From HubSpot

This blog posting lists 27 “Lessons” for B2B Marketers.  B2BMarketing Lessons   I really like the recognition of the role of keyword driven content in a number of the items listed.  The focus on integrated marketing tactics across traditional, social, and online tactics is also interesting and important for B2B marketers to understand.

What do you like? Are there any tactics or lessons you would add?

Thanks Peter for the article suggestion

From Detroit News

FORD Product Idea Website Article

From the website “Ford Motor Co. is creating a “idea portal” on its Web site, to give consumers the opportunity to suggest new features, allow others to critique them and vote for which ones should be considered by Ford’s product development team.”

Seems like a great idea.

Article on FORD Site About Idea Gathering

What do you think?  Should they allow ALL comments to be seen by everyone?

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100413/AUTO01/4130330/1148/Ford-to-harvest-product-ideas-from-Web#ixzz0m9T8mjH4

Thank you Amita.

Video from Wall Street Journal Online

Google Execs Prosecuted in Italy

This (February 2010) video brings us some news, but it also points out how powerful social media can be and the concerns over privacy.

It also brings to light the power of governments (and their courts) along with differing opinions of “freedom of information”.

What do you think?  Should GOOGLE Execs be responsible?

From Corporate Report Wisconsin

Thanks Mary for sharing this article with me.

Atwitter over Social media

We have been discussing the use of social media in the marketing mix.   We had been looking for specific examples of success with including Twitter in the marketing mix and we find two in this article.

From the article “The Tweets drove recipients to a Web site where they could receive more information,“We scheduled 14 surgeries because of that Twitter cast.”

Here is one example of what appears to be a pretty good ROI on a social media investment.

What examples do you have?

From Corporate Reports Wisconsin

Atwitter in the NEW North

The survey of companies in the “New North” supports that Social media is on the rise in Wisconsin among businesses.

From the article “Of those who do use social media, they tend to use it to connect with/communicate with others in the community or their industry (39 percent), to connect with/ communicate with clients (31 percent) and to gather information or research specific topics (27 percent). Just 22 percent indicated they use social media to find or connect with potential new clients.”

The article also states that of the companies using social media 79% feel the networking has benefited their firms.

Is your organization using social media?  What are you using? Is it helping? How?

From Marketing Power (American Marketing Association)

Social Media Virtual Conference — February 25

Check it out.

From the Harvard Business School Blog…..

How will Augmented Reality affect Your Business

Check out the five “things”.  Personally, of these, the “nature of location” will have the most profound impact.

What do you think?

While checking out the CDC for social media (Thanks Chris) I noticed that there is a CDC Island in Second Life.

CDC Island

They are also on Facebook

The CDC seems to be adapting “all” of the newest technologies on the web.  Interesting.

Have you visited either?

Thanks Chris

The CDC is using Social Media to get the word out about what is happening related to H1N1 etc.

According to the CDC website, ” Help us spread the word and prevent novel H1N1 flu by sharing interactive tools with friends, co-workers and family members!”

Specific Website for H1N1 and Social Media

Seems like a great way to spread the word (I could not resist).  What do you think?

Thanks Hugh

JS Online published an article that declares that the UW Madison Chancellor – Biddy Martin Tweets she is also a Yankee (and Brewers fan) are those two things compatible?

The article talks about other university administrators that Tweet.  Chancellor Martin says that tweeting and following tweets is a way to keep up with what is going on.

I expect that as we experience more about Twitter and other similar technologies, we will develop lots of good uses for it rather than the waste of time some think it to be.

What do you think?

Thanks David.

From the article “The result of the collaboration between Twitter and Peek is a version of the device built exclusively for sending tweets.

Clad in “Twitter blue,” the TwitterPeek allows all the same functionality of a desktop Twitter client – reading tweets, sending tweets, replying, retweeting and direct messaging – only it gives users that access on the go.”

Dedicated Twitter Device

Will you be getting one?

