Christine Fife

I recently posted a discussion topic on a couple of marketing-focused groups on LinkedIn. It was suggested that I post the info on the blog so that it could be more easily shared with others who might not be on LinkedIn (but I invite you to join in the Idiomatic: Conversation Marketing discussion group on LinkedIn.) Thanks Steve Dodd for the suggestion! A recent research report put out by Knowledge Networks last week seems to miss the point of using social media for business. “Social Media Fails To Manifest As Marketing Medium, Report Likens Twitter To TiVo: More Hype Than Reality,” an article posted at MediaPost News Online Media Daily summarizes the findings. From the article: “Social media has reached critical mass, with 83% of the Internet population now using it - and more than half doing so on a regular basis - according to new research being released today ... (more)

Daily Deals That Really Work for Small Businesses

There has been so much written in the past year+ about daily deal sites and they seem to still be popping up in droves. Ironically, small local businesses are still getting blindsided by them because they’re not being told by the deal site how to really make it work for them as a marketing tactic. Remember, the goal of the big daily deal sites like Groupon or Living Social is to get the word out about the deal and get people to buy it and tell others about it. Their goal is not to ensure that the deal ends up making your small business money rather than costing you profits. In m... (more)

Integrate Social Media Tools Into Business, Not Marketing Campaigns

In a blog post by Shiv Singh, author of the Going Social Now blog, Shiv argues that “Social media is not enough in a downturn.” In the post, Shiv says: “That its not enough to focus on social alone. That nurturing the conversations in the social realm are the starting point not the end game. That it is indeed about getting customers to influence each other to make positive purchasing and brand affinity decisions. That the core philosophies around social can and should be deeply integrated into a business. And that, the more holistically you look at social influence marketing - ac... (more)

MLB.com: Ignoring Requests for Removal from Email List

I know you’re all waiting for the final posting in the “What it Means to Participate” series, but I want to share my experience with MLB.com with you. As a marketer I find it interesting that they are not able to remove me from their email list. A few months ago I purchased Giants tickets through MLB.com to take my mom, nephew and boyfriend to a game. It was the first time I’d personally purchased tickets to a Giants game, so understandable that I would now be on their email list. Right away I started receiving emails from MLB.com. I like baseball, but not enough to want emails ... (more)

Evolutionary Graph Theory and Social Networks for Marketing

Came across an interesting blog post today: The Evolving Face of Social Networks. A bit more science-ish than I normally would be interested in, but as it pertains to social networking I was intrigued. The blog post raised two interesting thoughts (and I am paraphrasing): 1) If social networks are so popular/widely being adopted, why haven’t the social network companies figured out how to monetize better? and 2) The use of social networks by companies to create positive externalities for consumers and influence network members may have in choosing to pass along a stimulus created... (more)