Eco-Friendly Digital Marketing Internship

The expanding digital industry, as Jonathan Gardner of Vibrant Media puts it, is “destined to affect what we discuss, buy and watch, who we friend, what we Like, and how we share — all year long.” Along with eMarketer’s projection of a 14.4% increase in U.S. online ad spending, there is no question digital will make an impact in the new year. The best practices with optimal results will be the ones that will carry into 2012, even for digital marketing agencies.

1. Take initiative into obtaining keywords using search engine optimization. Look to the future for insight on the next hot key term. Word ownership will do the work for you, setting the path for your brand to gain ownership of its voice around the web. Focus on your consumer when constructing your marketing strategy. What do they want, hope for, aspire to?
2. Focus on your the product’s value. Consumers are becoming more spending-conscious. Focus on what content your audience wants to watch and read. Deliver ads to people who actually want to see them.
3. Content is crucial. The most successful display ads connect content with the context of the page. The best digital marketing in 2012 will have to be dynamic.
4. The revolution in tracking consumer behavior continues. With all the content on the web, it is quality that will produce the results in the end.
5. Can you believe 98% of 18- to 24-year-olds use social media? More reason to develop new ways to make your social media assets deliver as seen by Best Buy and “Twelpforce” and Axe with their social toolbar.

If you’re interested in the rapidly growing world of online marketing, this is the perfect class for you! With Michigan State University’s New Media Driver’s License, you will learn all about the different aspects of online marketing from the experts. Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing, shows his students the many facets of the digital world in a fun, easy to learn way.

One of the greatest things about this class is that you are learning brand new things, but a lot of it is just expanding your knowledge of media you already use. Not everyone blogs, but it’s a pretty simple thing to do and you will learn the little extras that turn your good blog into a great blog. Most of the students who take this class already have accounts on at least one social media platform. Learn how to use platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube to their full advantage.

Some things you may know little or nothing about are search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and Google and Yahoo! search rankings. When you successfully complete this class, you will have an understanding of these things and just how great of an impact they have on a business.

Another great thing about this class is that it is (mostly) online. From experience, I can say this is one of the most enjoyable and most useful classes I have ever taken. I loved the convenience of being able to do my work when it worked best for me.

Sign up now for the Fall 2011 New Media Driver’s License (ADV420) course!

THE NEW MEDIA DRIVERS LICENSE IS PROVIDED BY The Michigan State University Advertising, Public Relations & Retailing Deparment in Partnership with Derek Mehraban.

Katy Perry pulled out all the stops for her 2011 Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) Video. The video is jammed packed with 80s heartthrob’s, 90s teen pop sensations, Internet memes and Kenny G?

Brace faced frizzy haired Kathy Beth Terry, played by Katey Perry, wakes up to find herself next to a buff young male and a fuzzy memory of the night before. Perry used social media marketing to promote the music video’s main character Kathy Beth Terry, who’s Facebook fan page is packed with links of 80s and 90s teen heart throbs like Jonathan Taylor Thomas (JTT), viral videos created by Kathy Beth herself and video clips of the boy band Hanson.

Katy Perry – Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

The music video features Kathy Beth Terry getting a makeover from the Friday queen herself Rebecca Black, Hanson playing in the backyard and a saxophone solo from Kenny G. Darren Criss (Blaine) and Kevin McHale (Artie) from “Glee” make an appearance along with other famous stars from the past and present.

Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) is a hilarious play on teen geek-to-chic movie’s. Who knew Rebecca Black was such a party animal. As a Katy Perry fan I give this music video is a must-see and I give it two thumbs up!

Entertainment & Stars: Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)’ Features Rebecca Black as Hostess (VIDEO)

In high school and early years of college my Facebook addiction appeared to distract me from what many others thought I “should” be focusing on. As I got older my Facebook addiction led to a fascination with Twitter and other forms of social media. Suddenly I was studying social media and digital public relations strategies in school. Within three years my degree in public relations went from cool to awesome. I was taking innovative journalism classes tailored to social media strategies and search engine optimization and all things digital. Was this too good to be true? Can I really make a career out of this?

