Marketing Virgin

I registered for the Marketing Sherpa B2B Demand Generation Marketing Summit yesterday. I’ve heard great things about it, and I’m looking forward to going in September.

 Are there any marketing conferences you would recommend?

In other words, marketing via text messages. I’m doing research into the topic right now.

I understand its purpose in B2C marketing, but what are the possibilities for B2B?

Thoughts?

Has social media made people go crazy?

I created and run a Facebook page for my company. I came into the office this morning, checked the page, and noticed that a new person added a link on our Wall. I clicked the link and it took me to a video of our competitor’s CEO being interviewed at a tradeshow we recently attended.

Obviously, this was a strategic move so I deleted the Wall post.

Ten minutes later, I checked it again. The guy who works for our competitor posted the link again.

WTF?

Yes, I just used the acronym WTF. I mean, c’mon…who does that? It’s tacky, it’s childish. Needless to say, I deleted the link again, and then blocked him.

This leads me to think that social media is causing people to feel powerful. Feel free to hide behind your screen Andy…I’ll see you at the next tradeshow!

As a rule of thumb in marketing, do not ever point out your competitors. Not only does it simply make you look tacky, but it also gives free advertising to the vendors you are competing against.

What’s worse? Misspelling your competitors name. Check it out: http://www.networkperformancedaily.com/2009/05/what_the_fluke.html 

Check it out here: http://www.pinpointe.com/blog/10-best-performing-email-subject-lines 

Facebook has unveiled a new application that is currently in its beta form. People can now become “fans” of a particular group by texting “fan username” to 32665 (FBOOK). For example, you would text “fan Target” to become a fan of the Target group.

Twitter already has this feature enabled. To follow someone on Twitter you simply text “follow (username)” to 40404. For example, text “fan andreakstout” to follow me!

If you currently work in marketing, you could embed these promotions into your collateral, website, ads, etc. It’s really exciting to see how social media is becoming integrated into all types of communication.

If you work in a field related to communications and you’re not on Twitter, you’re out of the loop. It’s a fact.

If you’re new to Twitter and you’re wondering who you should follow, check out WeFollow. This site lists the top followed people for various categories including politics, travel, marketing, and news.

Bob Garfield of Advertising Age wrote an interesting article on the future of media and marketing. Although the outlook is grim, the future for digital media is bright. How do you feel about the article?

Read it now.

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