have just scratched the surface with social media. Eventually I can see some sort of online "American Idol" based show where we have a chance to preview 5 different movie trailers and decide which one can come to town for a viewing.

Brazen Careerist - Looks like I was getting ahead of myself earlier

2009-10-13T15:17:00.001-07:00

If you read my post a few days ago about Social Media Marketing, I was suggesting that eventually we would have something that would merge all of the social media networks into one application.

I figured it would take at least 5-10 years for this to happen. However, there is a website by the name of Brazen Careerist which is already attempting to combine the social media applications into one. It has a little bit of a Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, and LinkedIn feel to it. Check out the website. It is relatively new, but I believe eventually either this website or a similar one will be the "Go-To" website. Either that, or Facebook will simply take over and implement all of the other social media functions. I recently heard that if Facebook was a country, it would be the 4th largest country in the world.

Internet Service

2009-10-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

Since I just moved to Austin I found it important to find Internet Service for myself. After doing a bit of research I narrowed it down to two companies. Here is what I found to be interesting. Both of the companies had online offers which were completely different from the offers I heard about when I called each company.

One of the companies was using outside vendors to help market their internet services and offers. One of the online offers I saw included a free professional installation. When I called the vendor to confirm this, he said he did not have the power to do it, however the company itself should be able to waive the fee. After calling the company, I found out that they could not waive the fee and the offer to professionally install Internet for free did not exist.

The other company had listed on their own website a decent deal for Internet service. When I called the company to confirm it, they told me that the offer would only exist if I added a phone line to my service. Of course, nothing about a phone line was mentioned in the specific ad itself.

I guess I am in a bit of shock. Is "Do whatever we can to get their foot in the door" the new style of Marketing for companies that provide Internet service? I am not the one posting the ads, the companies are the ones who choose their vendors or choose to post the ads themselves. For me, as a consumer, I ask that the companies follow through on what they offer.

Social Media Marketing

2009-10-08T12:55:00.001-07:00

I watched this video about Social Media by Thomas Powers and it got me thinking about where exactly we are heading with social media and networking.

http://www.yourbusinesschannel.com/central_valley/1014

All I know is that I will continue to utilize Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and this blog. I am excited to see what journey Social Networking will take us. In my opinion, I believe that eventually there will be an "all in one" website that will combine all of these different features. Each person would essentially have their own webspace which has all the features of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a blog. How long will this take? I am guessing at least 5-10 years if not longer. All of the companies would have to come upon some sort of agreement, and those negotiations may take a while.

Networking

2009-10-07T11:59:00.001-07:00

I recently joined the American Marketing Association chapter in the Austin area. I attended a breakfast that they had yesterday and had the privilege to meet with many of their board members as well as current AMA members. The AMA spoke a lot about membership and its benefits but mostly about networking and how important it is for career as well as business development.

I agree that it is important to network not just for the short term, but long term as well. In regards to career opportunities, this seems to be even more important as a connection can get your foot in the door a lot easier than applying for a job online.

Moving to Austin this weekend

2009-10-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I leave Michigan for what will be a bit of warmer weather in Austin, Texas. It will be a 22 hour road trip starting on Friday and hopefully ending by Sunday afternoon. Maybe it is just me, but I believe in the economy we are currently experiencing, it is extremely important to be located near the city or state in which you hope to work. I will be looking for Marketing jobs after moving in, and I hope that my proximity to companies in the Austin area will help me find the job for which I am looking.

New Marketing Theme for the Philadelphia Flyers

2009-09-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

So it looks like the Philadelphia Flyers are going to be trying out a new Marketing theme where they attach the word "Relentless" to all of their advertising. The Flyer's theory behind relentless is to show their persistence. Maybe it's just me, but I feel that there is a definite difference between the word "Persistent" and "Relentless." For me, persistent means continuously trying something, whereas relentless is a much more aggressive version of persistent. Oh well, maybe this will bring some more support among the Flyer's fans.

The funny things is that this marketing campaign seems eerily similar to the "Witness" theme that the Cavaliers tried for Lebron James. I saw those all over the arena and in many commercials. I think the Flyer's are trying to take the "Witness" theme yet apply it to an entire team as opposed to one individual. Will it work out? Honestly, at the end of the day I think the campaign may cause more initial support for the team, yet the team still has to win their hockey games.

Link: http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2009/09/28/daily12.html

Joining the Blog culture

2009-09-28T17:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been meaning to start my own blog. Honestly I still am not too sure what to add onto here but I figured that creating this blog would be a start. I am sure that over time I will start to speak about specific subjects or things that cross my mind.