Must Have Blackberry Apps

As I’ve posted before, I’m not a mobile apps user.  But, I‘m still very interested in the obsession of having to have everything imaginable as an app on your cell phone.  A recent article about “10 Must-Have Blackberry apps for Small Business” caught my eye (being a small business owner myself).

Listed as top 10 were:  (I’ve described a few that I was unaware of.)

1. Blackberry Messenger
2. Evernote  (great for those ah-ha moments when you just have to write down an idea before you forget it)
3. Google Sync (“The Google Sync BlackBerry app syncs your calendar and contacts between your phone and computer, allowing you to add, modify, or delete items on either device, and access them on-the-go.”)
4. Worldpress
5. Skype
6. Google Mobile Apps
7. Bridge for Highrise
8. Tungle.me (“Tungle.me enhances your existing calendar by syncing it with a public version where you can propose meetings to partners or clients and allow them to book the appointments at pre-approved times.”)
9. Do Not Disturb (This filter sounds like a must-have!)
10. IM+ (“An all-in-one instant messaging system that integrates AIM/iChat, MSN/Windows Live, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk, MySpace, Skype and Facebook chats into one BlackBerry app.”)

The entire article can be viewed at: http://mashable.com/2010/05/14/blackberry-apps-small-busines/

So this got me thinking…IF I ever get a blackberry and conform to the world of apps, what would be some that I couldn’t live without?

Maybe these exist and maybe they don’t:

1. An app to update me on the lottery number.  Even though I rarely play, for some reason I’m always checking to see if the number I would have played came up.  (Yes, I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense and isn’t a necessity, but it is something I spend a couple minutes looking up on the Internet a couple days a week.)
2. An app for current and changing weather conditions in my area.  This is something that would be helpful to me.  I play softball and my daughter plays, and I’m always checking the weather for rain this time of year.
3. An app for garden and flower planting tips.  I love to plant flowers and expand my landscaping around the house.  Unfortunately I didn’t inherit my Grandmother’s green thumb.  I always seem to pick plants and flowers that don’t do well in my soil (which is more like clay in most spots.)  I’m also not good and determining which flowers would look nice grouped together and will bloom at the same time.
4. A Pediatrician app that I could enter in symptoms of a sick kid and get a list of possible illness.  Obviously it would be unofficial and not usable for major illness.  But just a recommendation for a fever, upset stomach, cold, sore throat and other minor things would be helpful.

Ok so the apps I’ve come up with are pretty insignificant.  Guess that justifies my delay of conforming to this new technology.  It just doesn’t have an importance in my everyday life………..yet.  (That, and the fact that I’m out in the country and don’t have very good mobile reception here, so the wonderful apps on my phone wouldn’t do me much good unless I want to walk through the field up to the top of the hill just to use it.)

What are some of the apps you couldn’t live without?

Social Media Brings the News

How did we keep up with the news in the world before social media?  Oh yeah we read the newspaper and watched the news on television.  These days more and more people seem to be keeping up with headline stories through the Internet and even social media.

In my small hometown of about 700, we had a young 24 year old soldier we all knew well, get killed in Afghanistan two weeks ago.  Locally this was covered by the newspapers and television stations.  But through our tight-nit community, messages were sent to thousands over Facebook to update people on the services and to honor Sgt. Nathan Kennedy as a Hero and friend.  It was amazing the amount of support that was shown via Facebook.  I’m sure much of the local media had a lot to do with letting those in the community and surrounding area know the updates on ceremonies and the dates of the funeral.  But I have to believe that the communication on Facebook also was responsible for the huge funeral procession of over 4,000 that came to show their respect and admiration for Nathan and his family.  (

A small portion (prior to the funeral service) even made it to YouTube.

People are logged on to social media sites daily and share a lot of information; giving every post such a great reach to thousands instantly.  It’s becoming a popular way to learn avout, and keep updated on current news such as the oil spill in the Gulf.  As reported on Mashable by author Geoff Livingston ““As the ongoing oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico continues, several organization have created dynamic uses of social media to monitor the situation.  These efforts range from a deploying combination of balloons, cameras and maps to chronicle the progress of the oil spill to old fashioned information dissemination of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.”

This post can be viewed at: http://mashable.com/2010/05/15/social-media-oil-spill/

There are numerous YouTube videos about the oil spill, here is just one.

