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    <title>B.L. Ochman's blog</title>
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   <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2</id>

    <updated>2009-07-03T19:56:25Z</updated>
    <subtitle>B.L. Ochman's weblog about Internet marketing and social media trends and campaigns, based on her 15 years of experience handling strategy, implementation, promotion and blog advertising for Fortune 500 companies.</subtitle>
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    <title>A Social Media Reality Check from the C-Suite</title>
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    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4894" title="A Social Media Reality Check from the C-Suite" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4894</id>
    
    <published>2009-07-03T19:43:43Z</published>
    <updated>2009-07-03T19:56:25Z</updated>
    
    <summary>By B.L. Ochman In 2005, Henry Copeland, founder of Blogads.com told me that when he went to get his teeth cleaned three years earlier and the hygienist asked what he did, he said "blog advertising." "Umm, hmm," she replied. The next year, his answer was the same. Her response was "Oh! I've heard of that!" The next year: the same exchange, and the next. As he was leaving on the third year, she called out "Good luck with the flogging!" I got a similar reality check yesterday in a conversation with an incredibly successful CEO who said "I don't read blogs, and Twitter makes no sense to me, even though I've tried it. Just tell me what I need to know, that I can learn while I'm doing something else, like paying bills. I don't have time for social media! I'm too busy running my company." My ignorance is in great demand While my particular brand of ignorance has never been in greater demand than in the past year, I often talk to people who have literally no idea what all the fuss is about social media. "We're here to work. We have to make our numbers," they say. "We...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Alternative Marketing" />
    
        <category term="B.L. Ochman" />
    
        <category term="Business Communications" />
    
        <category term="Don't Believe the Hype" />
    
        <category term="Internet strategy" />
    
        <category term="Marketing Strategy" />
    
        <category term="Reality Marketing" />
    
        <category term="Social Media Marketing" />
    
        <category term="Trends" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="bigdogSM.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/bigdogSM.png" width="300" height="433" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By B.L. Ochman&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In 2005, Henry Copeland, founder of &lt;a href="http://www.blogads.com"&gt;Blogads.com&lt;/a&gt; told me that when he went to get his teeth cleaned three years earlier and the hygienist asked what he did, he said "blog advertising." &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;"Umm, hmm," she replied. The next year, his answer was the same. Her response was "Oh! I've heard of that!" The next year: the same exchange, and the next.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As he was leaving on the third year, she called out "Good luck with the flogging!"&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I got a similar reality check yesterday in a conversation with an incredibly successful CEO who said "I don't read blogs, and Twitter makes no sense to me, even though I've tried it. Just tell me what I need to know, that I can learn while I'm doing something else, like paying bills. I don't have time for social media! I'm too busy running my company."&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My ignorance is in great demand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
While my particular brand of ignorance has never been in greater demand than in the past  year, I often talk to people who have literally no idea what all the fuss is about social media. "We're here to work. We have to make our numbers," they say. "We don't have time to sit around Tweeting. Even if each employee spent five minutes a day on Twitter or Facebook," I've been told, "that could cost the company millions in lost time."&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I also got into a bit of an argument recently at a party where an extremely successful artist told me he had no idea, and didn't care, what Twitter was. In fact, he doesn't use a computer except for email.  "How could you not know what Twitter is," I stupidly exclaimed "unless you've been living under a rock." (I'm not proud of that response.)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Yes, I know the value of incorporating social media into marketing. And if you're reading this, you probably do too. So do many companies, big and small, who have begun to listen earnestly to their customers because they realize the customers have gained a great deal of business control. But don't think for a minute that the rest of the world really gives a fig about social media.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The most important question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
So, my friends, especially the 5,855 self-appointed social media gurus and ninjas on Twitter, think twice before you launch into your next client pitch. My bet is you need to start with a very simple question:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;"How do you define social media?"&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The answers are likely to surprise you.&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>$100 Discount for What's Next Readers at Digiday:APPS Conference</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/eucp6FFkriU/sponsored_post_100_discount_for_whats_next_readers_at_digidayapps_conferenc.asp" />
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    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4893</id>
    
    <published>2009-07-03T18:52:38Z</published>
    <updated>2009-07-03T19:05:06Z</updated>
    
    <summary><![CDATA[Sponsored Post What Does the Future Hold for Advertising on Apps? Find Out on August 12th, 2009, The W Hotel, NYC. $100 Discount for What's Next Blog Readers with code DABL08 on registration form. (Be sure to hit "apply" after entering the code!) Digiday:APPS - a conference devoted to mobile and social apps, dynamic integrated content and offers, video, storytelling, and the rich functionality of online and offline apps. Focus is on the emerging mix of branded mobile applications and in-application advertising that is finally poised to deliver on the promise of mobile and social marketing. Speakers include Tim O'Shaughnessy, CEO and Co-founder, LivingSocial; Jennifer Byrne, Business Development, Verizon; Garrick Schmitt, Group VP of Experience Planning, Razorfish; Eric A. Litman, Chairman & CEO, Medialets; and Ephraim Luft, CEO, Founder, Circle of Moms. Sponsored Post...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Sponsored Post" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sponsored Post&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;img alt="digiday.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/digiday.png" width="240" height="43" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;What Does the Future Hold for Advertising on Apps? &lt;a href="http://www.digidayapps.com"&gt;Find Out&lt;/a&gt; on August 12th, 2009, The W Hotel, NYC.  &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;$100 Discount for What's Next Blog Readers with code &lt;strong&gt;DABL08&lt;/strong&gt; on &lt;a href="http://www.digidayapps.com"&gt;registration form&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;em&gt;(Be sure to hit "apply" after entering the code!)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.digidayapps.com"&gt;Digiday:APPS&lt;/a&gt; - a conference devoted to mobile and social apps, dynamic integrated content and offers, video, storytelling, and the rich functionality of online and offline apps. Focus is on the emerging mix of branded mobile applications and in-application advertising that is finally poised to deliver on the promise of mobile and social marketing.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Speakers include Tim O'Shaughnessy, CEO and Co-founder, LivingSocial; Jennifer Byrne, Business Development, Verizon; Garrick Schmitt, Group VP of Experience Planning, Razorfish; Eric A. Litman, Chairman &amp; CEO, Medialets; and Ephraim Luft, CEO, Founder, Circle of Moms.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Sponsored Post&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>Can't Make This Stuff Up: Sci-Fi Channel Explains Why It's Changing Its Name to SyFy</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/4wMOhRkcuJ4/cant_make_this_stuff_up_why_sci-fi_explains_why_its_changing_to_syfy.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4892" title="Can't Make This Stuff Up: Sci-Fi Channel Explains Why It's Changing Its Name to SyFy" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4892</id>
    
    <published>2009-07-02T23:48:43Z</published>
    <updated>2009-07-03T00:21:11Z</updated>
    
