A Word with the Marketing Nerd @stef_funny (Instagram Buzz)

<Editor’s Note> I’m very excited to have Stephanie Trinh aka @stef_funny on my team here at Marketing Melodie. She’s an ambitious Business Marketing Student at SDSU, is filled with positive energy and is even a fellow marketing nerd! I’ll let Stephanie take it from here. HIT IT STEPHANIE! </Editor’s Note>

 

 

With all the hype going on about Instagram, I’ve decided to write a little bit about this mobile app. Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take photos, apply a digital filter to the photos, and then share the photos with friends and followers. This app was originally available only for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch when it launched. Two years later, in April 2012, it became available on Android. There were over a million downloads of the Instagram app when it was finally released on the Android system. A few days after that, Facebook acquired Instagram and its 13 employees for $1 billion in cash and stock. Amazing how quickly things change in the digital world, wouldn’t you agree?

 

 

Being that Instagram launched in October 2010, now has over 25 million users and is known as one of the most popular mobile-only social networks, why would businesses not consider playing a role on Instagram? You can post fun altered photos of your products and begin a hashtag trend for your followers. Starbucks has already jumped on the wagon and has over 400,000 followers. The point of Instagram is to share photos, so as a business you can share photos of things that relate to your brand personality or just great mobile photos of your products – be creative! Another awesome thing about Instagram is that you are also able to share your photos on Facebook and Twitter. The more social networks the better!

Here are 3 main reasons why your business should join Instagram:

1. Most people are very visual- Instagram is great because it gives us the opportunity to share fun photos of our daily lives. How interesting would it be to your fans to follow unique photos of your business’s life? You can show how much fun you have in the workplace and even take little “sneak peek” photos and have your followers figure out what the photo is. Keep them engaged, that’s why they’re following you! Just remember to keep in mind that Instagrammers don’t want to see product photography, but more artistic photography that’s been filtered.

2. There are millions of users using this app- The digital world is making changes all the time, just make sure you are caught up with the newest fad and stay in the loop. After Instagram became available on the Android, there were millions of downloads through the Android system, that pretty much means that Instagram is sort of a big deal.

3. You can create fun contests- With the usage of hashtags, it makes it easy to track and create contests. Have your fans post a creative photo with a certain hashtag that represents your products or services and give out fun prizes. The more interactive your consumers are, the more they begin to feel like “family” to your brand.

 

You can connect with Stephanie on Twitter, Google+ and check out her blog, Marketing Nerd!

Referral Rewards Hooks You Up

The title of this blog is literal. Referral Rewards Hooks You Up with PurseHooks! Referral Rewards is a fancy name for Affiliate Marketing. I like the term Referral Rewards better because it’s easier to comprehend and it implies a mutually beneficial relationship. Referral Rewards programs are becoming more popular as businesses and individuals realize it’s an efficient way to generate passive income. Many people are still unfamiliar with what exactly the term Affiliate Marketing or Referral Rewards means.

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Top 10 Things To Do On Craigslist

Most of us have heard of Craigslist but how many of us actually use it? When deciding on a blog topic today I knew I wanted to write about something with a plethora of different functions. I chose Craigslist because the service is so dynamic that you can  accomplish almost anything you set your mind to on here.

Did you know that Craigslist is:

• Is responsible for billions of dollars of interpersonal commerce—more than any other stop on America’s internet?
• Provides the majority of housing and jobs for the nation’s urban population?
• Has grown in web traffic 100% a year since it’s creation over a decade ago?
• Is 99.99% FREE to use (Small fees are charged for Hiring and some Housing Ads)? Read more

Blogging Tips from One Blogger to Another

I started my marketing blog a year ago to document and share things things I’ve learned, talk about my own insights and experiences. I knew blogging would give me freedom to write on any topic, blog on my own time and use my own writing style. I’m honored that each blog I post receives more page views than the previous which means I’m educating and reaching out to more people. I truly hope everyone learns at least 1 piece of useful information each time they visit my website. Since blogging is such a hot topic, I’m dedicating this entire blog to blogging. Read more

Online Marketing Summit Live on Twitter!

