I’m happy to announce that Erno Hannink is the winner of my birthday caption contest!

He won a guest appearance on VMC – my media channel, so today we set in front of our webcams and recorded a nice chat together. Since many of you often ask me to bring you thoughts from other communicators I took the chance to ask Erno to share some ‘online tips’ that entrepreneurs can use to do better business. Find out more in the video…

So here we go, ladies & gentlemen… Erno Hannink!

Andrea

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Show Notes & Credits: Erno Hannink , @ErnoHannink

Do you want to get these report-updates in real time? Subscribe to the live-report RSS feed! This feed includes only report related items. It’s not a substitute but a complement to my main RSS feed which still remains the official one that brings you all my blog posts.

• Foursquare Sees Its Name in Lights in Vegas – An enormous digital display pulls checkin data via Fousquare’s API and displays the latest tips and to-dos, as well as the mall’s mayor, for all onlookers to see.
• Special Report – Marketing to the Millennials – One of the most evident changes is social networking, which is embraced by 75 percent of the Millennials, compared with 50 percent of the Generation X members (ages 30 to 45) and just 30 percent of Baby Boomers (aged 46 to 64).
• Getting the Most Out of Twitter, No Posting Necessary – A COMMON reason given by those who have yet to try Twitter: “I have nothing to say.”… well…
• E-Commerce Sites Freshen Up to Grow Sales – Among those sites that will refresh their looks, better organization and updating of home, category and product pages are top priorities, followed by better search engine optimization.
• The State of the Twittersphere 2010 – According to the report, Twitter’s user growth peaked at 13% in March 2009 falling to just 3.5% in October 2009. And while this is the most recent date for which HubSpot has access, it is revealing nonetheless.
• Lady Gaga And The Death Of The Login – 9 out of 10 people creating special purpose web accounts are doing so using their social networking platforms.
• How to Create a Successful Company Blog – Is it worth blogging, and if so, what they should blog about.
• Facebook Drives 3X Traffic to Broadcast Than Google News – A key difference here might be that people are sharing news on Facebook that has an aspect of immediacy. When something big is happening in the world, some news is breaking, we might tend to look toward media outlets where we expect to find breaking news – broadcast media.
• Study: 61% of small businesses accomplish identifying & attracting new customers via social media. – Social media usage increased to 24%, from 12% the year before.
• Roadmap: Make your corporate websites relevant with social integration (via @jowyang) – Companies and orginizations are confused by the wide variety of choices that social networks offer to help them connect to their customers. Jeremiah created this menu to help them in understanding.
• Social networking, phones grow as news sources – 26% of people are getting news through mobile devices.
• 10 Tips for Successful Twitter Fundraising – It takes more than posting multiple tweets a day to get the job done.
• 5 Simple Twitter Listening Tips Every Marketer Should Know – Good overview on the basic steps you need to get the best out of your Twitter searching and monitoring.
• E-Book on building and sustaining brand communities – Radian6 – (direct PDF download).

April 16-17 I’ll be speaking at SHiFT in Lisbon (Portugal). The theme for the event is ‘Do it Yourself’.

What will I talk about? Well I want to give to the audience what they want and pay for so I thought to crowdsource the topic of my presentation. I’ve already done this in the past and it worked really well.

• What are the challenges you are facing and what do you need help with?
• Are you a small entrepreneur or working in a large organization, what do you want or have to do yourself and you struggling with?
• What do you want me to share with you? Tips? Personal experience? Best practices? Other?
• Any other idea?

Please share what you think and what you need. Here’s why:

• If you are not coming to the event: I’ll try to record my presentation and release it after the event here on my blog and media channel. So your questions will find answers.
• If you are coming to the event: …you get anything you want! My presentation + I’ll be happy to sit down with you after my session and help you with more specific question of challenges you are facing.

My suggestion is: If you can, come to Lisbon and join us. Yes, there’s value in attending events like SHiFT. You’ll find out about new inspiring ideas from other speakers too and you’ll have a chance to grow your network of contacts with new potential partners and clients (you don’t need me to remind you this right? ).

Let your ideas, questions and requests flow here in the comments or via twitter @vascellari (remember to link back to this post in your tweets so it will be easier to track/manage the conversation. Thanks.)

Andrea

Disclosure: iTive (my company) is official partner of the event.

When I think about video Steve Garfield is one of the first names that comes to my mind. He is a pioneer, I’ve been following him for years and I finally met him in New York during social media week NY. Steve gave me also a copy of his new book Get Seen (thanks Steve!). He didn’t ask for it but I’ll review it. If you are thinking about it the answer is ‘No, this is not a sponsored post’, he really knows what he’s talking about and as usual I’m happy to share it with you.

We had a nice chat about the book and we recorded this episode in which he also shared 3 tips on how organizations can use video to better promote their business.

Click, play, enjoy!

Andrea

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Joseph is one of the few special and authentic persons I know in this industry.

I recorded this video last week in New York at launching of his new book. If you don’t know Joseph make sure you click this link.

Andrea

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Andrea

“Retention can become the new acquisition” Joseph Jaffe

Last week Joseph Jaffe officially launched his new book ‘Flip The Funnel‘ at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York. I had the chance of having a glass of wine with Joseph a few days before, during social media week. We had a nice chat and he gave me a few insights and a copy of the book with a special note… (Thank you Joseph).

Nope, this is not a sponsored post. I chose to blog about it because I’m more than happy to share with you the inspiring thoughts of a great marketer and a good friend. I’ll review the book so stay tuned.

Andrea

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Yes that’s the first thing I thought yesterday morning when I got Google Buzz running on my gmail… Google is losing focus.

I watched the live presentation, but I still wanted to play around with it a little bit before sharing my thoughts.

“Google Buzz is a new way to share updates, photos, videos and more…” What? Who needs that?!

• Do I want to say and share something when I’m on the go? Yes, but I’ve been doing it on Twitter since 2006. Google feels a bit like a late comer.
• Want to stay tuned on what people near me are buzzing about? Ok, but I’m already using Foursquare for that.
• Status updates? Sure, but Facebook is where many of my friends live and even though it could be fun getting them on buzz not everyone uses gmail.

My take? Google is feeling the pressure from Twitter and Facebook. And you know what? It’s ok. It’s fine to have someone in the space that takes care of sharing micro updates and connecting with others.

Google should do what it is really good at doing…Google’s goal is to organize the world’s information. Google’s Social Search? Amazing. Google’s Real Time Search? Fantastic… so stick with it Google!

Google is huge and keeps growing. From this point on losing focus is what could lead Google’s empire to crack.

Your take? Share it in the comments or via Twitter @vascellari (remember to link to this post, it will make it easier for me to track the conversation).

Andrea

Earlier this week Leah D’Emilio (Director/Producer at Rocketboom.com) and Rocketboom host @mememolly recorded a Super Bowl episode with Ryan Hunter from Poykpac (http://youtube.com/poykpac) and guess what… they had an extra role for me as an ‘American’ watching the game. It was great working with everyone to make this episode! + It was really nice to meet Neal Bledsoe with whom I had really nice chat on the evolution of traditional media.

This Sunday I’ll be in New York and of course I won’t miss the New Orleans Saints VS Indianapolis Colts for Super Bowl XLIV so let me know if you are in for it and we’ll meet up! (drop a comment or reach me via twitter @vascellari).

Andrea

UPDATE: all backstage photos here!

Molly goes to her first Super Bowl party. This week’s Casual Friday was written, directed, and edited by Ryan Hunter. MemeMolly, Jenn Lyon, Taige Jensen, Neal Bledsoe, Brett Haley, and Andrea Vascellari.