    <summary>"There's always a resistance to change," Sci-Fi Network president Dave Howe told the NY Daily News. "But in a few years, no one will notice the difference." And that is as good a reason as any for spending gazillions of dollars to change the station's name. "If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" (Alice in Wonderland) The top reasons the company's agency gave for recommending the change: 1- The agency needs the money. 2- SyFy is more than an unintelligible word. It "creates an ownable and extendable brand for the future". 3- Since we've removed "Channel" from the name, you will no longer need to associate with your outre core product, television. 4- The names are phonetically identical so all you have to do is spend a gazillion dollars changing all your stationary, business cards, advertising, signage, trade show booths, uniforms, tsotchkes, employee IDs - have we left out anything you need to change? 5. To make sure nobody can find the Sci-Fi Channel online,...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Advertising Campaigns" />
    
        <category term="Cross Media" />
    
        <category term="Don't Believe the Hype" />
    
        <category term="Entertainment" />
    
        <category term="Marketing Strategy" />
    
        <category term="Worst Practices" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="syfy.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/syfy.png" width="400" height="277" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;"There's always a resistance to change," &lt;a href="http://www.scifi.com/"&gt;Sci-Fi Network&lt;/a&gt; president Dave Howe told the &lt;a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/07/02/2009-07-02_scifi_network_to_become_syfy.html"&gt;NY Daily News&lt;/a&gt;. "But in a few years, no one will notice the difference."&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And that is as good a reason as any for spending gazillions of dollars to change the station's name. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;em&gt;"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"&lt;/em&gt;
(Alice in Wonderland)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The top reasons the company's agency gave for recommending the change:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;1- The agency needs the money.&lt;br /&gt;
2- SyFy is more than an unintelligible word. It "creates an ownable and extendable brand for the future".&lt;br /&gt;
3- Since we've removed "Channel" from the name, you will no longer need to associate with your outre core product, television.&lt;br /&gt;
4- The names are phonetically identical so all you have to do is spend a gazillion dollars changing all your stationary, business cards, advertising, signage, trade show booths, uniforms, tsotchkes, employee IDs - have we left out anything you need to change?&lt;br /&gt;
5. To make sure nobody can find the Sci-Fi Channel online, "An aggressive trade marketing campaign kicked off this spring. scifi.com will assume the URL syfy.com at that time."&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;At &lt;a href="http://www.syfy.com"&gt;SyFy.com&lt;/a&gt;, it says "This is Sci-Fi Channel's new brand identity." And there's nothing else there, except a link to the&lt;a href="http://www.scifi.com"&gt; SciFi.com&lt;/a&gt;. Go figure.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>Updated List of Social Media Gurus on Twitter:  a Public Service for CMOs, from What's Next Blog</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/4vAov2K76gw/updated_list_of_social_media_gurus.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4891" title="Updated List of Social Media Gurus on Twitter:  a Public Service for CMOs, from What's Next Blog" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4891</id>
    
    <published>2009-06-18T16:39:58Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-30T02:52:23Z</updated>
    
    <summary>By B.L. Ochman Companies large and small are scrambling to pick a social media guru to guide them through the wilds of new media marketing. Fortunately, there is no shortage of self-declared social media marketing gurus, experts, consultants, agencies and stars. Provided as a public service, an updated search of Twitter bios on Tweepsearch provides the following count: Self-proclaimed gurus on Twitter = 5,855, including: 155 social marketing gurus 16 social marketing stars 5088 social media marketers 1,132 social media consultants 379 social media 16 social media stars 264 social media strategists 271 social marketing experts 179 social marketing companies 1,279 marketing gurus 35 e-marketing gurus 15 new media marketing gurus 144 online marketing gurus 215 internet marketing gurus 9 viral marketing gurus 82 new marketing gurus 153 blog gurus 69 Facebook gurus And then there are the social media stars, et al, including: 5088 social media marketers 16 social marketing stars 16 social media stars 1,132 social media consultants 264 social media strategists 271 social marketing experts 179 social marketing companies 17 viral marketing agencies Should you like guidance on how to select your social media marketing guru - besides requiring them to have an actual track record for...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="B.L. Ochman" />
    
        <category term="Social Media" />
    
        <category term="Social Media Marketing" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="guru.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/guru.png" width="400" height="448" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By B.L. Ochman&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Companies large and small are scrambling to pick a social media guru to guide them through the wilds of new media marketing. Fortunately, there is no shortage of self-declared social media marketing gurus, experts, consultants, agencies and stars. Provided as a public service, an updated search of &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com"&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt; bios on &lt;a href="http://www.tweepsearch.com"&gt;Tweepsearch&lt;/a&gt; provides the following count:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Self-proclaimed gurus on Twitter =  5,855, including:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;155 social marketing gurus&lt;br /&gt;
16 social marketing stars&lt;br /&gt;
5088 social media marketers&lt;br /&gt;
1,132 social media consultants&lt;br /&gt;
379 social media &lt;br /&gt;
16 social media stars&lt;br /&gt;
264 social media strategists&lt;br /&gt;
271 social marketing experts&lt;br /&gt;
179 social marketing companies&lt;br /&gt;
1,279 marketing gurus&lt;br /&gt;
35 e-marketing gurus&lt;br /&gt;
15 new media marketing gurus&lt;br /&gt;
144 online marketing gurus&lt;br /&gt;
215 internet marketing gurus&lt;br /&gt;
9 viral marketing gurus&lt;br /&gt;
82 new marketing gurus&lt;br /&gt;
153 blog gurus&lt;br /&gt;
69 Facebook gurus&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And then there are the social media stars, et al, including:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;5088 social media marketers&lt;br /&gt;
16 social marketing stars&lt;br /&gt;
16 social media stars&lt;br /&gt;
1,132 social media consultants&lt;br /&gt;
264 social media strategists&lt;br /&gt;
271 social marketing experts&lt;br /&gt;
179 social marketing companies&lt;br /&gt;
17 viral marketing agencies&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Should you like guidance on how to select your social media marketing guru - besides requiring them to have an actual track record for actual clients - please see my earlier post on &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/05/how_to_pick_your_social_media_guru.asp"&gt;How To Pick Your Social Media Guru.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And please let me know if I've missed a category in my search. It is, of course, important for you to have thorough choices.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Follow me on &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/whatsnext"&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;. And Don't worry, I'm not a guru.&lt;/p&gt;
        

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By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>PR People Please Take This Quiz Before Pitching Another Blogger</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/I4gUoDrudXI/pr_people_please_take_this_quiz_before_pitching_another_blogger.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4890" title="PR People Please Take This Quiz Before Pitching Another Blogger" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4890</id>
    
    <published>2009-06-17T20:07:10Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-17T22:19:01Z</updated>
    
