New media

Rolling Stone Magazine just annouced that they are reducing the size of its magazine to better accommodate newsstands. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that people aren’t reading magazines like they used to or the fact that postage and printing prices are on the rise.

If you look across the landcape of the old media (TV, radio, newspapers) they all have had trouble gaining traction with modern technology. Broadcast TV has had to deal with declining eyeballs since the 80s when cable has diluted its stranglehold on TV advertising. With the introduction of the Tivo and other DVRs, networks aren’t sure what to do. Local TV is also scrambling.

Local radio have to deal with iPods and satellite radio and the Herald-Leader, who used to be the only print game in town, is scrambling to catch up to groups such as Smiley Pete with niche products like Skirt and web portals covering every niche possible.

If you haven’t already, upgrade your company web site. Let customers create a dialog with you. Communicate to them with a mutli-channel strategy including a mix of the old media and a healthy dose of the new media.

Can I upload a photo and change my status on my business facebook page from my mobile phone? If this appears on my facebook page then I guess so.

I’ll explain how on my next post.

I have been beating myself up trying to figure out how to upload a photo from my mobile phone to my Serif Group facebook page. Although I haven’t mastered it completely, I have figured out how to do it.

All you need is a WordPress blog and WordPress for iPhone. The WordPress for iPhone app allows you to post blog posts as well as mobile photos and allows you to post them to your blog. Your Facebook for business page allows you to pull in RSS feeds of your WordPress blog onto your site and it will automatically pull into the Notes section of your business page.

Go to edit setting in your business page and enable Notes to publish to streams in the application settings of the Notes application. Then choose Edit under the same Notes application and go to the right sidebar and edit your import settings. You will see the screen below.

Then enter your blog’s feed url and you’re there. As you can tell from my last post, I still haven’t perfected it. It looks you can only upload vertical photos (there isn’t a rotate image preference on the WordPress for iPhone app).

I would also like to be able to  have the photo appear in the stream, but I haven’t found any way to do this. I look forward to your suggestions in the comments section if you have an easier way.

Tiger Woods responds to Fan’s video on youtube.

If there was ever a way to get your message out there efficiently and cost-effectively, viral is the way to go. the folks at EA Sports knew this and either contrived this whole experiment or were on their toes to respond the way they did.

Here are some other interesting links:

• Top 150 Marketing Blogs
• $3,000,000…the price for :30 on this year’s Super Bowl
• FTC gets rid of Robocalls

Social Media Jumpstart

With a background and a passion for graphic design, I often share in the joke with other designers that knowing how to use the software doesn’t make you a designer. Sometimes you can pass as a designer because you pleased the person who hired you, but your design may not have worked effectively.

What’s a designer to do? Nothing, really. All we can do is educate our clients and the public on the value of good, professional graphic design. Although your customers may not ask for it, they react to it. And if done with good commercial sense, your business will benefit from it.

When it comes to social media, many of the arguments are similar. Using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for business does make you a social media marketer—but it doesn’t necessarily make you an effective one. Knowing the tools will help you be an effective social media marketer.

And while knowing the tools is an important aspect of social media marketing, using good engagement practices and solid marketing principles will go much further than knowing how to upload a link to your Facebook page. Fortune 500 companies and small mom-and-pop corner stores alike are using these social platforms to reach new and existing prospects. But are they doing it effectively?

Sales Pitch

So I had to be going somewhere with this, right? Yes, I admit this is a sales pitch, but my pitch won’t be for everyone. After all, my personalized session for social media consulting is an on-site session—here in Lexington. For those reading this who aren’t willing to travel in for the on-site session, I encourage you to look for a marketing agency in your area that can help you navigate the tools of social media, and educate you on the best practices. Or, contact me and we can organize a Skype session.

And for those of you who live here or are coming to Lexington, Kentucky in the near future I hope you would consider scheduling a time I can advise you on using the social media tools effectively and introduce you to best practices. Find out more information about my social media jumpstart session.