R. Levin Marketing Group Designing Digital Campaigns to Grow Your Business

iPhone Users Watch More Video… and are Older than You Think

According to Nielsen News this week–

“Upon Apple’s announcement of a new iPhone - the iPhone 3G S, slated to be available June 19 - Nielsen takes a look at iPhone insights on its users and usage.”

As of April 2009, Nielsen estimates that there are 6.4 million active iPhone users in the U.S., up from 2.1 million a year prior.

I thought this was particularly interesting about online video- 37% watch video on their phone (6x as likely as the typical subscriber) That’s why you should consider creating videos in your marketing mix, if you’re not already.Take a look at the chart below. Click here to read the full article, http://budurl.com/iPhoneVid

iPhone Users

Posted under Marketing Trends, Social Media

Many business owners and marketing executives ponder this question daily – Have you really seen ROI from Social Media?

I read this blog post and case study by talented author, Timothy Ferriss of The 4-Hour Workweek. By the way, this book is a great read, if you haven’t read it already. After I read his book, I was ready to run to Malta and Italy and run my business from the Amalfi Coast. Here’s a brief glimpse into his blog post so you get the idea of his educational non-profit campaign using Twitter - “Tweet to Beat.” Ferriss says, “The gist: To benefit U.S. public school students, I will bribe the entire world to follow me on Twitter for $3 each.”

“Social media marketing! Twitter consultancies! Conversational communications! Oh, these are exciting times. It seems like everyone and their grandma are getting into social media.
On a whole, I think this is a good thing, but here’s the problem: whenever technology becomes fashion, return-on-investment (ROI) tends to get lost in the excitement of the latest .com catwalk.
It’s going to help “the brand”? Show me data. It’s going to drive more “awareness”? Define it, isolate it, and translate it into a sales increase? In this post, we’ll look at some real numbers (total capital, conversions, redemptions, etc.) from my latest educational non-profit campaign, the Twitter-based Tweet to Beat, which was a follow-up to the blog and leaderboard-based LitLiberation campaign, which outraised Stephen Colbert 3-to-1 with no staff and no material hard costs…”
You can read the rest of his story about Social Media and ROI here.

If you’re struggling with all the new terms and tools and feeling a little stale with your marketing; attend my GET SMART Marketing Boot Camp this Friday, May 15th in San Francisco to jumpstart your social media marketing campaign. You’ll learnhow to cost-effectively improve your results in this 1-day semi-private interactive program. Guaranteed you’ll learn how to grow your business in new and profitable ways!
Learn more and SAVE $100 instantly with this special code– twit515 when you register for the Marketing Boot Camp.

Posted under Marketing Trends, Social Media, The Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™

From Fremium to Premium–a new Internet Marketing Trend?

More and more businesses are discovering many ways to reach and connect with their prospects and clients using Twitter and now, Twitter confirms paid pro accounts will be next for ” commercial power users or companies.” Click to read the article from Business Insider here,

Posted under Marketing Trends, Social Media, The Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™

I came across this blog post,  14 Tools of Highly Effective Twitter Users and it’s loaded with great tips. Browse through it and try some out.  Here’s just a few to sample:

• TweetStats - Statistics for twitter!
• Twibs - Twitter business directory. Find businesses on twitter
• TwitPic - Post pictures to twitter from your cell phone
• #Hashtags - Hashtags are a popular way for twitter users to tweet and keep track of relevant queries in search.twitter.com,View top trending topics.

Thanks to Kenny Hyder for compiling this terrific list of Twitter Tools.You can view the full list at his blog. While exploring this list, I got sidetracked (don’t we all) and landed on another great site that makes custom badges and all sorts of products, zazzle.com.

And, I found this one for video today, it’s Twitter with VIdeo, http://beta.twiddeo.com/

Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/robynlevin

Posted under Marketing Trends, Social Media

According to eMarketer, “56.7 million baby boomers make up the largest group of users in the US Internet population.” You can view Baby Boomer Social Media Statistics here: http://www.emarketer.com/Report.aspx?code=emarketer_2000546

Think about your own behavior when you’re conducting research or browsing the Internet. Are you going to YouTube or LinkedIn more frequently?

Here’s some other interesting social media demographic data, thanks to twitter.com/neenz that called my attention to this on his tweet (post on Twitter.)

“A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds more people are embracing social networking, but those Web sites remain most popular among the young.

Roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults go online, and 35 percent of those use social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, according to the report”  Read the Social Networking article here:

Nowadays, it’s pretty easy and FREE to test various methods of communication and that’s what social networking is all about. Follow me on Twitter to get some tips and ideas to improve your marketing using social networking.   http://twitter.com/robynlevin

Posted under Marketing Trends, Social Media

Are You Disappointed wth Your Marketing Results?
Are You Seeking New Ways to Attract Clients Using Social Networking?
Need a Marketing Roadmap for 2009?