    <summary>By B.L. Ochman This post first ran in 2007. It is running again for obvious reasons. Dear PR people: please take this quiz before you send out another press release or email pitch. (The correct answers are below: ) 1. Has the print, online or broadcast reporter you are pitching ever covered this topic? 2. Why Would this pitch or release elicit a response from people who read it? 3. Is this pitch or release bullshit? 4. Would anyone pass along a story on this topic to a friend or colleague? 5. Have you Googled the reporters and bloggers on your list so you know if they've covered your competitor? 6. Have you read your competitors' press releases? 7. Have you checked to see if any blogs specifically cover this topic? 8. Can you make the copy shorter? Answers: 1. Yes; 2. Yes; 3. No; 4. Yes; 5. Yes; 6. Yes; 7. Yes 8. Yes....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="B.L. Ochman" />
    
        <category term="Press Release From Hell" />
    
        <category term="Public Relations" />
    
        <category term="Reality Marketing" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="spinDR.jpg" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/spinDR.jpg" width="365" height="102" /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By B.L. Ochman&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2007/12/a_quiz_pr_people_should_take_before_sending_another_pitch_or_press_release.asp"&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; first ran in 2007. It is running again for obvious reasons.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dear PR people&lt;/strong&gt;: please take this quiz before you send out another press release or email pitch. (The correct answers are below: )&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;1.	Has the print, online or broadcast reporter you are pitching ever covered this topic? &lt;br /&gt;
2.	&lt;strike&gt;Why&lt;/strike&gt; Would this pitch or release elicit a response from people who read it?&lt;br /&gt;
3.	Is this pitch or release bullshit?&lt;br /&gt;
4.	Would anyone pass along a story on this topic to a friend or colleague?&lt;br /&gt;
5.	Have you Googled the reporters and bloggers on your list so you know if they've covered your competitor?&lt;br /&gt;
6.	Have you read your competitors' press releases?&lt;br /&gt;
7.	Have you checked to see if any blogs specifically cover this topic?&lt;br /&gt;
8.	Can you make the copy shorter?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Answers:&lt;/em&gt; 1. Yes;  2. Yes; 3. No; 4. Yes; 5. Yes; 6. Yes; 7. Yes 8. Yes.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
        

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By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>The Gospel Truth About CMOs</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/uotjDHW7ScE/the_gospel_truth_about_cmos.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4889" title="The Gospel Truth About CMOs" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4889</id>
    
    <published>2009-06-15T22:49:36Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-16T17:23:40Z</updated>
    
    <summary>From the more things change, the more they stay the same department: At Ad Age's NY City 2004 Advertising Week panel, "Money Talks: The view from the CMO's office" Ad Age editor/moderator Scott Donaton noted that the average tenure of a chief marketing officer is 22.9 months - half that of the average CEO. Why is marketing so expendable? Said Paul Guyardo, Kmart CMO, "We're an easy target. Everybody likes to think they're a marketer and can do our job. It's easier to get rid of us than to adjust the real problems affecting sales." Amen. Today the pressure is on CMOs to get the company involved in social media. There's a lot of social media GMOT - "get me one of those" in boardrooms across the globe. I'd be willing to bet that more than a few CMOs have been, or will be, casualties of picking the wrong social media consultant from among the thousands upon thousands of self-proclaimed social media gurus....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Commentary" />
    
        <category term="Marketing Strategy" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="CMO_Blog_small.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/CMO_Blog_small.png" width="200" height="258" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;From the more things change, the more they stay the same department:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;At Ad Age's NY City &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2004/09/advertising_week_panelist_expl.asp"&gt;2004 Advertising Week&lt;/a&gt; panel, "Money Talks: The view from the CMO's office" Ad Age editor/moderator Scott Donaton noted that the average tenure of a chief marketing officer is 22.9 months - half that of the average CEO.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Why is marketing so expendable? Said Paul Guyardo, Kmart CMO, &lt;blockquote&gt;"We're an easy target. Everybody likes to think they're a marketer and can do our job. It's easier to get rid of us than to adjust the real problems affecting sales."&lt;/blockquote&gt; Amen.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Today the pressure is on CMOs to get the company involved in social media. There's a lot of social media GMOT - "get me one of those" in boardrooms across the globe.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'd be willing to bet that more than a few CMOs have been, or will be, casualties of picking the wrong social media consultant from among the thousands upon thousands of &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/05/how_to_pick_your_social_media_guru.asp"&gt;self-proclaimed social media gurus. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        

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By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>KISS: The Difference Between Strategy and Tactics - and Why It Matters</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/py7E03eLYdo/kiss_the_difference_between_strategy_and_tactics_-_and_why_it_matters.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4888" title="KISS: The Difference Between Strategy and Tactics - and Why It Matters" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4888</id>
    
    <published>2009-06-11T19:04:54Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-11T19:52:58Z</updated>
    
    <summary>By B.L. Ochman While there is a huge shortage of social media strategy, there certainly is no lack of corporate online experimentation. Most of the money spending results in nothing happening. So I'd like to do my part to help a few companies avoid spending a huge amount of money for nothing in return. So, let's KISS. That stands for "Keep it Strategic Silly" and if you can just step out of the social media echo chamber long enough to read this post, you'll thank me later. I'll keep it short. It's raining tactics in social media marketing. Agencies and social media gurus are falling over themselves to implement the latest tactics, use the shiny new tools, and send big bills for their on-the-job-learning. The missing link, however, is strategy. What's the difference between strategy and tactics? Let's look at Google as an example: Google's strategy is to provide free services that are so valuable users become dependent on them, driving drive enough traffic to the services to generate ROI for advertisers and revenue for Google. Google's tactics: • feature-rich Gmail with enormous storage capacity; • Google Docs &amp; other programs that are better, or at least as good as...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Ad targeting" />
    