Photo: DirJournal.com

It turns out you can. And there is quite the demand for digital agencies and social media strategist as the digital revolution continues to grow according to The Detroit News article, Aging Nation, Technology Give Rise to Five Hot Jobs. There is real value in social and digital and more and more people are recognizing that. The job market is fierce and there is good news for college students. According to The Detroit News Article. “By 2018 a million new jobs expected to be created.”  I don’t know if fate or luck or destiny brought me to my current internship in the digital marketing field, but the future is looking nice for me and for the digital agency.

The Detroit News: Aging Nation, Technology Give Rise to Five Hot Jobs

Apple announced on Tuesday its new guidelines to App Store for publishers. Applications will be working the same for users, it is the rules for publishers where the changes have been made. There are many apps available that charge subscriptions fees; either weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually, and annually; therefore these companies (who have created the apps) are consistently making money off of their content. Since creating the platforms (iPhone, iPad, and the iTouch) in which all the information is communicated on, Apple decided that it should be getting a piece of the funds being made by these companies, I mean after all these companies would have subscribers if is wasn’t for Apple…right? The new policy follows these guidelines, as long as users are purchasing the apps from the App Store, Apple will be taking the 30% cut of the purchases being made to the from subscription applications.

image provided by: zedomax.com

The publishers of the content driven apps are 100% free to make the subscription to their applications available on their own site, and this is where Apple cannot take a cut from the information.  However, according to Apples new app policy, unless a users sign up for the app on the publisher’s site, publishers cannot provide in-app links for customers sign up outside of the App Store. Therefore these companies would have to get users to go directly to their site to avoid losing some of their profits to Apple. Many of the people who currently run these apps are worried they won’t be able to survive, and are also unsure as what Apple will do in the future…who’s to say the won’t try taking a bigger cut from profits made by theses content driven subscription applications.  Has this

It is hard to figure out who do side with on this matter, to me it make sense that Apple would be taking a cut, because without having the technology created by them none of the companies would be able to be gaining profits. Although if you are thinking about it from the perspective of the app creators, who are building content for readers to have daily, weekly or monthly, publishers are the ones creating the content for readers to subscribe in the first place. Maybe you’ll think a little differently next time you are purchasing one of your apps for the App Store or directly from the publisher.

So the ever-changing facebook has turned to a creative side by some of its users.  Since the social media site first launched in 2004 it has had more than a handle full of revamps made to the site. Which always seems to throw users for loop as to why the site keeps changing on them.  This most recent facebook change have left most facebook users upset once again, but other users have decided to take the most recent change as a creative outlet.  The new formatting allows users to see their profile picture and right next to are pictures that have been posted or tagged of that user. Which sparked some users to look at facebook as more of an artistic side.

images provided by: mashable.com

Another recent addition to the facebook addiction is the video profile, which is relatively new. This is for all those people who are consistently making tweaks to the profiles, editing the information that is being seen about them.  This can allow users pages and fan pages to be more interactive with their facebook friends. In order to make the change to your profile picture you need to get the new Facebook app, which allows you to replace your profile photo with a video. The only problem with this is that only people who have the plug-in to the app themselves will only be able to see the video. It’s a great new idea to create some edge to your facebook profile but at the moment it still does have some kinks.

The day after Steve Jobs announced that he was taking a medical leave, Apple’s stock fell 2.25%. This is the second time in 2 years that he has taken a medical leave, and Apple’s stock has dropped significantly both times. So, what does this mean for Apple? The consequences might not be bad short-term, but this could effect the company in a few years from.

As the anticipated release of the iPad 2 and the new iPhone in a few months, the plans for those new devices are likely developed and ready to go. What about the innovation of new products? It appears that the public has little faith in Apple without the man behind the brand, Steve Jobs.

