Filed under: Online Branding, Online Marketing, Online Participation, Relationship, Relationship Marketing, Yahoo!

I accidentally clicked on an expandable banner while I was reading my email on Yahoo! and went to DoMoreForPets.com.  It’s got two overall versions.  One for dogs and one for cats.

I love cats, but I’m a devoted dog over.  So I figured I’d check it out.  It’s sponsored by Purina ProPlan

Overall, I like the way it’s done.  The masthead ad is a bit too big, and you can’t register for it because you’re already signed in via email.  So you can’t “join” it.  Ergo, Purina is missing out an opportunity to develop a direct relationship with those that get involved with it.

The sections are “Photos”, which seemed to be pulled from Flickr, Q & A, which can lead to direct answers to people’s questions: “Forums”,  which leads people to Yahoo! groups; “Blogs”, which have evidently been selected by people from Yahoo! or Purina; “Posts from our favorite blogs”, which seems redundant but is based on specific posts, “How Do You Do More”, which seems to be a storytelling feature on helping pets; and “Pet Rescue”, a database of activities geared toward that topic.

Some of the stuff is repetitive and it will fail to develop a sense of community, but pet owners are passionate enough to get involved in various ways.

A decent effort that misses on some points.

No Comments » Posted on August 9th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Abraham Harrison, Blog Counter-Messaging, Blog Messaging, Blog Policies, Blog Search, Blog Training, Blog of Personality, Blogger Activation, Blogger Code of Conduct, Blogger Effect, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Ethics, Blogger Gifts, Blogger Influence, Blogger Outreach, Blogger Relations, Blogger Response, Blogger Support, Blogging, Blogging Policies, Blogging Primer, Blogosphere, Blogvertising, Blowback, Brand Advocacy, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Brand Reputation, CEO Blogs, Chris Abraham, Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Media, Client Service, Controversial Marketing, Conversation, Conversation Marketing, Customer Reviews, Customer Service, Disruption, Edelman, Facebook, Flogging, Flogs, Honesty, How to Blog, Influence, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influencial Bloggers, Influentials, Inside PR, Integrity, Mainstream Media, Managing Conversation, Marketing, Marketing Blogs, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Ethics, Marketing Hubris, Marketing Industry, Marketing Language, Marketing Psychology, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, Media Consultancy, Media Virus, Messaging Online, Microblog, Microblogging, Naked Conversations, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Marketing, New Media PR, New Media Strategy, New PR, New Public Relations, New Technology, News Aggregation Strategy, Old Media, Old PR, Online Brand Promotion, Online Branding, Online Collaboration, Online Communications, Online Communities, Online Community Managers, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Facilitation, Online Field Marketing, Online Influence, Online Intelligence, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Online Monitoring, Online Outreach, Online PR, Online Participation, Online Pitch, Online Public Relations, Online Strategy, PR Hubris, PR Industry, PR Tactics, Public Relations, Public Relations Industry, Relationship Marketing, Social Graphs, Social Meda, Social Media Index, Social Media Marketing, Social Media PR, Social Network Services, Social Networking, Social Networks, Social Utilities, Tagging, Tags, Traditional Marketing, Traditional Media, Traditional PR, Transparency, Twitter, Twittergram, Viral Marketing, Viral Media, Viral PR, Viral Propagation, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Web Applications, YouTube, YouTube Marketing, Youth Market, del.icio.us, marketing tactics

With all the discussion on what social media is, what it’s future will be like, who will control it, I often feel we fail to see the forest for the trees.

I see it as too diverse of a phenomenon to pin down with one easy definition. Its applications go far beyond the neat capsules that can be used to pick a particular department or function that should “own” it. Social media is creating, empowering, and accompanying a paradigm shift in the way we use all media.

Are we fully there yet? Of course not. These are only the early stages, part of an evolutionary process that often comes step by step. But those steps are happening and happening and soon we’ll look back and be amazed how far we’ve traveled. Then before we know it again, we’ll be stepping again and look back again and we’ll be amazed how much we’ve come from that first time we looked back.

Yes, organizations are going to have to harness social media in ways that they can benefit from, to reach ROI. This means trying to create some sort of structure for it without “siloizing” it. Very difficult indeed.