        <category term="Advertainment" />
    
        <category term="Advertisement" />
    
        <category term="Advertising Campaigns" />
    
        <category term="Alternative Marketing" />
    
        <category term="B.L. Ochman" />
    
        <category term="Internet strategy" />
    
        <category term="Marketing Strategy" />
    
        <category term="Social Media" />
    
        <category term="Social Media Marketing" />
    
        <category term="Viral Marketing" />
    
        <category term="Word of Mouth" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="kiss.jpg" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/kiss.jpg" width="390" height="265" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;By B.L. Ochman&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;While there is a huge shortage of social media strategy, there certainly is no lack of corporate online experimentation. Most of the money spending results in nothing happening. So I'd like to do my part to help a few companies avoid spending a huge amount of money for nothing in return. So, let's &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/03/marketers_need_to_kiss_keep_it_strategic_stupid.asp"&gt;KISS.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;That stands for "&lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/03/marketers_need_to_kiss_keep_it_strategic_stupid.asp"&gt;Keep it Strategic Silly&lt;/a&gt;" and if you can just step out of the social media echo chamber long enough to read this post, you'll thank me later. I'll keep it short.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It's raining tactics in social media marketing. Agencies and social media gurus are falling over themselves to implement the latest tactics, use the shiny new tools, and send big bills for their on-the-job-learning. The missing link, however, is strategy.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's the difference between strategy and tactics?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Let's look at Google as an example:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Google's strategy&lt;/strong&gt; is to provide free services that are so valuable users become dependent on them, driving drive enough traffic to the services to generate ROI for advertisers and revenue for Google.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Google's tactics: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
•   feature-rich Gmail with enormous storage capacity; &lt;br /&gt;
•   Google Docs &amp; other programs that are better, or at least as good as Microsoft's paid software;&lt;br /&gt;
•   Google Earth; Google maps&lt;br /&gt;
•   free Blogger.com software, Google Chrome (which looks like it will be a great browser)&lt;br /&gt;
•   &lt;a href="http://wave.google.com/"&gt;Google Wave&lt;/a&gt; - which looks like it'll revolutionize our online workspace&lt;br /&gt;
•   the best search on the planet, &amp; much more - all free. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Let's look at KFC:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;KFC Strategy:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
•   Introduce&lt;a href="http://www.unthinkkfc.com/"&gt; grilled chicken&lt;/a&gt; to the menu&lt;br /&gt;
•   Call the campaign Unthink &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;KFC Tactics:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
•   Hook up with Oprah to offer coupons for free grilled chicken to everyone on the planet.&lt;br /&gt;
•   Wring hands and say OMG OMG when everyone in America showed up and there wasn't enough chicken&lt;br /&gt;
•   Run &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/unthinkdance"&gt;YouTube video contest&lt;/a&gt; for people to say how much they love KFC, get 4 entries in a month&lt;br /&gt;
•   Expand contest to &lt;a href="http://www.myspace.com/unthinkfc"&gt;MySpace page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
•   Keep asking people to tell them what is so great about KFC&lt;br /&gt;
•   Run print ads about the contests&lt;br /&gt;
•   Be on &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/kfc_colonel"&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;. And &lt;a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/KFC-Kentucky-Fried-Chicken/"&gt;Facebook&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
•   Give away a life-time supply of chicken&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'm sure i've missed a few of the KFC tactics, but so what. Just remember, they called the campaign &lt;a href="http://www.unthinkkfc.com/"&gt;Unthink. &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;They've thrown a whole bunch of tactics in the chicken bucket, but the strategy is still "Tell us why you think we're wonderful" and that's not what social media is about. Social media is about actually &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;being &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;wonderful. That would have started by having a strategy for the Oprah give-a-way.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How will you KISS?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
How will you incorporate the tools of social media into your marketing strategy?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;What tools will you employ? Blogging? Micro-blogging? Video? Podcasting? Social networks? Forums? Wikis? Which ones will help you connect members of your audience? How will one tactic be used to drive traffic to other parts of your campaign? Which combination of tools can be integrated into your marketing to help drive your sales?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tread gently&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Don't hit people over the head with a sales message. Remember: we're all humans. People are what matters, not companies. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And don't forget to&lt;strong&gt; KISS.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;br /&gt;
- &lt;a href="http://mashable.com/2009/06/10/kfc-myspace/"&gt;Mashable - KFC's MySpace Strategy: a Lifetime Supply of Chicken&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
- &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/03/marketers_need_to_kiss_keep_it_strategic_stupid.asp"&gt;What's Next Blog: Marketers Need to KISS: Keep It Strategic Silly!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>Global Shim Sham for Frankie Manning - You Just Can't Stop the Lindy Hop</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/6h4Aalm4bsE/global_shim_sham_for_frankie_manning_-_you_just_cant_stop_the_lindy_hop.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4887" title="Global Shim Sham for Frankie Manning - You Just Can't Stop the Lindy Hop" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4887</id>
    
    <published>2009-06-11T00:49:21Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-11T01:02:50Z</updated>
    
    <summary> I'm in here somewhere. along with thousands of other people all over the world who learned the Shim Sham from the late King of Swing, Lindy Legend Frankie Manning. I guarantee you'll be sitting there with a big grin on your face before this video is over. "Dancing is falling in love" Frankie Manning...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="B.L. Ochman" />
    
        <category term="Best Practices" />
    
        <category term="Fun" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g_k_BIA_unI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g_k_BIA_unI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I'm in here somewhere. along with thousands of other people all over the world who learned the &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shim_Sham"&gt;Shim Sham&lt;/a&gt; from the late King of Swing, Lindy Legend &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=2&amp;search=Frankie+Manning"&gt;Frankie Manning&lt;/a&gt;. I guarantee you'll be sitting there with a big grin on your face before this video is over.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;"Dancing is falling in love"&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Frankie Manning&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>Everything You Need to Know About Corporate Social Media Policies</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/uM_XDyZ18YM/everything_you_need_to_know_about_corporate_social_media_policies.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4886" title="Everything You Need to Know About Corporate Social Media Policies" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4886</id>
    
    <published>2009-06-05T18:39:57Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-05T18:54:36Z</updated>
    
    <summary>By B.L. Ochman Retention - Social media will help you retain customers. Concentrate on your existing customers - and they'll spread the word for you. Engage - give your customers a reason to come back even when they're not buying. Satisfaction - these days, customers CAN get satisfaction: if not from you, than from your competitors. Policy - set guidelines for your community Evolution - customer behavior has evolved. Have you? Community - we don't care about you anymore. We care what people like us think. Let us connect with other customers. Transparency - the days of corporate speak and the royal "we" are gone. Talk to us like we're all humans. That's respect. Caution! Social media is not a marketing strategy! Un-muzzle - the key is to keep employees directed, not muzzled Socialize - that's what social media is really all about - people talking to people. Training - educate and train your employees so they understand the policies. Trust them to do the right thing. Openness - don't lie, you'll be found out. Moderate - create a policy for what you will tolerate in comments on your website and in your social media outlets. Enterprise-wide - social media...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Hugh-talked_adv.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/Hugh-talked_adv.png" width="360" height="205" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com"&gt;B.L. Ochman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;R&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;etention - Social media will help you retain customers. Concentrate on your existing customers - and they'll spread the word for you.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;E&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;ngage - give your customers a reason to come back even when they're not buying.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;S&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;atisfaction - these days, customers CAN get satisfaction: if not from you, than from your competitors.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;P&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;olicy - set guidelines for your community&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;E&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;volution - customer behavior has evolved. Have you?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;C&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;ommunity - we don't care about you anymore. We care what people like us think. Let us connect with other customers.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;T&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;ransparency - the days of corporate speak and the royal "we" are gone. Talk to us like we're all humans. That's respect.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;C&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;aution! Social media is not a marketing strategy!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;U&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;n-muzzle - the key is to keep employees directed, not muzzled&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;S&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;ocialize - that's what social media is really all about - people talking to people.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;T&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;raining - educate and train your employees so they understand the policies. Trust them to do the right thing.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;O&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;penness - don't lie, you'll be found out.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;M&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;oderate - create a policy for what you will tolerate in comments on your website and in your social media outlets. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;E&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;nterprise-wide - social media is a way of thinking about relationships, not just a marketing campaign &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;R&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;emember - this is not an experiment. It's for all the marbles..&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: red;"&gt;S&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;trategy - social media requires strategy before tactics. You can't be everything to everyone, and you don't need to be.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Cartoon: &lt;a href="http://www.gapingvoid.com"&gt;Hugh Macleod&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/whatsnext"&gt;Follow me on Twitter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>Top 10 Reasons Your Company Should Not Tweet</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/iYoRHkDpybg/top_10_reasons_your_company_should_not_tweet_1.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4885" title="Top 10 Reasons Your Company Should Not Tweet" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4885</id>
    
