Wanna make the post-crisis consumers to open their wallets?

Wanna make the post-crisis consumers to open their wallets? Social media marketing could be the key...

As social media sites are frequently and repeatedly used for marketing purposes, I have seen many people complaining about “spamming” marketing campaigns generated by lots of companies online. Some even said they consider most of the messages from social media sites like Twitter as “pure” spams... I was also one of the people who thought and used the social media sites as online channels to just promote myself, increase website traffic, and online sales.

However, the following video has helped me not evolve to a spam-gernerating marketer. I was impressed when Mr. John Gerzema said in the video that the post-crisis consumers are restricting their demands, looking for value, and asking businesses to not just be about “more”, but about “better”… With this new consumer trend, I believe we should focus more on “quality” than “quantity” in producing social media contents.

Here is my two cents…social media marketing is not about marketing a product to everyone, but about connecting to online communities, telling your stories to them, and providing special experience to targeted audiences… As Mr. Gerzema says that consumers are looking for not just “a value”, but “values”, we should utilize social media sites to provide people with “values” in purchasing our products.

There are some companies that have developed unique and successful social media campaigns, which have helped them to organize huge and loyal fan communities. For example, Levi’s has managed to create fan groups per each of their products. The company has utilized a Facebook group and Youtube account to offer pictures/video showing its products and allow online users to indirectly experience those products. They have become popular online spaces now where people share their thoughts, feelings, and experience about the products.

Even though I mentioned a “big” brand as an ideal example of social media marketing, I believe both big and small brands can benefit from social media marketing. It may be easier for big brands to create virals among online communities because they already have huge fan communties that have been built through “traditional” marketing efforts. However, It is possible that one unknown small dish can have a special story and create a huge viral. I mean, one small dish that no body has ever heard of can produce a powerful story and provide the future followers with unforgettable memories… With the uses of social media sites to interact with people giving them special experience, I believe small brands can have great chances to lead loyal fans communities and make the brands stronger…

The following video is a great content talking about changes in conumser behaviors after the economic crisis 2008/2009. Check it out!!

Hello job seekers…Have you ever Googled your names?

I started blogging when I barely knew about the new marketing skills like Search Engine Optimization and social media marketing…. I even read some books describing those things, but the main reason for my “blogging” was because I just wanted to keep my own journals…..like things that have happened to me and that I want to remember….that kind of stuff…

But, one moment changed the way I think and consider the social media networking. Since it’s helped me a lot so far in differentiating myself from others, I would like to share this story with my fellow “job seekers” (I am a senior and job seeker!!)

At the beginning, I wrote some blog articles about the achievement awards that I received before. One of them was “Geico Achievement Awards 2010”. After I posted the article, I didn’t even look at it again until I saw it on the third page of Google search results. A couple of months after I posted it, one of my friends asked me about the award, and I wanted to show him the main website page for it. We found the main site, but we decided to further look for any web pages listing the recipients of 2010 (I wanted to show it to him, too…haha). So, I googled the phrase “Geico Achievement Awards” and surprisingly found my blog post on the third page of the search results. I didn’t give much thought into this at that time, but as I learned more about the social media marketing, this experience gave an important lesson to me. And…I decided to play around my blog and other social media sites to see how they work.

For example, in order to build my blog contents effectively, I searched for popular keywords that were also related to my blog posts by using some Google services like Google Adwords and Google Trends . I also utilized some SEO skills to make my blog more searchable. In addition, by using social bookmark sites such as Digg, I have managed to read other people’s thoughts and communicate with them. While making myself more searchable to online users, I was able to realize how much those skills are important in marketing and how I can utilize them to reach people out there.

I have heard from some people that some recruiters “google” the applicants’ names these days to see how much they have been involved in social media networking or what kind of social media activities they have done. Like most students, I didn’t prefer exposing my profile on the online and blocked every profile of the social media sites I had used. However, since Social media sites are considered as important marketing channels/tools in the new marketing era, I personally think that job seekers should also actively get involved in social networking and utilize the social media sites to effectively market themselves to recruiters. Like companies using the social media sites to connect to online/offline communities and tell their stories to consumers, job seekers should also put significant efforts in building their social media contents in order to tell their stories to their future bosses.

For example, let’s say, you have developed your blog contents with your strong insights and opinions. And some recruiters found your articles on the online by googling either your name or keywords that are related to your blog posts. If they are impressed by your articles or even the social media activities you have done, I think you would receive job offers more easily than spending tons of time on writing and mailing your resume/cover letters…

Social Marketing Tips from the Spaghetti Sauce Industry

I have seen many people who think Search Engine Optimization is just reorganizing and optimizing their websites with technical skills like Meta elements to increase their website ranks. In fact, there are tons of factors that can affect the search engine results pages, which sometimes make people feel complicated and frustrated...... However, Search Engine Optimization comes to me as a simple thing; SEO is all about drawing attentions from people…

In my opinion, once we provide valuable contents that make people interested, the website traffics will increase automatically. This is why I said SEO is all about drawing attentions. Companies should provide interesting information, share their ideas, and tell their stories to the current/potential customers through both online and offline contents. This way, companies can provide consumers with special experience and bring them to both company websites and offline stores.

In this line, I think social media sites are the most important and effective marketing channels/tools that we should utilize to draw attentions from people in this new marketing era. The uses of those sites can have significant effects on the website traffics and the entire company image in either positive or negative way. In addition, social media sites can be utilized not only to spread words and create WOM effects for products, but also to discover what consumers want and to organize follower communities.