The Online Marketing Summit @OMSummit took place at the San Diego Westin on February 4th-7th, 2009. According to feedback, the event was a sweeping success. Capturing reactions was immediate, authentic and personal with the latest mircoblogging technology, Twitter! This was my first experience at a major conference with Twitter as a dominate engagement tool used by speakers, attendees and organizers. Twitter strengthened the connections among everyone at the event and painted a picture to the public of all the amazing content that was being revealed.

Twitter users tagged their posts with the hashtag #OMS09 as an easy way for everyone to follow along.

Steve Woods @SteveWoods , CTO of Eloqua and Technology Strategist took the lead with the first interactive twitter presentation in OMS history. He encouraged everyone to tweet their questions and even hosted a contest where best question would receive his book. When I asked Steve about his experience using twitter he shared that “It was interesting to combine [my] presentation and Twitter – gave some interesting insights into background conversations”.

Twitter was a useful tool in may aspects. Here’s a glimpse of the conversations that were happening:

1. Announcements




Twitter Annoucements from OMS

2. Networking




OMS Networking Tweet

3. Broadcasting Live so those who couldn’t make it were still able to follow along




OMS Liveblog Tweet





OMS Follower

4. Communication




Twitter Communication at OMS

Tim Mclain @tmclain, an enthused OMS Twitterer couldn’t have said it better. In 140 characters he let the world know he was at OMS, recognized a speaker, gave props to another attendee and give his insight on the future of OMS.

My overall impression of this year’s Online Marketing Summit is very positive. I connected with industry leaders, learned new information to enhance my own marketing strategies and experienced firsthand an on-site event enhanced with online technology.

How To Maximize the Power of Your Avatar

As a marketer I’m always thinking of ways people can enhance their image to be more impressionable and memorable. This is especially true in cyberspace where images definitely trump text. Your avatar is your face in cyberspace and a unique reflection of your online persona. It’s a way for people remember you in an infinite galaxy.

I’ve been known to express my views on avatar choices so I decided to share a few tips on how to maximize the power of your avatar:

Personality: Your avatar is your first impression to many in the online world. Add a little personality to it! If you’re fun and outgoing lets have fun looking at your avatar. If you’re athletic or active, inspire us to work out. If you’re intellectual, how about an insightful image? If you’re a hard worker and proud of your career, let us know!

Consistent: Being consistent helps people recognize you across various social networks, blogs and forums. This builds brand recognition for your online persona. Your avatar will immediately evoke an impression and provide a better understanding of your online purpose and goals. If you use a completely different avatar for every single profile then it becomes difficult for people to piece together your thoughts from different areas of the web. This makes it difficult to build a strong reputation and following.

Memorable: A memorable avatar can be created in many different ways. Use bright and bold colors, a distinct smile or even a strategically incorporated item or logo. Memorable avatars stand out. They’re usually not composed of dull colors and if they are then the image is bold. A great way people remember my avatar is the flower I wear in my avatar that shows up on many of my social networking profiles. If you have a memorable avatar people will see your image and immediately know it’s you without thinking twice.

Recognizable: My test of a recognizable avatar is meeting someone in person. If I meet you for the first time offline and I immediately feel like I already know you from our online interactions then you’ve done a great job at creating a recognizable avatar. I’ve been to many networking events where someone will come up to me and start talking to me as though they know me but I have to ask to make sure if we’re met before because I don’t recognize the person from their avatar. Of course after a few words are exchanged my memory is triggered but the initial recognition was not there. Examples of avatars that aren’t recognizable include a blurry image, a photo where something is covering your face, a photo that’s too light or too dark or even a corporate logo.

I personally always recommend avatars that are a photo of your true self. Unless I already know you, an avatar that’s a logo or image other than your face does not feel as personal. I don’t feel as connected or engaged when interacting with you.

We all remember the night before senior picture day in school. Trying on countless outfits, making sure the colors were right, making sure our outfit doesn’t clash with the background and doing our hair up to perfection. This photo goes into our senior yearbook, something our classmates will hold on to for years. This photo gets sent to our friends and family with graduations invitations. This photo is the reputation we’ve built throughout our primary years of school and this photo is a glimpse into the next chapter of our lives. If you apply these same principals of importance to your avatar choice you’ll enhance your opportunities for building a strong internet presence.

Here are some San Diego Avatars that incorporate many elements of my recommendations. They all definitely have personality and are recognizable. I wanted to include some female avatars but for some reason only guys responded when I asked permission to use avatars!

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