 Greenpeace USA has a blog about is, http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/gulf-oil-spill

I know we’ve all been anticipating the Internet to take over the newspaper in the future, but is social media becoming so powerful that the newspaper will see its demise even sooner?  After all, news travels to fast on these social sites, and newspapers take a day to print.  By the time the next day’s news hit the front porch with breaking news and updates, people are already know about it.

Technology Bubble

Technology has definitely takes a huge leap forward in the past 15 or so years.  Who would have guessed that we would be able to keep in touch with people across the country and share instant information, videos and pictures via our cell phone from anywhere we are?  Who would have thought we could get directions, book a flight, listen to music, and shop for your mother’s birthday present (and have it sent) at a moment’s notice while riding the subway?  Times have definitely changed.  The Internet boom during the “dot-com bubble era” has given the world countless opportunities and experiences that weren’t even imaginable to the previous generation. 

According to Wikipedia (another gift from the advances in technology and emerging media), “The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble coving roughly 1995-2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more recent Internet sector and related fields.  The period was marked by the founding of a group of new Internet-based companies commonly referred to as dot-coms,” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_com_bubble)

“Historically, the dot-com boom can be seen as similar to a number of other technology-inspired booms of the past including railroads in the 1840’s, automobiles and radio in the 1920’s and transistor electronics in the 1950’s,” (Wikipedia)

Of course we all know the “bubble” burst with the fall of the stock market, but it opened up the possibility for new outlooks on the ability for companies to consider using this new e-channel as part of their business strategy.  Since then, the use of the internet (the e-channel has practically become a necessity for the livelihood and survival of companies.

As I near the end of my current Emerging Media class I was just thinking about how far we have really come in such a short period of time with technology and these new methods of communicating.  I can remember learning about advertising in magazines, 30 sec. television commercials, and newspaper publicity it college just a short while ago (15 years seems short).  Now, it’s a whole new and exciting ball game.

Check out this funny video by RichterScales that bring the “bubble” into current times.

Anyone Can Be A Marketer Thanks to YouTube

So I’ve been blogging for eight weeks now, and I’m beginning to understand the fascination with it.  My problem is coming up with topics to blog about.  Blogging is a great way to publish information and create marketing buzz, but it can also be a creative outlet or forum for trivial communication with people who share similar interests.

So for this post I’ve decided to take a fun approach to social media and look at different marketing videos that are published on YouTube.  (Just to allow myself to explore what YouTube has to offer.)  Prior to this master’s degree course (especially the emerging media class) I didn’t have a lot of exposure to YouTube.  I guess I never seemed to have much leisure time to just click around and watch video clips, and I never really had a need to look anything up on YouTube.

Anyways, here are a few “interesting” marketing videos (kind of amateur attempts at humor) that I ran across on YouTube.  I just wonder how effective these ads were for the companies, and if they were promoted in other channels aside from YouTube.

1.  Berlitz and English Language Instruction Centre

2.  Big Rock Beer

3.  Starbucks Marketed Like a Church

Although these ads may not be very professional, they still received a lot of views, which only adds to exposure and brand awareness; the intention of posting on YouTube.  I’ve never heard of two of these brands prior to YouTube and I wonder who their intended audience is.  If nothing else, these ads are proof that anyone can be a marketer in the world of social media.

Open Graph

Have you heard about Facebook’s Open Graph?  It’s a tactic that Facebook is utilizing in their effort to become the standard in social personalization for everything you do online.  “For example, their new ‘Like’ button is already visible on over 50,000 websites, and they’re providing an API-based way to access what they’re calling a user’s  ‘Open Graph,’ which is a list of everything he or she has ‘liked’ across the entire web – music, books, restaurants, food and more,” (Mitchell, H., Mashable http://mashable.com/2010/05/07/facebook-open-graph-ecommerce/).  This Open Graph feature has the ability to integrate websites and web apps within a user’s existing social network.

It’s like a giant interconnected web of information about each user that is available to third party sources that the user may or may not realize.  I personally have always been a little reserved about offering too much information on Facebook.  But it’s easy to let your guard down when talking with “friends,” forgetting that anything that is posted is potentially viewed by others and may never leave the internet.  (It’s not like a note you pass to a friend that later gets thrown away.)  Things that you, as a Facebook user,  allow to be “public” is actually becoming more public than you know.

So will this open the door to a higher level of personalization; giving marketers greater opportunities to reach their specific target market?  Or, will this lead to higher concerns and regulations on privacy?

For a better understanding of this open graph check out this description by Zuckerberg.

