mommyjenlin

Stories Matter The web moves in phases. The first phase was presence. In 1999 when I built my first website, FoundObjects.com (now RIP sadly), having a website was sufficient to generate Return On Investment (ROI). The next phase was the battle for commerce. The move from "brochure-ware", websites that were little more than printed brochures that happened to be online, to limited interactivity. Once the conversational door was open the social tsunami began. Where once we lucky few Internet marketers lectured now, in the social era, we listen and curate. Having conversations means we develop different kinds of websites. One easy to spot difference is the ubiquity of social share buttons. Social signals such as Facebook Likes and Tweets confirm our claims and the conversations taking place on our new more social websites. Why Stories Matter NOW No one speaks first, so conversations must be present and robust. Speaking in stories creates more vulnerability than "marketing ...

  Please Join Cure Cancer Buzz Team & Beat The CURE CANCER Drum this October Heroes and Friends of Martin's (FOMs) I'm worried and my friends know it. I've gone and bet the farm again and it would appear we will come in short of our goals. How do I know this? Social Media Marketing. Prior to social media, back when I sold M&M's, our marketing didn't live in the NOW. At Mars we would dutifully benchmark our new Twix campaign based on other similar campaigns and miss more than we hit. Social media can rescue such SWAGs. I put the spreadsheet for this post in a public Google doc here: Buzz Team Analysis on Google Using Social Media To Create ROI I painstakingly visited each current Cure Cancer Buzz Team's social profiles to harvest their followers. I wanted to know if we have enough Cure Cancer Buzz Teamers as of today and the answer is no. If we launch Cure Cancer Starter and Cure Cancer Store in October (looks like Monday the 7th now) we may fall short ...

Content Marketing As A Virtual Cycle When the great curator Robin Good's Scoop.it feeds hit 1,000,000 views every content marketer should take note - curation is the key to successful content marketing. I created controversy recently at Phil Buckley's SEO Meetup , the largest such Meetup in the country, suggesting curation should be 90% to 10% creation for successful content marketing. Curation isn't alone. My ratio left out important gears such as social (the blue gear above) and e-commerce (the green gear). Content Marketing's Gears create a "virtual cycle" where the gains and momentum of one creates gains and momentums in others. Content Marketing's Gears, when balanced, function as a positive perpetual motion machine where any turn of any gear helps all gears. TIME is the most difficult dimension to illustrate. Content marketing has a longer gestation. Time is part of Google algorithm. Your website creates expectations. New websites don't have mil...

I'm lucky to have REALLY smart friends. Here are five ideas a recent survey of some of the smartest turned up in anser to the question, "What cool stuff are you doing this holidays?" Names and identities are being withheld until 1.1.2014 as promised :). M Idea 1: Mobile Games As a recent Forbes article noted mobile games are ROCKING. Digital games are expected to hit $1.1B growing 54%. Not suggested your ecommerce or B2B website goes into the digital game business, but finding a way to be FUN and MOBILE this holiday is a "genius idea". Tips to keep in mind as you make a digital game out of shopping or forming a relationship with your website: Mobile Game Tips Keep mobile games simple.  Develop games that play OVER TIME.  Don't forget the leaderboard.  Curate "winners" so everyone learns.  Align your game with core brand values (see Stengel's Brand Ideals ). Idea 2: Disrupt Convention This holiday season don't do the usual thing in the expe...