CIO Magazine has a Slideshow of statistics from surveys that presents the use of Facebook at work.

Facebook at Work

How can Facebook we used at work where it would be a productive use of work time and IT resources?

Thanks Hugh.

Government Technology reports that some cities are using Twitter and other Web 2.0 technologies to help “hear” what citizens want.  Further, they are using CRM to build relationships with their citizens.   From the article “The simple act of incorporating Twitter into its customer relationship management (CRM) process adds San Francisco to a growing list of cities using Web 2.0 applications to make the citizen-government relationship a little easier. These applications tend to be easy-to-use and easy-to-integrate, providing benefits to the city and the citizen at minimal or no expense. On the East Coast, New York and Boston aim to join San Francisco by adding their own 2.0 twist to CRM.”

Why not, we have Twitter on our phones and PDAs, keeping them close to report problems (not while we are driving) seems like a great idea to me.  What do you think?  Maybe, we might even use Twitter to report things we observe that we like????   What do you think?

Thanks to Liquid Canuck for this one, who got it from…….

Check out this video…….

The format will be familiar.

Word of Mouth

What do you think?

Thanks Hugh for this post suggestion.

An article in Government Computer News lists that Top Ten Agencies with the most Facebook Fans

The government, our government is reaching out with Web 2.0 technology.

Which surprised you the most?  Is it a good idea for the USA to be reaching out to its citizens (etc.) using Web 2.0?  Why or Why not?

Thank you Sarah for your suggestion of this webpage.

Social technologies have been discussed in a number of classes from a technology standpoint as well as marketing and management perspectives etc.  Forrester Research has published a tool that helps describe the potential audience in terms of (Social Technographics).  The page has an interactive tool where you add Age, Country, and Gender of the audience and it characterize the audience.  A presentation is available to describe the levels of social interaction (my words).    Presentation LINK

So, what do you think?  What are you?

Thanks to Hugh for this recommendation on “The World According to GOOGLE”.

CNN Money published an article called “The World Acccording to GOOGLE” wherein they discuss some of the economic trending that GOOGLE is doing.  Also, we have spoken in class about GOOGLE TRENDS and more specifically, the GOOGLE Flu Trends .  Knowing what people are searching for can yield some powerful trending information.

What do you think about this technology?  How can it lead to competitive advantage?  What would you like trended?

Thank you to Mike for suggesting this video and topic.

The 18 minute video entitled “The Surprising Science of Motivation“  is a presentation regarding motivation; intrinsic vs. extrinsic .  Daniel Pink shares, in the format of a lawyer presenting a case — that “carrot and stick” does not work!  Rather, “Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose” are the way to get things done in business.

What do you think?  Did you enjoy the presentation?

I am a huge fan of workflow and “digitizing” (using information technology to transform “paper-based” processes).  An article in Industrial Distribution Magazine  (Justifying Going Electronic” ) states  ”automating just one business transaction can make a big difference in your bottom line”.  The article goes on to talk about the cultural changes that occur and then go through the economics of digitizing the invoicing process.  The article also points out that the process of automating processes is not just for “big” business.  ”When asked why they still use manual processes, a popular answer for many companies is “we are not large enough to justify the costs or reap the benefits of electronic processes.”

“Going electronic”, digitizing, or automating processes does not require installing SAP or some other monster ERP package, it can also mean using popular “office” software suites and some simple information technology tools.   I see some HUGE possibilities in collaborative technologies and in particular open source workflow tools as well as GOOGLE’s new WAVE especially for knowledge-based processes.

What do you think?  What are some examples of process digitization you have participated in?  What are some proejcts you can forsee?

Augmented Reality — AR–  is adding technology to the real world, or another way of looking at it is adding digital information to physical reality.  iPhone Apps are coming.  Another article from FAST Company

The first AR App has arrived for the iPhone.   See the video (in french)

More AR apps from Fast Company article

What do you think?  Are you ready for AR?  How would you like to use it?