Monthly Archives: February 2010

URL Tagging For Google Analytics Using The Google URL Builder Tool – Video Tutorial

Below is a basic video tutorial for using URL tagging in Google Analytics via the URL builder (which is really really really buried). I hope this helps out my fellow bloggers, coders, geeks, and gurus.

Things to keep in mind:

  • Only useful when linking to a page that has the analytics code on it.
  • Results in really ugly URLs in the address bar.
  • Not good for tracking views of a banner/link/etc

Keeping those things in mind, URL tagging still has its uses:

  • Good for tracking click throughs
  • Useful for figuring out which banner/link/flash produced the most click throughs

Let me know if it helps you out, any questions you might have, and anything you’d like to see further tutorials on.

Old School Propaganda Films

I thought I’d wander through some old propaganda films with all of you. Public Relations is based on propaganda, and propaganda is not a four letter word. We can look at these films and use the techniques in them to promote worthy causes. We should not shy away from studying these very effective films.

Educational film to teach viewers about the dynamics of propaganda, made in the in the late 1940′s or early 1950′s.

A teacher dissects the processes in which propaganda works to an eager student. In it are moments of classic hokum, but curiously it all rings true today.

This film tries to dispell fear of nuclear radiation by such tactics as portraying the human body as a factory run by pixies, telling you you can always get a toupee if your hair falls out, and informing you that you’ll be dead before getting a high enough dose of radiation to make you sterile. The naration is alternately patronizing and clueless, making this a highly amusing example of 50s cold war propaganda.

1960s LSD Propaganda Film

American Propaganda Films Capitalism 1948

What do you think of these old films?

Dive Into Social Media

More companies are starting social media based marketing campaigns every day, and not just tech companies.

Initially, it was marketers of technology and telecommunications products that tried out the social media, reflecting how their consumers were among the first into that realm. Now, as familiarity with the social media becomes more mainstream, companies like Clorox, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble are arriving there — not to mention purveyors of bologna, ham and turkey. -New York TImes

However many of the larger companies stepping into the social media arena are actually just putting down their proverbial pinky toes rather than getting fully entrenched and involved. Too bad for them, great news for their competitors.

The fact that the Fortune 100 do not leverage multiple tools is a sign of how consumer-based social media tools are not fully understood or leveraged for maximum benefit. It’s also evident of just how much of an opportunity big companies have in using the social Web if they use it to its full extent. Companies that extend to multiple media networks still have a chance to get ahead of competitors.-Read Write Web

I’m glad to see so many new company faces circling the social media realm, but they need to step in compeletly. Trying to test the waters will only leave them stranded on dry land in the long run.

Leveraging Social Media: Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Leveraging Social Media: Extra! Extra! Read all about it! I missed American Idol last night because I decided last minute to go to a Social Media Club of DC event.  I know, 1) how will I know how Todrick Hall did and 2) serious nerd alert.  If only there was a way for me to set the DVR from my iphone…oh wait, DirecTV has that.  I think that’s pretty newsworthy, especially if it means not missing a minute of AI.  But according Charles Miller, Director Digital Care/Social Media Strategy at DirecTV, no one in the newsroom (or popular blogosphere) thought the launch of the DirecTV iphone DVR app was anything special and they said “no thanks” to covering it.

So instead of tearing up their press release and crying about it, Miller and the PR team at DirecTV decided to leverage their social media networks to spread the word about the launch of the app instead.   The promotion was done by reaching out to well-connected individuals who had relationships with DirecTV and had shown they were active, responsive and available to re-tweet.  Turns out, people did think the launch was special and 200,000 of them downloaded the app from itunes within the first week.  After 100,000 downloads, traditional news media took notice and finally covered the story – driving the social media conversation even more and contributing to the next 100,000 downloads.

As more and more brands begin to create and cultivate their social media networks, I think this phenomenon will be happening more frequently.  Brands will be turning to their consumer base directly through social media to get the word out in addition to traditional PR approaches.  The purpose of getting press coverage is to increase awareness and understanding of your product among consumers – so why not cut out the middle man (the media) and get right to business?  If the product catches consumers’ interest first, it will appear more newsworthy to the media and they will cover it and the conversation will continue to grow.

But will creating online buzz first become the only way to get reporters (and now A-list bloggers) to cover your brand?  I don’t think so.  The news media are just looking for a good story that will appeal to their readers.  Your media pitch needs some element that makes it different from the rest.  Another iphone app?  Great, but not that easy to craft a catchy story around.  Another iphone app that has reached 100,000 downloads in less than a week because of Twitter?  Pretty newsworthy in this day and age.

Social media is  a cost-effective, easy way to reach consumers, and as DirecTV’s example has shown us, a great avenue for attracting traditional media coverage.  But as all the experts keep saying (I am not an expert or a “guru” by any means…yet) an integrated (social media and traditional media) marketing and communication strategy is your best bet.  So keep the traditional PR channels open, but why not start out with some social media outreach to get the conversation started and generate interest in your product.  Journalists and bloggers are on Twitter, they’ll find you.

Leveraging Social Media: Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

My notebook for my 8-week intensive German course in Berlin

4387735508 3c5a6f2dfe My notebook for my 8 week intensive German course in Berlin

I just received confirmation from Craig Childers, my old friend and Lord of Language Courses at the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC, for my 8-week intensive German-language course in Berlin-Mitte that’s starting on 8 March and going through the end of April, from 8:30 AM through 1 PM, Monday-Thursday and 8:30 AM-Noon, Friday.

And since the the Goethe-Institut is affiliated with the German Government and also Deutsche Bahn AG, I also get health care, discounted rail tickets, and all sorts of other social program sort of “we spoil students” stuff, which I will be sure to enjoy thoroughly.

I am so giddy that I have already purchased and permanent-marker-labeled a red quadrille-graphed Moleskine notebook and all the other sort of “school nerd” sort of stuff. My next step is finding the perfect pencil case and backpack.

My notebook for my 8 week intensive German course in Berlin