    <published>2009-06-05T18:08:46Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-05T18:29:31Z</updated>
    
    <summary>By B.L. Ochman (Back by popular demand) :&gt;) Mainstream media is in an orgiastic frenzy of coverage about Twitter. Everyone's Tweeting, from celebrities to CEOs according to CNN, The View, Today, the NY Times, the Wall St Journal and just about everyone else. Each of them covers Twitter like it's an overnight phenomenon that came out of nowhere, although Twitter has been gaining traction for three years and now has 9 14 million members. Should your company be on Twitter? Not necessarily. Top 10 reasons not to join Twitter: every Tweet has to be approved by legal. Twitter is a social network where conversation is fast and interconnected. If you have to wait a day, or even a few hours for your 140 character Tweet to gain legal approval, Twitter will be the wrong platform for you. you plan to use Twitter like a giant RSS feed, broadcasting nothing but headlines, deals. People follow people they find interesting. If all your Tweets are a one-way street: Block! you think using Twitter is a social media strategy. It's a tactic, a tool, not a strategy. It works if you already have an online following who'll view your Tweets as a way...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Alternative Marketing" />
    
        <category term="B.L. Ochman" />
    
        <category term="Internet strategy" />
    
        <category term="Marketing Strategy" />
    
        <category term="Social Media" />
    
        <category term="Social Media Marketing" />
    
        <category term="Word of Mouth" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="WTF_TwitterShirt.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/WTF_TwitterShirt.png" width="287" height="304" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By B.L. Ochman&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Back by popular demand) :&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Mainstream media is in an orgiastic frenzy of coverage about Twitter. Everyone's Tweeting, from celebrities to CEOs according to CNN, The View, Today, the NY Times, the Wall St Journal and just about everyone else. Each of them covers Twitter like it's an overnight phenomenon that came out of nowhere, although Twitter has been gaining traction for three years and now has &lt;strike&gt;9 &lt;/strike&gt; 1&lt;a href="http://siteanalytics.compete.com/Twitter.com/?metric=uv"&gt;4 million members&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Should your company be on Twitter? Not necessarily. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Top 10 reasons not to join Twitter:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;every Tweet has to be approved by legal. &lt;/strong&gt;Twitter is a social network where conversation is fast and interconnected. If you have to wait a day, or even a few hours for your 140 character Tweet to gain legal approval, Twitter will be the wrong platform for you. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you plan to use Twitter like a giant RSS feed&lt;/strong&gt;, broadcasting nothing but headlines, deals. People follow people they find interesting. If all your Tweets are a one-way street: Block!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you think using Twitter is a social media strategy.&lt;/strong&gt; It's a tactic, a tool, not a strategy. It works if you already have an online following who'll view your Tweets as a way to interact with your company on a human level&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you think it's a good idea to have someone tweet as if they are the president of the company.&lt;/strong&gt; Authentic and transparent are the keys. It's fine if someone besides the CEO tweets for your company, as long as they say that's what they're doing&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you are not going to respond when people direct tweets at you.&lt;/strong&gt; Twitter is like the new watercooler. If you walked out to the water fountain and talked non-stop to people gathered there, they'd certainly be happy when you left. Ditto for Twitter.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you think paying for followers might be a good idea.&lt;/strong&gt; Followers are earned on Twitter. Be interesting, make only every 10th Tweet about you and you'll gain and keep a following.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you think all that matters on Twitter is getting a lot of people to follow you.&lt;/strong&gt; Quality trumps quantity. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you want to protect your updates&lt;/strong&gt;. If people have to ask permission to see what you're posting on Twitter, you're defeating the purpose - which is conversation.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;you plan to track Twitter with Google Analytics&lt;/strong&gt;. Google Analytics won't give you true tracking. You need to track the urls you post with a service like budurl or bit.ly and use one or more social media tracking tools so you can get real-time stats on  Twitter&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You think you can market to people with whom you have no relationship&lt;/strong&gt; Listen first. Monitor what's being said about your brand, your industry, your products. Then join the conversation and become part of the community. Then your occasional marketing messages will be accepted, or at least tolerated because you also add value to the community.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;T-shirt via &lt;a href="http://www.twittertshirtblog.com/2009/01/29/wtf-is-twitter-black-tee/"&gt;Twitter T-Shirt Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/whatsnext"&gt;Follow me on Twitter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        

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By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>Starbucks Social Media Monitoring &amp; Community Help It Survive Brand Attack</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/0NG_DUR7fDw/starbucks_social_media_community_helps_it_survive_brand_attack.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4884" title="Starbucks Social Media Monitoring &amp; Community Help It Survive Brand Attack" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4884</id>
    
    <published>2009-06-04T00:30:06Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-05T19:08:37Z</updated>
    
    <summary>By B.L. Ochman What does it take to damage a brand with a hate campaign? That depends on whether the brand is listening, reacting in real-time, and has a community of its own in social media. While fear of "the haters" damaging the brand is probably the Number One factor keeping many companies out of social media, it's the companies that are involved in social media that are most likely to survive a brand attack. As Starbucks has demonstrated in the past week, the reasonable majority of the online community recognizes brand hijackers and calms, or simply ignores, a brewing storm. Pro-union counterpunch In an effort to stave off competition and re-gain ground lost in the downturn, Starbucks recently touted its coffee and its corporate values in a multi-million dollar, multi-media campaign. The launch, including a Twitter contest, was quickly met with a Stop Starbucks campaign claiming that the coffee giant is anti-union, among other things. While several blogs reported that rebels hijacked Starbucks campaign, that doesn't seem to be the end effect. Stop Starbucks video accusing the company of harassing workers who want to unionize has 59,000 views on YouTube as of today and a Stop Starbucks' petition to...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Advertising Campaigns" />
    
