THE RACE FOR U.S. SENATOR IN ALASKA
Senator Murkowski’s lead is largely due to her broad based support among Republican, Democrats and Independents.  30% of registered Democrats are supporting Murkowski’s bid for re-election. 

In Alaska, 53% of voters are not registered with any party or are independent.  In order to win a statewide race you need to attract independent voters and according to these results Senator Murkowski is doing just that – 45% of independent voters are supporting Murkowski to Miller’s 24%.

Joe Miller does well among conservative voters, claiming 57% of all Republican voters to Murkowski’s 35%.  Yet Miller will need more than just conservative voters to win this election.

The momentum McAdams gained after Republican Joe Miller won the primary appears to be shifting in Murkowski’s direction.  Murkowski’s retained position on the Senate Energy and Resources Committee and McAdams inexperience are no doubt pushing Democrats across party lines.

McAdams primary base of support is from registered Democrats, 50%, and Alaskans who consider themselves very and somewhat liberal, but there are not enough of these voters to get a win in Alaska.

While Senator Murkowski is ahead in the polls, she still needs to get people to actually fill in the oval and write-in her name.  A challenging task, but according to Alaska election law, “intention of the voter” is paramount and it provides a lot of room for interpretation. Even if her name is spelled wrong it will still count.

Most Alaskans view themselves as moderate or middle of the road. This election will be won by the candidate who owns this independent majority.

For more details please call Jean Craciun 907.279.3901.

Social media is used by 79%, articles (78%), in-person events (62%), and e-newsletters (61%). For B2B’s the social media platforms used most are Twitter (55%), Facebook (54%), and LinkedIn (51%).

About half (51%) of the companies surveyed say they use blogs and about one-third (38%) have integrated video into their internet marketing mix.  Interestingly mobile is only used by about 1 in 10 companies despite all the hype this year regarding mobile technology.

Is content marketing working?  Many companies aren’t quite sure, because they aren’t actually measuring the effectiveness of their campaigns.  Among the 79% of B2B’s using social media, only 25% report that it’s contributing to their bottom line.  The greatest challenge for most companies is creating and delivering “content that engages prospects and customers” (36% of respondents).

Want to know more about social media and internet marketing and how it can help your business?  Contact us to help you develop a media strategy that that will work for your budget and is tailored to your specific audience.

That number has risen sharply in 2010.  Now, 60% of Alaskans say their primary source of news and information comes from the internet.  That number is even higher (65%) among those living in the urban centers of Alaska.

While television is still the most common way Alaskans access news and information (68%), print media is on the decline.  In 2007, 73% of Alaskans said their primary source of news came from newspapers, but that number dropped to 65% in 2010. 

Those who get their news and information from the radio remained about the same, 42% in 2007 and 41% in 2010.  However, in rural areas of Alaska the radio is still a popular media channel with over half (52%) depending on the radio for news and information.

As one would expect, the highest usage of social media belongs to those under 35 years old with 90% participation, but over two-thirds of those 55 and older are consuming social media as well. Overall, more than 80% of all Americans now create, join or participate in some form of social media.

The adoption of social technologies is a game changer for businesses. A few years ago companies could manage their reputations and were for the most part the sole creator of web content about their brand.  Now with sites like Yelp and other reviewer platforms businesses must develop a marketing strategy that includes constant monitoring or reputation management.

But what do you do if someone posts negative or untrue statements about your company or product? The best defense is a good offense. Creating positive content will not make the negative disappear, but having nine positive reviews and one negative is better than letting the negative stand alone. 

Achieving a 90% positive rating can actually lend credibility and appear more authentic to those searching for information about your business or product.  Nobody expects perfection, but if nine out of ten people like your product or service you would probably feel pretty good about those numbers.

The Internet and the ability to create content and post anything on the web will present unique public relations and marketing challenges for all types of businesses.  There are many factors to consider and you need to ensure your marketing team or consultant is creating a strategy that is specialized and targeted to your industry.  A one size fits all reputation management strategy is not worth the investment.

Much of the social web is uncharted territory, but if the research tells us anything it is that businesses need to engage and participate in social media.  As we await more case studies and follow brand or reputation management challenges we will learn effective multi-channel strategies for combating the onslaught on consumer driven content.

Until then, confront the fear of the unknown and start tracking yourself, your brand and your business online because what you don’t know can sometimes hurt you.

Traditional media and mass advertising create and place ads on television based on the largest demographic profile of the target audience.  So if you don’t fit that profile you probably won’t be represented in those ads and they miss the opportunity to sell you anything.  Which after all is their goal, right?

Now I don’t expect to see television ads for chardonnay while watching my Vikings, but what about reaching me online?  Today, according to Nielsen Research, the average internet user spends 68 hours online every month.  The most popular networks are Google and Yahoo! and both of these companies offer ad networks utilizing online behavioral targeting.

Web sites and online ad networks rely on technology that remembers and tracks your search topics and ads you’ve clicked on.  They also know which articles you’ve read online and which products you researched and started to buy online but did not.

Yahoo! now claims to have over 200,000 profiles of Alaskans and their unique online behavior.  That is about half of all those over the age of 18.  It’s not surprising that this year The Anchorage Daily News, Alaska’s most popular content site, partnered with Yahoo! and now serves up ads utilizing online behavioral targeting.