Join us at the GET SMART Marketing Boot Camp in San Francisco and walk away with your strategic plan for the year. Learn and leverage new media tools like YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn to grow your business efficiently. Learn PR secrets & how my clients got featured in Money Magazine, NY Times, Wall Street Journal etc. Network with a small group of professionals.

You’ll be entered to win a FLIP Video Camcorder ($139.00) value. View attendee comments on YouTube, taken right after the Marketing Boot Camp.

Date:

May 15th, 2009  

January 30th, 2009 -  Sold Out

December 10th, 2008 - Sold Out

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Posted under Marketing Trends, Social Media, The Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™

YouTube.com is the 4th most visited site in the U.S. according to Alexa, a leading traffic ranking website. Online video is exploding and proven to be one of the best experiences on the Internet.  Does your company have a presence on YouTube? This is another creative way to instantly improve your online visibility & search rankings and it’s FREE and effective. Did I say improve your search rankings? Yes– there are excellent built-in search tools that you can use to improve your website rankings. Discover how by subscribing to my channel–www.youtube.com/robynlevin and you’ll get my latest marketing & PR video clips for free.

Smart companies are jumping on board and so should you. Why not create your own branded channel on YouTube? Here’s a few ideas & steps to consider:

1. Sign-up for an account under your name or company name on www.youtube.com.
2. Take several  3 - 5 minute videos of client testimonials, educational clips, new products or services or even of your employees. You’ll quickly separate the shy from the hams.
3. I use a “Flip” camera which has a built-in USB plug that immediately downloads your videos to your computer. You can buy it on Amazon for <$150.00. Then, you can instantly upload them to YouTube, AOL and other websites or send in an email.
4. Write appropriate titles and descriptions. You can even put your geographic region on there and this will help you get found faster online.
5. Optionally, you can add annotations to make your videos more engaging. Watch the video clip of me teaching a marketing strategy class at Wharton. I used annotations when the volume was low.

Recently, I created a branded channel for the 9th annual E-Tourism Summit to share their attendee stories. The volunteers were pretty pleased to be on video and guess what they did? They shared their videos with their friends, family and colleagues. People love to share photos and videos which helps spread the word about you and your company. This is another example of “Viral Marketing” at work for you.

My corporate clients are increasing their online visibility with branded video channels and the feedback has been well received. They are building their fan base with new subscribers daily, as part of our integrated marketing campaign. One client sold out his 1st seminar using just email and video and our 3-minute promotional video got over 200 views the 1st week. These are some ideas & strategies to get you started, and the key is to do it now. Feel free to share this story.

Posted under Marketing Trends, Social Media

Twitter is getting quite the buzz these days and you may be wondering what’s everyone “Tweeting” about? Today, I logged on and got this error message– “Over capacity, try later. If you’re just getting started, be prepared.

Twitter Mania - Over Capacity

And, if you think it’s for the under 30 crowd, guess again. CEOs and marketing executives are exploring new ways to get closer to their audience and many are getting on Twitter. I recommend Twitter to my Baby Boomer clients that have a strong following and their fans want to know where they’re speaking next. You can also tout your newest product, blog post, video or any other information you want to share quickly.  For example, Twitter asks, “What are You Doing” when you login, so last Friday I shared a video of a Tequila promotion at Guaymas. I also shared my Free 10-minute video on Online PR in an earlier “Tweet”. You can check it out and click Twitter to get your own account.

Some people “tweet” about everything throughout the day, while others provide links to interesting information they discovered on the web. If you have dedicated followers in your business, this may be a great way to keep them updated instantly. It’s addictive and considered the social media drug of choice. You wonder if anyone sleeps anymore. You may even want to “Get Your Mom on Twitter.”

Posted under Social Media

Alltop.com is like a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet, All the Top Stories all the time”, as described on their website.
“We help you explore your passions by collecting stories about “all the topics” on the web.” Now, you can find my blog,
Trends in Internet Marketing here too.  “Alltop RKL”

So, who owns this clever website, Alltop?
Live from their website– Nononina is the company that owns Alltop. It is “two guys and a gal” in a garage—or more accurately,
one guy in home office (Will Mayall), one gal on a kitchen table (Kathryn Henkens), and one Guy in United 2B (Guy Kawasaki) or I say, “Guy Genius”
They’ve been working together since the previous century and are still friends. You can follow Guy Kawasaki on Twitter,
at www.twitter.com/guykawasaki and really watch him in action.  He’s amazing!

Posted under Marketing Trends, Social Media

What are the Latest Trends in Internet Marketing for Small Business Owners?

Small businesses expect to invest in Web design, SEO and e-mail this year according to an article posted on www.btobonline.com.
The article reported that Register.com conducted the online survey over a three-week period from April 28 to May 16, polling 800 small businesses. “When asked which areas of technology they are mostly likely to invest in, the top three answers were: Web site design (53%),  SEO (43%) and e-mail marketing (41%),” according to Carol Krol.  If you want tips on email marketing, download my article on the top right column by filling in the yellow box.

Posted under Marketing Trends