Social Media Round One

Volvo’s recent decision to hand the reins of its social media, SEO and digital PR programs to WPP’s esteemed media buying agency Mindshare has tongues-a-wagging and fingers-a-pointing.Brand Republic and others reported the surprising news that reignited the debate over which marketing discipline is best suited to deliver clients’ growing digital dreams.Mat Morrison, global digital head,…… Continue reading Social Media Round One

Metrics Buzz

Doesn’t the discipline of reputation management fall squarely in the domain of the PR professional? Apparently no longer in today’s land grab of blurred marketing functions.Nielsen Buzzmetrics’s Pete Blackshaw, no stranger to the word-of-mouth marketing measurement scene, now sees gold in the execution of online reputation management programs.In a ClickZ piece today, penned by Doug…… Continue reading Metrics Buzz

Blogging Cool?

For many of the digital cognoscenti, blogging is so passé. What with Twitter, Seesmic, Qik and countless other tools that tout and tweet, who has time for that once-heralded, longer-form RSS-enabled conjecture? It’s just so outré.But for the rest of America, e.g., those outside of Silicon’s valleys and alleys, the weblog remains very much the…… Continue reading Blogging Cool?

De-Optimizing Strategies

MSNBC.com’s savvy Internet-watcher Bob Sullivan today dissects a company that apparently sat in on one of Converseon founder Rob Key’s* presentations at a search strategy or WOMMA conference.Mr Key pioneered much of what’s happening in the booming area of “search engine reputation management,” if not the term itself.Of course, the company on which Mr. Sullivan…… Continue reading De-Optimizing Strategies

A Million Trees

I was pleased to see American Express’s “Members Project” anoint as one of its 50 finalists the virtual-to-actual tree reforestation program developed by my friend, colleague and sometimes client Rob Key of Converseon. (You’ve all seen the Scorsese spot.)For those of you who didn’t catch my post on “Second Chance Trees” around Earth Day, the…… Continue reading A Million Trees

Virtuous Tides and Trees

Now that the environment has returned to the front burner of the nation’s political (and public) agendas, I wonder whether Earth Day 2007 will regain some of its former glory?The first Earth Day, of course, was held on April 22, 1970, and is recognized as the beginning of the modern environmental movement. “Over 20 million…… Continue reading Virtuous Tides and Trees

Swayed

Yesterday The Guardian reported on a new social media product called “Sway” that not only mines the online conversation, but purports to “influence” that conversation. Sherrilynne at StrivePR pointed to the piece.Sway’s makers at the UK-based marketing group Creston make no claims about lowering one’s cholesterol. Instead, the company’s “Director of Influence” had this to…… Continue reading Swayed