Time to say Goodbye

So as semester 2 draws near to an end, so too must this blog. While my enthusiasm for blogging has been as bit of a roller coaster, that is to say, it has had its highs and lows, i must say this piece of assessment  has been more beneficial to me than just 25% of my final mark for e Marketing.

Firstly, it has opened my eyes to the world of blogging. Before this assessment task I had no interest in blogs nor knew how many existed. I now follow a number of blogs (unfortunately for leisure and fun, nothing to do with e Marketing, sorry Wags and Josh) and find them very interesting for some light reading and fun.

Secondly, I have found blogs to be very useful for assignment research and gathering information on a certain topic. Six months ago I would not have considered using blogs for research, however i have found many to be quite credible and informative sources.

Thirdly, this blog made me look out for eMarketing in areas which I otherwise would not have noticed. Such as social networking sites like facebook and websites which i use to shop online.

Lastly, it has given me a taste for what blogging is all about and how it is a form of two way communication between you and the rest of the world. Perhaps in the future, when I find a topic which I am passionate about, I may take another dip in the blogging pool.

So that is basically it for me and E is for...

For those of you who took time to read my posts and comment, I thank you.

Cheers!

Catch my disease

Viral Marketing.

It the crème dela crème for all marketers. Every company wants to create an advertising campaign sensation that sweeps the social networks by storm. The popularity of sites such as Youtube, Facebook and My Space have been breading grounds for this style of marketing as material can easily be shared between people. But the big question is….

‘Can viral marketing actually be created?’

While some companies can spend big dollars creating big ads while at the same time generating a lot of social media talk, is this really what viral marketing is?

Some say that in order to create a successful campaign you need to create buzz, interest and even throw in some controversy if you can. It needs a wow factor, so that when people read it, see it or hear it they will automatically want to share it with others.

I personally believe you cannot create viral marketing as such, but there are definite steps which can be taken to make a campaign more likely to become viral.

Firstly, you need great content that people love and want to share.  It needs to be creative and original.

Secondly, you need a clever concept or situation. If there isn’t a shocking ending or an idea, which keeps you watching or reading, you’ll exit before you finish.

Thirdly, sometimes its best if they do not look overly produced.  Sometimes not actually looking like a commercial can be the best ingredient.

Below is a link to what I found to be a very entertaining You tube clip about viral marketing.  The clip is not informative at all and is really just for laughs. If you’re a star wars fan like myself and find humour in the German accent then I think you will enjoy this clip!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkTDDeuytM8

Wots dat u say?

The other day I was having a conversation with one of my younger cousins on facebook chat and it made me realize just how many abbreviations and slang words are used now when conversing over the internet or txt. She had a slang word for nearly every word in our conversation. It actually made me feel really old and out of loop.

The abundance of internet slang is a prime example of the effect the internet has on our culture, to even go as far as to change the way we speak. Take the word email for example which use to be considered an abbreviation for electronic mail but has now become a proper word. There are numerous words, once considered internet slang which are now used in every day vocabulary. This shorthand style of writing, originally to save time so as to fit on small screens such as mobile phones, personal organizers and to send text messages has now become part of modern society.

For those of you familiar with George Orwell’s book 1984, you may be able to find similarities between the internet slang used today and newspeak. For those of you who have not read the book, newspeak was a Government party encouraged and developed style of speaking where words were shortened, compacted and brought together so as to limit the possibility of new, free thoughts. Now I’m not saying that words such as lol, brb, g2g and lmao and acronyms which have been thought up by the government to limit our thinking. Rather, I am pointing out the prevalence of internet jargon in our everyday vocabulary, especially in younger generations and how such words have slowly changed the way we converse. 

Weaving an even tighter and more complex web

In week 12 we’ve been asked to discuss and consider the future of the web.

One of the recommended readings for this week discusses how far the web has come in just a few short years. Not only has the internet jumped from dial-up to high speed broadband (Australia is still lagging a little in that area, hopefully not for too much longer) but also the growing number of smart phones has allowed us greater access to wireless net. The internet is also departing from computers with more and more users now accessing it through smart phones. In the early 2000s, 3G technology was seen as a dud and something which would never take off. However, surveys show that now nearly two thirds of mobile phone users have access to the internet data via their mobile phones. A huge increase compared to just a few years ago.

Here’s an interesting video I found on Youtube which discusses the growing changes of the web. Definitely worth checking out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=off08As3siM

The place to be

“Places” has just been released as the newest function on Facebook and its caught on like wild fire. Everyone is using it.

 How does it work?