I suppose it’s up to the users to decide what they want to publicize about themselves, just as it’s always been.  But it seems that the privacy settings are complex and things that you may think are private aren’t necessarily as private as you think.  You have to understand the privacy settings and read the fine lines because now more and more information can be linked across various sites; and someone else may know that you like Lady Gaga, or Dunkin Donuts, or even that you frequently post on a religious profile site. 

I think this digital technology is fascinating, but I’m I think it can get too personal and almost intrusive….if you let it.

Explaining Social Media

Social media is taking the world by storm.  Millions of people blog, podcast, belong to social networks, and participate in other forms of social media.  It has become the hub of communicating and marketing.

According to Michael Stelzner’s Social Media Marketing Industry Report from 2009.

-88% marketers use social media in some capacity

-72% have only used it for a few months (they’re just getting starting)

-64% use it for 5 hours or more per week and 39% for 10 hours or more per week

-30-39 year olds are most likely to be using social marketing

(http://www.whitepapersource.com/socialmediamarketing/report/)

YouTube has millions of monthly viewers, and billions of videos posted.  Social networks like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are growing by the millions across the world.  Facebooks’s traffic has “grown immensely in one year’s period, especially in Europe where it grew 314%.According to comScore, it has grown a staggering 2,721% in Italy from February 2008 to February 2009. In other European countries, its growth was also immense: 999% in Spain, 607% in Belgium, 518% in France, 499% in Switzerland,” (http://mashable.com/2009/04/17/web-in-numbers-social-media/)

Yet, there are still many people who don’t understand what it’s all about.

For example, my parents know very little about what social medial actually is and the value and potential it holds.  In an attempt to explain it without getting into much marketing jargon, I found a helpful video on YouTube.  Not only did this video expose them to YouTube, but it broke down the basics of social media on a level that even my 7 year old could understand.

Now that I’ve broken the ice with this cute little video, I’m able to expand on the definition of social media, and how it is used from both a user side and a marketing side.  Eventually I’m hoping to be able to have a substantial conversation with my parents, and even some friends who are inept when it comes to this topic

Apps…

I’ve been working on my current assignment of locating and describing a company that has a successful Facebook site.  My choice was Pizza Hut.  They have over a million fans and are very creative with their posts and catchy comments that help to keep people interested.  They also have a unique feature to add “the killer app for your appetite” to your iPhone to be able to order pizza instantly.

This brings me to the core of this blog post.  I don’t have an iPhone, and to be completely honest don’t get the whole “app” thing.  It seems to me that everyone offers an app to download to your phone. 

  

Obviously there are apps for games and music, but there are a whole slew of other apps available that I was unaware of.

A couple that I found interesting were:

-Weber’s On the Grill.  This app allows you to search over 290 classic Weber recipes.  You also get expert tips, instructional videos helpful ideas from celebrity chef Jamie Purviance.

-Babyphone.  This app is geared toward mommies and daddies.  “Just enter your home phone number or tap in a new number and place it next to your sleeping baby.  When iPhone hears your baby wake up, it calls you,” (Apple, http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-everything/momsdads.html ).

There is even a “Carbon Footprint Calculator” app that offers an easy way to estimate how many trees are needed to offset your carbon footprint.  Apparently the users provides information about miles driven, airline travel, electricity usage, train travel, natural gas usage, oil heating, etc.  This is a very environmentally focuses app that was promoted around Earth Day.

Through this emerging media class I’ve learned about the importance and value of mobile marketing.

But I wonder, are people (like myself) who don’t have an iPhone being left out-of-the-loop when it comes to marketing?  How much emphasis really needs to be placed on mobile apps?  Is it possible that it is just a tech fad that will die out or be replaced by something better in the near future? Or are apps soon to become the norm (meaning people like myself WILL be left out of the loop if we don’t conform)?

Has Social Media Gone to the Dogs?

Social networking sites have become increasingly popular with people across the globe.

SO why not let pets join in the fun, right?  I was a bit surprised to find that there are actually many different social network sites for your pets. 

One example is Fuzzster.com, “where our fuzzy pets can meet other fuzzy pets and owners!  Invite your friends and their fuzzy pets to join, and meet other interesting people with pets just like you,” (http://www.fuzzster.com).

You could chat it up with Abbey the Basset hound, Brisk the cat, or Patrick the rat.  Or meet McGuirk: he’s “an orange and white make 6 year old tabby cat & is looking for online Fuzzster Friends!  He is handsome and daring, and the trick McGuirk can do is sleep.”  Of course aside from the fuzzy friends, these pets also have non-fuzzy friends (owners) who enjoy sharing pictures, stories and pet related information through this site.