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    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Starbucks_Brand.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/Starbucks_Brand.png" width="400" height="253" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By B.L. Ochman&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
What does it take to damage a brand with a hate campaign? That depends on whether the brand is listening, reacting in real-time, and has a community of its own in social media.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;While fear of "the haters" damaging the brand is probably the Number One factor keeping many companies out of social media, it's the companies that are involved in social media that are most likely to survive a brand attack.&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
As Starbucks has demonstrated in the past week, the reasonable majority of the online community recognizes brand hijackers and calms, or simply ignores, a brewing storm.  &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pro-union counterpunch&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
In an effort to stave off competition and re-gain ground lost in the downturn, Starbucks recently touted its coffee and its corporate values in a multi-million dollar, multi-media campaign. The launch, including a Twitter contest, was quickly met with a &lt;a href="http://www.stopstarbucks.com"&gt;Stop Starbucks&lt;/a&gt;  campaign claiming that the coffee giant is anti-union, among other things. While &lt;a href="http://bloggasm.com/anti-starbucks-filmmakers-hijack-the-coffee-companys-own-twitter-marketing-campaign"&gt;several&lt;/a&gt; blogs &lt;a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/21/starbucks-twitter-ca.html"&gt;reported&lt;/a&gt; that rebels hijacked Starbucks campaign, that doesn't seem to be the end effect.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Stop Starbucks video accusing the company of harassing workers who want to unionize has 59,000 views on &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L58EKo9XYiE"&gt;YouTube&lt;/a&gt; as of today and a &lt;a href="http://www.stopstarbucks.com"&gt;Stop Starbucks&lt;/a&gt;' petition to Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz had amassed 14,589 signatures.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Starbucks walks the social media walk&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Starbucks has 195,509 followers on Twitter. Stop Starbucks has 344. Since the Stop Starbucks campaign started they've gained barely 300 followers on Twitter.  In the same time period Starbucks added more than nearly 10,000.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Today Starbucks even has a social media director, and a vast community who love Starbuck's famous burnt bean coffee. In the past week, the majority of Starbucks social media followers defended the company or simply ignored the critics. "There will always be disgruntled ex-employees who criticize any company," was an oft-expressed opinion.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Matthew Guiste&lt;/strong&gt;, who manages social media for Starbucks, told me in email that Stop Starbucks didn't elicit much interest from the &lt;a href="http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ideaHome"&gt;My Starbucks community&lt;/a&gt;, where members are invited to contribute and vote on suggestions for Starbucks. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt; "Allow your workers to unionize" was the title of a &lt;a href="http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ideaView?id=087500000005O5sAAE"&gt;post i&lt;/a&gt;n My Starbucks community, where each vote for an idea nets 10 points. As of today, the post has only gotten 40 points and 8 comments. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;By contrast, an idea about Dark Chocolate beverages got 5040 points and 38 comments. And one about the size of lids on cups got 40 points.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coffee drinkers luke-warm to critics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Guiste said the company hadn't spent much time responding to Stop Starbucks because their campaign didn't gain much traction from Starbucks Twitter, Facebook, or MyStarbucks community. The &lt;a href="http://news.starbucks.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=225"&gt;response&lt;/a&gt; the company did give is replete with what sounds like a lot of old-fashioned corporate-speak. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Starbucks' new ad campaign included a Twitter contest, challenging followers to seek out Starbucks posters in six major cities and be the first to post a camera phone photo of one via Twitpic, using the hashtags #top3percent and #starbucks. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Within hours, there were dozens of Twitpics in front of stores across the country. And followers of Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films used the same tags to post photos of themselves holding anti-Starbucks messages. According to Guiste, despite reports of a Twitter 'hijacking" there were only nine entries about Stop Starbucks and those had about 75 views each. Starbucks is mentioned on Twitter about 10 times per minute on an average weekday, so those nine entries were about one minute's worth of notice, Guiste claimed.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;"The bottom line for us:  We're the first to admit that we don't control the conversation about Starbucks. The bad news for this campaign is neither do they. Ultimately the community decides and we believe that's a beautiful thing," he wrote.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt; The companies most often damaged by criticism are the ones - like &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/04/lessons_from_the_amazon_and_dominos_social_media_firestorms.asp"&gt;Domino's and Amazon&lt;/a&gt;  - who don't monitor their brand in social media and respond to issues in a timely manner. The bottom line remains the same though: criticism often means change is needed, and smart companies listen. Ask Dell. &lt;a href="http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2005/07/kryptonite_argu.html"&gt;Or Kryptonite&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Starbucks online presence has come a long way&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
Starbucks has come a long way since &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2004/06/starbucks_misses_perfect_oppor.asp"&gt;2004&lt;/a&gt;, when it missed an obvious online opportunity for customer interaction, to 2005 when it was &lt;a href="http://www.danavan.net/weblog/archives/companies_that_have_fired_people_for_blogging_from_cory_doctorow_scoble.html"&gt;firing employees for blogging&lt;/a&gt;,  to its 2007 toe-in-the-water &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2007/04/starbucks_expedition_for_change_launches.asp"&gt;Expedition for Change&lt;/a&gt; to the March, 2008 launch of the crowdsourcing &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2008/03/starbucks_wants_to_know_how_they_can_improve.asp"&gt;My Starbucks Idea&lt;/a&gt; community, where more than 70,000 ideas have been submitted since its launch. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Starbucks has been facing a variety of &lt;a href="http://www.jeremyadamdavis.com/marketing/perception-vs-reality-a-starbucks-case-study/"&gt;problems,&lt;/a&gt; and Stop Starbucks is far from the biggest one: McDonald's coffee recently won a &lt;a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/beverages/coffee-tea/coffee-taste-test-3-07/overview/0307_coffee_ov_1.htm"&gt;Consumer Reports taste test&lt;/a&gt;, which recommended "Try McDonald's, which was cheapest and best, or make your own coffee--just call it something special."  &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Starbucks has &lt;a href="http://www.thedeal.com/dealscape/2009/01/starbucks.php"&gt;closed&lt;/a&gt; more than 600 stores and laid off many employees. Not only that: &lt;a href="http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2009/05/27/a-new-plan-for-mcdonald-s-to-crush-starbucks.aspx"&gt;McDonald's&lt;/a&gt; is poised to open 1,000 coffee bars in Europe, and the US would presumably be &lt;a href="http://www.thedeal.com/dealscape/2009/05/starbucks_rent_decreases_wont.php#bottom"&gt;next&lt;/a&gt;. A &lt;a href="http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Bigresearch-995919.html"&gt;Big Research&lt;/a&gt; study shows Starbucks coffee is still Number One with consumers, with McDonald's an ever-closer second.  &lt;br /&gt;
   &lt;br /&gt;
Having an established online community allows instant assessment and engagement. And those two things saved Starbucks neck in the past week.&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>The Slightly Salacious, and Semi-Disgusting, Trend in Fast Food Advertising</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/X82hE_1Vnhg/the_slightly_salacious_and_rather_disgusting_trend_in_food_advertising.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4883" title="The Slightly Salacious, and Semi-Disgusting, Trend in Fast Food Advertising" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4883</id>
    