I’ve tried to lay out what I see social media as. Not from a specific definitional standpoint, but from a several miles up point of view.

Interested in your feedback… Read more…

No Comments » Posted on July 30th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Abraham Harrison LLC, David Jones, Inside PR, Inside PRoper English, Marketing, Marketing Blogs, Public Relations, Public Relations Bloggers, Publicity Blog, Publicity Blogging, Relationship, Relationship Marketing, Terry Fallis

Inside PR Podcast screen capture

Firstly, if you’re in new media, social media, new marketing, publicity, or public relations, you need to subscribe to the Inside PR podcast. Secondly, before you continue embarrassing yourself professionally by using all the words you have been using incorrectly, you need to read through the Inside PRoper English archives. Seriously. You’re embarrassing yourself. The rest of this post is non-essential.

Read more…

2 Comments » Posted on February 19th, 2008 by Chris Abraham

Filed under: Abraham Harrison, Abraham Harrison LLC, Astroturfing, Authenticity, Black Hat Marketing, Black Hat PR, Blog Counter-Messaging, Blog Messaging, Blogger Effect, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Influence, Blogger Outreach, Blogger Relations, Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Brand Reputation, Branding, Branding Online, Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Journalism, Client Service, Cluetrain Manifesto, Conversation Audit, Conversation Marketing, Counter Messaging, Crisis Management, Customer Ratings, Customer Reviews, Customer Service, Customer Supprt, David Weinberger, Defensive SEO, Domain Name Registration, Domain Name Strategy, Domain Registration, Edelman, Flogging, Flogs, Google Gaming, Google PageRank, Google Search, Guerilla Marketing, Hate Speech, Honesty, Industry Reputation, Integrity, Internet Forensics, Internet Strategy, Managing Conversation, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Hubris, Marketing Industry, Marketing Language, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, Messaging Online, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Blogs, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, New PR, New Public Relations, Online Advocacy, Online Brand Promotion, Online Brand Protection, Online Brand Reputation, Online Branding, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Crisis Management, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Influence, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Online Outreach, Online PR, Online Participation, Online Public Relations, Online Reputation, Online Reputation Management, Online Reviewers, Online Reviews, Online Strategy, Online Virtual Communities, Open Kimono, PageRank, Passion Chamber, Personal Brand, Pitching Bloggers, Professional Blogging, Promotional Blog, Promotional SEO, Promotional Strategy, Propaganda Warfare, Protective SEO, Public Relations, Public Relations Bloggers, Public Relations Blogs, Public Relations Industry, Publicity Blog, Publicity Blogging, Relationship Marketing, Reputation Management, Reputation Rehabilitation, SEM and SEO, SEO, SERM, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Reputation Management, Search Engine Strategy, Search Engines, Search Reputation Management, Strategic Consulting, Viral Marketing, Viral Media, Viral Propagation, Web Strategy, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Check out the article in last Thursday’s Times, Dealing With the Damage From Online Critics, that addresses how to handle consumers who develop a personal vendetta against your company. Well, you could send lawyers but legal cease-and-desists generally just make the customer madder than hell and it isn’t hard to just start yet another attack site.

I hate to say it, sucking less always helps. Start with treating your customers better. Also, be sure to register lots of domain names and work on your online reputation aggressively before it becomes a problem.

Online, the best defense is a good offense and an ounce of online promotion is worth a pound of cure. Here are some great commented-by-me excerpts from the article, Dealing With the Damage From Online Critics, so you can get a gist:

Read more…

4 Comments » Posted on October 8th, 2007 by Abraham Harrison

Filed under: Ad Budgets, Ad Buys, Ad Sales, Advertising, Blog Strategy, Brand Promotion, Branding, Branding Online, Conversation, Conversation Marketing, Corporate Blogging, Customer Service, Customer Supprt, Direct Mail, Direct Marketing, Google AdSense, Google AdWords, Google Apps, Internet, Internet Culture, Internet Strategy, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Blogs, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Industry, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Blogs, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, New PR, New Public Relations, New Technology, Old Marketing, Online Ads, Online Advertising, Online Applications, Online Brand Promotion, Online Branding, Online Collaboration, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Online Participation, Online Strategy, PageRank, Podcasting, Promotional SEO, Promotional Strategy, Public Relations, Real Life,