People who want to connect with others who share the same interests (even if it is role-playing with your pet) have an all-access pass on the internet.  I am a pet owner, and although I’m not one to join a pet social network, I do admit that they could be be fun.

From a marketing standpoint these types of niche sites are great places to advertise if your company sells pet food, pet toys, offers obedience classes, pet care products, etc.  Such sites already condense the general public down to a portion of your target market for you.  All you have to do is place a banner- add and you’ve got instant connection to people who have an interest and are very inclined to click. What better place to build brand awareness for your custom dog and cat houses, than on a site created and made-up of dog and cat lovers.   

A few other social network sites for pets and pet lovers include:

http://www.petcrash.com                         

http://www.petzume.com

http://cuteness.com

There are many, many other social media networks that are specific to a particular interest group; giving marketers various outlets to consider when attempting to reach their target market.  No longer are consumers having to go to brands, brands are finding consumers where they spend their time on-line.

Is social media really important?

So we’re in this class called emerging media, where much of our study revolves around social media.  Is this really a lifestyle change in society worth learning, understanding, and adding to our own daily routines?  Or is this a come-and-go technology that will be replaced with something bigger and better, only to leave all the marketing efforts and businesses wondering, “why did we put so much time and money into that?”

My opinion is YES, it is definitely worth getting involved in and understanding its power and value in both social aspects and marketing.  Yes it’s a norm for the younger generations (with over 90% of them belonging to a social network,) but it is fast becoming popular with people over the age of 50 too.

From a marketing standpoint, if you aren’t involved in social networks, you are soon to be left behind.  You not only need to learn about it and understand it, you need to be actively involved. 

Is this “emerging media” class necessary?  Definitely!  In fact it could almost be a degree in itself.  For someone like me who is basically new to most features of emerging media, it’s a lot to cram into a single class.  And, I’m sure companies employ or are constantly seeking individuals with expertise and experience in how to navigate and market via social networks and other forms of emerging media.  It’s a job description of its own, not even including other forms of marketing that go into an entire campaign.

I found this great YouTube video that really nails down the importance of social media.  I’ve watched it a few times, and am amazed at some of the facts. 

In fact I think I’m going to show it to a few of my family members who are very out-of-touch with technology and think social networks are just chat rooms for predators and hackers.  There are still so many people who just don’t understand what social media is all about.

Twitter & B2C Companies

Is Twitter really a valuable means of communication for B2C companies, or is it simply another attempt to hopefully reach target audiences?

According to a research by Hubspot, a company’s lead growth dramatically increases as their number of Twitter followers increase.  This research says that, “A B2C company with one to 20 Twitter followers will generate a median of 11 leads per month.  When the number of Twitter followers increases to 21-100, this median grows about 27% to 14.  However, the most significant boost in median lead generation from B2C corporate Twitter account occurs when a company’s number of Twitter followers enters the 100 to 500 range,” (http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/more-than-100-twitter-followers-boost-b2c-leads)

Apparently Twitter IS a valuable component to the marketing tactics of B2C companies.  Twitter is becoming such a social norm in our society that it would be crazy for companies to not take advantage of the abundance of consumers available at their fingertips. 

I was interested to take a quick look at how many followers a few different companies currently have.

Old Navy http://twitter.com/OldNavy  has 16, 302 followers

Best Buy http://twitter.com/BestBuy  has 22,552 followers

Food Network https://twitter.com/FoodNetwork has 101,316 followers

This same research by Hubspot also stated that B2C companies with a Twitter account generate approximately twice as many monthly leads than companies without a Twitter account.  That surprises me that Twitter has already had that much of an impact for companies. 

Twitter truly isn’t just a social site for family and friends.  It holds a great value for marketers and companies to reach out to their consumer base and interact with them personally.

I am very new to Twitter and currently don’t follow any companies and until taking this Emerging Media class at WVU, didn’t actually realize the value it held for marketing purposes. 

After scanning the Twitter site and learning more about it, I think that it’s not enough for companies to have a Twitter account.  In order to engage consumers they need to be tweeting on a consistent basis; and post interesting comments and information that keep consumers’ attention, and make them want to respond and even retweet the information to others.

I just wonder how many of these huge numbers of followers are actually active and influenced by company Tweets?