    <published>2009-05-27T23:25:04Z</published>
    <updated>2009-06-27T17:24:51Z</updated>
    
    <summary> By B.L. Ochman The trend in online fast food advertising is toward the slightly salacious, and semi-disgusting. Social media component? Other than a really lame try by KFC: none. Long-term strategy? None. Gimmicks: galore. Since I'm sure someone other than teenage boys eats in fast food restaurants, I have to wonder - yet again - what are these ad agencies (and their clients) thinking? Or not thinking, as the case may be. Carl's Jr Milkshake Carl's Jr ad for a new orange milkshake did not make me want to drink one. As a bovomaniac vegetarian, it actually made me feel really bad for the cows, being mauled by these two young men, who are enjoying rubbing themselves on the cows just a little too much. White Castle Oddly, since I thought hamburgers were made of dead cows, a person in a pig suit is doing a suggestive dance (well, as suggestive as a person in a pig suit can be) and then squirts bar-b-que sauce all over itself and some customers. "What do you crave?" asks the female voice. "Vegetables!" say I! KFC - successfully unthinking KFC wants us to Unthink and dance while eating chicken. Sorry, but chewing...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Ad targeting" />
    
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        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="carls1.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/carls1.png" width="400" height="311" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By B.L. Ochman&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The trend in online fast food advertising is toward the slightly salacious, and semi-disgusting. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Social media component? Other than a really lame try by KFC: none. Long-term strategy? None. Gimmicks: galore. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Since I'm sure someone other than teenage boys eats in fast food restaurants, I have to wonder - yet again - what are these ad agencies (and their clients) thinking? Or not thinking, as the case may be.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carl's Jr Milkshake&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://video.mediapost.com/index.cfm?clientfile=CarlsJrMakingMilkshakes.mov"&gt;Carl's Jr&lt;/a&gt; ad for a new orange milkshake did not make me want to drink one. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As a bovomaniac vegetarian, it actually made me feel really bad for the cows, being mauled by these two young men, who are enjoying rubbing themselves on the cows just a little too much.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.whitecastle.com/"&gt;White Castle&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
Oddly, since I thought hamburgers were made of dead cows, a person in a pig suit is doing a suggestive dance (well, as suggestive as a person in a pig suit can be) and then squirts bar-b-que sauce all over itself and some customers.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;"What do you crave?" asks the female voice.&lt;br /&gt;
"Vegetables!" say I!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;KFC - successfully unthinking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.kfc.com/"&gt;KFC&lt;/a&gt; wants us to Unthink and dance while eating chicken. Sorry, but chewing chicken parts while dancing is kinda gross, even if they are grilled instead of fried.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;They're also having a &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/unthinkdance"&gt;KFC Unthink Grilled Dance Off&lt;/a&gt; - which has received all of four video entries in a month. And only the one with the baby is even cute.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Yet, there are 688 videos in search results for &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&amp;search_query=KFC+chicken+day&amp;aq=f"&gt;"KFC c"hicken day"&lt;/a&gt; and 659 under &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&amp;search_query=KFC+free+chicken&amp;aq=f"&gt;KFC free chicken&lt;/a&gt;. Apparently, KFC's failed free chicken promotion with Oprah left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. As one headline puts it, "REthink KFC!&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;br /&gt;
None of these ads were cheap to produce. None of them have a strategy that's likely to outlive their gimmicks. And none of them make me hungry. How about you?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;UPDATE June 27: The trend continues&lt;br /&gt;
- &lt;a href="http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=137568"&gt;Hardee's Ups Ante in Fast-Food Smutfest &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
- &lt;a href="http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=137541"&gt;Dear Fast Feeders, Please Keep Your Meat Away From the Ladies&lt;/a&gt;, Sexualized Sandwich Bits Are Getting Tired, Disgusting&lt;/p&gt;
        

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By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


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<entry>
    <title>Gone Dancing, See You Tuesday</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/vGrZA6nHS7U/gone_dancing_see_you_tuesday.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4882" title="Gone Dancing, See You Tuesday" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4882</id>
    
    <published>2009-05-22T14:30:15Z</published>
    <updated>2009-05-22T14:32:17Z</updated>
    
    <summary />
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="swing1.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/swing1.png" width="320" height="369" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


    &lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blochman/~4/vGrZA6nHS7U" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>
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<entry>
    <title>Mars Candy Sends Women Seeking New 'Fling' to Porn Site. Ooops!</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/CK7pwNzv6_I/dear_mars_candy_heres_what_happens_when_you_dont_do_your_research_-_ooops.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4881" title="Mars Candy Sends Women Seeking New 'Fling' to Porn Site. Ooops!" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4881</id>
    
    <published>2009-05-18T15:45:11Z</published>
    <updated>2009-05-21T13:48:59Z</updated>
    
    <summary> This is where you land if you read about Mars Candy's new 85-calorie Fling chocolate bar, which is aimed at women, and you - logically, were to type in www.fling.com.Ooops! This is where Mars - whose agency and marketing people apparently didn't check to see who else might own a URL related to their product name - means to send you. Ooops! Mars is not the first to make this mistake, and they won't be the last. When Dell launched its Direct2Dell blog, they called it One2One. But they failed to check the URL and to learn that one2one was actually a scuzzy porn site. The Internet is not for practice guys! It's for all the marbles. Use your head, or lose the game. Bonus link: When Edelman PR set up the much-maligned Working Families for Wal-Mart they didn't register the domain name. They registered www.forwalmart.com. The most logical domain, www.workingfamiliesforwalmart.com, was kidnapped by an anti-Wal-Mart group that launched a pretty good parody site. All the smiling faces in the original are replaced by sad ones in the parody. Posted by B.L. Ochman...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
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        <category term="Worst Practices" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Fling.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/Fling.png" width="300" height="160" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.fling.com"&gt;&lt;br clear="all"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
This&lt;/a&gt;  is where you land if you read about Mars Candy's new 85-calorie Fling chocolate bar, which is aimed at women, and you - logically, were to type in &lt;a href="http://www.fling.com"&gt;www.fling.com&lt;/a&gt;.Ooops!&lt;br clear="all"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Fling2.png" src="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/Fling2.png" width="300" height="168" class="mt-image-left" /&gt;&lt;br clear="all"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.flingchocolate.com/"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
This&lt;/a&gt; is where Mars - whose agency and marketing people apparently didn't check to see who else might own a URL related to their product name - means to send you. Ooops!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Mars is not the first to make this mistake, and they won't be the last. When Dell launched its &lt;a href="http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/"&gt;Direct2Dell&lt;/a&gt; blog, they called it One2One. But they &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2006/08/dell_changes_blog_name_and_its_tune.asp"&gt;failed to check the URL&lt;/a&gt; and to learn that &lt;a href="http://www.one2one.com"&gt;one2one&lt;/a&gt; was actually a scuzzy porn site. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The Internet is not for practice guys! It's for all the marbles. Use your head, or lose the game.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2006/11/the_edelmanwalmart_fake_blog_story.asp"&gt;Bonus link&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; When Edelman PR set up the much-maligned Working Families for Wal-Mart they didn't register the domain name. They registered www.forwalmart.com. The most logical domain, www.workingfamiliesforwalmart.com, was kidnapped by an anti-Wal-Mart group that launched a pretty good parody site. All the smiling faces in the original are replaced by sad ones in the parody. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Posted by &lt;a href="http://www.whatsnextblog.com"&gt;B.L. Ochman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