It allows you to “check in” to locations where u currently are as well as tag those who you are with. The idea is so you can share with others your location and let your friends know where you are. Then, according to the Facebook blog, you can see if any of your friends have “checked in” to a location near by.

Personally I feel ‘Places’ is more of a marketing tool than anything else for two reasons.

Firstly, it is free advertising of businesses and locations. If on Friday night, I “check in” to a new club and tag my friends who I am with also, I am essentially advertising this place to all my friends and the friends of those who I have tagged as a place I recommend to be on a Friday night.

Secondly - while I do not think it has been incorporated yet, I’m certain it wont be long before it is – once users have checked in to certain locations, they will instantly be sent offers or information about the place and will continue to receive such information in the future. It is a great tool for marketers as they are essentially getting information on their exact target market.

Furthermore, the business can also benefit from this new application as they can use facebook to gather information and feedback on those who have “checked in” to certain places by monitoring comments and whether they left tips or advice etc. 

While at the moment places is still very new and some people are a little reluctant to use it as they feel it’s a little too much information, I think eventually it will become as common as status updates. 

I've been waiting for this moment for all my life

For those of you who are undertaking e-marketing this semester and who also chose 100% course work for assessment you would have either given a presentation or made a video.

My girlfriend Emily and I decided we'd be a little creative and have a crack at the instruction video.

The topic we chose was viral marketing and can be viewed on Youtube.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECZlievVMOI

"I like it on the chair next to the coffee table"

If you are a Facebook addict like myself then you would have noticed last week the numerous number of woman updating their Facebook statuses with phrases such as “I like it on the couch,” “I like it on the floor,” “I like it on the desk,” or something along the lines of that. These posts were made by woman all around the world and are purposely intended to be very ambiguous and alluding to where the individual prefers to “get it oooooon!” so to speak.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and the “I like it on” phenomenon is the latest example of cause awareness on Facebook.The word “it” in the “I like it on” refers to where woman like to place or rest their handbag. So, the meaning of status is purposefully unclear and intriguing in order to attract attention. 

A very similar concept was used last year by Facebook members when females again were posting the colour of the bra they were wearing at the time as their status update. The idea again behind the viral marketing was to create awareness of breast cancer.

Every year over half a million deaths occur worldwide due to breast cancer. Breast cancer is responsible for over 7% of all cancer related deaths on the planet.

I think it is fantastic that Facebook is being used to raise awareness for such an important issue, especially since in general, breast cancer is not a major concern for younger generations, as it seems to be more prevalent in older woman. Facebook is a great medium to use to send a message across to millions of people at once and is the perfect setting for successful viral marketing.

However, I am a little critical towards the ambiguity of their marketing. While the bra colour and “I like it on the…” have both been able to gain a lot of attention and widespread participation I feel not enough marketing was done afterwards showing the cause or who was responsible for the catch phrase phenomenon. I know myself was left in the dark for many days until I eventually caught on to what everyone was talking about. I feel many women might have updated their statuses unaware that it was for breast cancer awareness and thinking it was referring to where they liked to have sex.

In saying the above, I am still very curious to see what the marketing team for breast cancer come up with next year. 

Is black the new green?

Blackled. What is it?

It’s google, but with a black background.

Why you ask?

Well, apparently it takes more energy for your computer monitor to display a white web page than a black one. So while the traditional white or brightly coloured backgrounds with dark text are great for readability, apparently its not all that great for the planet and actually uses up a lot of energy. The premise is that by simply changing to a black background, we can each save a little bit of energy each time we use Google. It's powered by Google, so you should have pretty much the same user experience when using Blackle as you do with Google. Only darker. If you consider the popularity and the number of people who use Google on a daily basis, the potentially energy which can be saved from this simple switch could be enormous. We are all so addicted to google that we think twice before we even consider using another search engine.

From a shallow perspective, Blackle is an ingenious idea. Well for  its founders at least. It preys on the guilt we all feel as we use more energy and natural resources than we are suppose to in order to do what we need to do from day to day. While admittedly, the darker background is not as easy on the eye, it is a relatively minor and hassle free change we can make in our daily lives in order to contribute to saving the environment.

While there is some debate over whether a black backgrounded google will actually make an impact on the world's carbon footprint and the energy saving only working on certain computer screens, the creators of Blackle say there is another purpose behind the idea. They beleive that at the very least, those who use Blackle daily will be reminded to find other ways to reduce energy consumption throughout the day. 

Blackle has saved 2, 105, 610.586 Watt hours of energy to date. Almost enough to power a small country one could say.