When new products are announced, many wonder who will present them if Jobs is not in the picture. People are infatuated by his notorious presentations; he is known to hypnotize his audience. Losing the product presentation  aspect of Apple could leave some people uninterested.

Apple is such a large company that it seems hard to believe that losing one person, even if it’s the face of Apple, could impact sales so drastically. Many tech guru’s are certain that the creation of new Apple products will succeed on their own, but it appears that the public likes the security of seeing Steve Jobs take part in all aspects of Apple products.

It’s hard to predict how the absence of Steve Jobs will directly impact the company in the long-run, but it appears that consumers of the brand have consistently little faith in Apple without him.

We know that ad spending on social gaming has increased by 60% since 2009, that 56 million Americans play social games, and mobile phone applications and games are continuing to grow in popularity so it just makes sense that advertisers would want to pay more attention to social gaming.

Robert Tomkinson, Playfish’s senior director of global marketing, explained that “What [media buyers and advertisers] want is massive reach, they want targeting, they want performance.” And they can have all of this, especially through the use of ads in social gaming. Tomkinson was a speaker at the Social Gaming Summit and had the opportunity to explain why social gaming advertising is growing and why it will be a success.

One reason he gave for social game advertising’s success is the idea that advertising in games is about engagement, not eyeballs. He gave the example of the Facebook game Farmville and how users were given the option to plant a branded crop, Cascadian Farm blueberries. This may seem like a simple concept but in 500 million cases, Farmville users decided to purchase the branded blueberries opposed to an unbranded crop. The use of branded items in social games allows the gamer to actually engage with the brand instead of just viewing it on a TV screen or magazine page.

Photo Credit: Pichaus

Another reason social gaming advertising is so successful is the fact that social games reach the Facebook (and other social media sites) audience. Facebook has 500 million users and the average American spends more time on Facebook than on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia, and Amazon combined. This high usage gives advertisers the opportunity to reach a large audience in a very simple way.

Tomkinson also mentions that some games have bigger audiences than prime time TV. Close to 30 million people play Farmville, the most popular social game. Last week Dancing With the Stars, the most popular prime time TV show, had close to 24 million viewers. The fact that social games are mostly free for users to play, simple to play, and are easy to access plays a big role in the audience the games are reaching.

Social games are also expanding their advertising efforts to the physical world. For example, 7-11 sold products that allowed Farmville game users to access a code from the bought product, perform a task in the game, and unlock a 7-11 virtual good. Over 3 million codes were redeemed and played in the game.

Brands and advertising in social games can do more than just showcase their name on a billboard. Brands are actually now becoming part of the game. In the social game It Girl, Old Navy had a virtual store that allowed users to purchase clothing with real-world offers. This gave Old Navy the chance to put their brand right into the game and make the company stand out above the rest.

One last advantage to advertising in social games is the idea that brands and companies will often reward players for using their games. By choosing to use a branded item in a game users may have the opportunity to win virtual currency, unlock new levels, or play the games for free.

Photo Credit: Mashable

It seems that social gaming advertising has many advantages for companies to increase their brand awareness in more ways than just having their logo flash across the screen. With the popularity and success of social gaming it seems that they will be here to stay for awhile and it will be interesting to see which companies jump on the bandwagon next.

Check out “6 Reasons Why Social Games Are the Next Advertising Frontier” to read more

This week a new Firefox plug-in that allows drunken social media users to monitor their actions on sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, and G-mail was released. All a user has to do is download the plug-in and create settings that will allow their drunken posts to never make it on the Internet. Users will have to set their hours of intoxication and if they try to log onto their social media sites they will be asked to pass a sobriety test before they are allowed access. The test asks the users to complete what should be a simple task of typing the alphabet backwards, but that’s sometimes even hard to do sober.

The plug-in is not available for mobile phone applications though, so when a person is out drinking at the bar they can update their Facebook status and send out as many e-mails as they want, whether they’d like to or not.

Visit Mashable’s “Don’t Drink and Facebook: New Plugin Mitigates the Fallout”

Photo Credit: Zazzle