    &lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blochman/~4/CK7pwNzv6_I" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>
<link rel="license" type="text/html" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/05/dear_mars_candy_heres_what_happens_when_you_dont_do_your_research_-_ooops.asp</feedburner:origLink></entry>

<entry>
    <title>Brilliant Video from BestBuy CMO Barry Judge: The Future is Digital</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/9D6eQeaOuwE/brilliant_video_from_bestbuy_cmo_barry_judge_the_future_is_digital.asp" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.whatsnextonline.com/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=2/entry_id=4880" title="Brilliant Video from BestBuy CMO Barry Judge: The Future is Digital" />
    <id>tag:www.whatsnextblog.com,2009://2.4880</id>
    
    <published>2009-05-16T17:19:35Z</published>
    <updated>2009-05-16T17:35:53Z</updated>
    
    <summary> A four-minute education in Reality Marketing from BestBuy CMO Barry Judge. Read his blog, follow him on Twitter, where you'll also find thousands of BestBuy employees. "In order for our brand to be relevant in the future, we gotta live digitally... with our communication and the products we sell. And the brands that figure this out are the brands that will succeed in the future." Amen,...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>BL Ochman</name>
        <uri>http://whatsnextblog.com</uri>
    </author>
    
        <category term="Best Practices" />
    
        <category term="Business Communications" />
    
        <category term="Internet strategy" />
    
        <category term="Marketing Strategy" />
    
        <category term="People to Watch" />
    
        <category term="Reality Marketing" />
    
        <category term="Social Media Marketing" />
    
        <category term="Thought Leaders" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.whatsnextblog.com/">
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;object width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-rTzIAWI4Ms&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-rTzIAWI4Ms&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
A four-minute &lt;a href="http://barryjudge.com/the-future-is-digital-video"&gt;education&lt;/a&gt; in Reality Marketing from BestBuy CMO &lt;strong&gt;Barry Judge&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
Read his &lt;a href="http://www.barryjudge.com"&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt;, follow him on &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/BestBuyCMO"&gt;Twitter,&lt;/a&gt; where you'll also find thousands of BestBuy employees.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;"In order for our brand to be relevant in the future, we gotta live digitally... with our communication and the products we sell. And the brands that figure this out are the brands that will succeed in the future." Amen,&lt;/p&gt;
        

All content copyright B.L. Ochman, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, with the attribution: 
By B.L. Ochman,
What's Next Blog,
and a link to the post


    &lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blochman/~4/9D6eQeaOuwE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>
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<entry><title type="text">Links for 2008-09-11 [del.icio.us]</title><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/Vn5aP5Vi9RQ/whatsnext" /><updated>2008-09-12T00:00:00-07:00</updated><id>http://del.icio.us/whatsnext#2008-09-11</id><content type="html">&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.new.facebook.com/business/?pages="&gt;Facebook | Facebook Pages&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
facebook&amp;#039;s promo on creating facebook pages in new facebook&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.e-clipsblog.co.uk/"&gt;e-clipsblog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
this blog is new to me - subscribed&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://unype.com/"&gt;Unype: A location-based social application platform&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
social platform to bring social networks together. a bit confusing, but interesting&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21644540@N04/2832596207/"&gt;zefranks flickr page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
wonderful monsters and other goodies from the mind of zefrank&lt;/li&gt;
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bhangra rocks. you MUST listen. OMG! beautiful music.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.canine-freestyle.org/index.asp"&gt;Canine Freestyle Federation: home page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
canine freestyle dancing organization. i love this.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com/plan-your-audience-acquisition-strategy/"&gt;Plan Your Audience Acquisition Strategy | chrisbrogan.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
how to build more blog readership&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://adage.com/article?article_id=130895"&gt;Wendy's Takes First Stab at Viral Video With 'Crazy Lettuce' - Advertising Age - News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
Another thing that could work against it: The finicky demographic hates to be marketed to, and on YouTube, the film is prominently flagged as a viral video for Wendy&amp;#039;s.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blochman/~4/Vn5aP5Vi9RQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><feedburner:origLink>http://del.icio.us/whatsnext#2008-09-11</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry><title type="text">Links for 2008-09-10 [del.icio.us]</title><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/mYDDIVIkz9A/whatsnext" /><updated>2008-09-11T00:00:00-07:00</updated><id>http://del.icio.us/whatsnext#2008-09-10</id><content type="html">&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2008/05/found_my_animal.php"&gt;Cool Hunting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
dog-related products&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://nycmw08.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=273214"&gt;Memory Walk 2008, New York City - Home&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
i&amp;#039;m forming a team to honor my mom.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blochman/~4/mYDDIVIkz9A" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><feedburner:origLink>http://del.icio.us/whatsnext#2008-09-10</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry><title type="text">Links for 2008-09-09 [del.icio.us]</title><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blochman/~3/29XxBrYXWoM/whatsnext" /><updated>2008-09-10T00:00:00-07:00</updated><id>http://del.icio.us/whatsnext#2008-09-09</id><content type="html">&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://gobigalways.com/citizens-of-the-new-tribes/#comment-1929"&gt;Go Big Always - Citizens of the new tribes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
absolutely fantastic illustrations! the big picture on how we all relate. don&amp;#039;t miss this post!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.element22.com/site/blog.php"&gt;Titanium - Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
Thank you Mitch! B.L. Ochman&amp;#039;s 12 Tenets of Social Media Marketing: &amp;quot;This is a brilliant manifesto for marketing in the 21st century... Essential thinking&amp;quot;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/5457.shtml"&gt;Barbie for President 2004 - Raving Toy Maniac - The Latest News and Pictures from the World of Toys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
Barbie&amp;#039;s 2004 presidential campaign promises: create world peace, help the homeless and poor, and take care of animals&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blochman/~4/29XxBrYXWoM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><feedburner:origLink>http://del.icio.us/whatsnext#2008-09-09</feedburner:origLink></entry></feed>