The video at the bottom is one of the greatest contents that have helped me to think out of box and see how to utilize social media sites as core consumer data sources.

As you can see from the following video (Malcolm Gladwell), it took more than 20 years for Prego (one of the biggest spaghetti sauce companies) to find out that American people wanted extra-chunky spaghetti sauce deep in their hearts. Prego and Ragu (probably other spaghetti sauce companies, too) had conducted marketing research for more than 20 years to find out hidden consumer tastes, but no one ever said and the companies couldn't realize until 80’s that people actually wanted extra-chunky. Thanks to the companies' tremendous amounts of efforts throughout decades, one third of Americans now are enjoying extra-chucky spaghetti sauce.

It took long time and lots of money for those two companies to find out what people really want. I think, however, social networks provide great opportunities today for us to discover and satisfy consumers’ hidden demands in more effective and efficient ways.

Like Malcolm Gladwell says in the video, there is no good spaghetti sauce or bad spaghetti sauce, there is no perfect spaghetti sauce or imperfect spaghetti sauce, but there are only different kinds of spaghetti sauces that suit different kinds of people. There are more than 6 billion people around the world, and there are great chances that people out there would crave products that you offer. Companies should approach those potential customers and provide them with special experience by utilizing social media sites effectively.

With the uses of social media sites, I think companies should focus on connecting to online communities and social networks; should listen to what people are talking about and observe how they behave everyday; thereby find and satisfy their hidden demands.

How to start a movement_Derek Sivers

Marketing is all about how to start a movement!! As marketers, we should know how to make a product/service as a leader in the market.. Following is my favorite video of Derek Sivers talking about how to start a movement.

What is the main difference between web 2.0 and web 3.0?

Last week, I found an article describing about the Web 3.0, and it was the first time for me to hear about that term. I googled it to get more information about the Web 3.0, and I also posted the question, “What is the main difference between web 2.0 and web 3.0?” on LinkedIn. I have received valuable answers (10 answers) from some experts since I posted it, which greatly helped me understand those terms. I would like to share some of those answers with you here at my blog. (I only included here the answers that I got approvals from the authors).

Q: What is the main difference between web 2.0 and web 3.0? (what advantages can I expect from using the web 3.0 compared to the web 2.0 in terms of the online marketing?)

Answer from Greg Henle: Dale Dougherty came up with Web 2.0 as a way to describe almost any site, service, or technology that promoted sharing and collaboration. Blogs and wikis, tags and RSS feeds, etc.. Tim Berners-Lee came up with the concept called Semantic Web. Basically, the idea is turning the web into a searchable database. i.e. Web 3.0.

I would like to voice my disagreement with those saying that each version signifies just (emphasis on "just" ) marketing buzzwords. While there is no distinct "On this day, the web was upgraded to version 2.0", each "version" names a distinct shift in paradigm on how to use the web. Going in order from information distribution ( 1.0 ), to collaboration ( 2.0 ), and then to data-mining ( 3.0 ).
Besides, Tim Berners-Lee invented it so he can call it anything he damn well pleases. :-)

Answer from Vlad Shevnin: I think you can look at web 1.0, web 2.0 .... web x.0 as a way we label distinct periods or steps in the evolution of the Internet. For example one of the distinct characteristics of current period is the social aspect, users actively creating and sharing content. So I disagree with Irune. You may dislike buzzwords and marketing hype but it doesn't mean web 2.0 doesn't exist. Also to answer the question that's why you can't compare "using" web 2.0 and web 3.0 and switch between the two based on the advantages you get.

Answer from Randall Goya: it's basically an arithmetic problem... In my opinion, "Web 2.0" was born through the database-driven platforms allowing site membership, user-contributed content, and member interaction which arose in the early part of this century after the first internet bubble burst. I consider most web sites I build to be "Web 2.x" i.e. an incremental improvement of technology, interfaces, and concepts, but basically providing ways for users to communicate with the web site publishers and with each other.

I have often quipped that "Web 3.0" will likely involve a direct neural connection by the user with the internet, without any tactile appliance such as keyboard or mouse. This technology is already available from Emotiv, and the research team at Brown University has made great strides in "brain wave" controls with monkeys and paralyzed humans. I see this technology promising the kind of sea change represented by the rise of social and semantic publishing sites in "Web 2.0"

If you ask a graphic designer for a definition of "Web 2.0" s/he is likely to answer that it involves glossy graphics with vertical reflections (yeah we've seen the style - Adobe comes to mind).

Answer from Rey Gordon: I characterized web 3.0 as something that brings people together at many levels like this video from the head of Google suggests it encompasses all areas of life. This is why we call a web 3.0 application because it can simply be just a journaling tool if you wish but it can integrate all aspects of your travels including social aspects from the planning to after the trip and bring the web to real life. This is a great video that explains the differences in a very simple yet entertaining way.

One tip for you, currently I make 95% of my first search for info on Youtube, primarily because I hate to read but also because I enjoy watching and have a closer interaction with people presenting the info who are often on the videos. I suggest to you or anyone to do this. Youtube is approaching web 3.0 because it learns and it gives you great search returns after it knows who you are and how you search and the kinds of videos you like and of course it can be used across all media types as well! Now with Google TV arriving in the next few weeks, the true capabilities of Web 3.0 will be realized (at least in my mind).

How to start SEO for a website as a beginner

I am not a SEO expert, but based on what I have learned while opimizing some websites, I would like to give some tips for SEO beginners.

First of all, check if your website includes meta keywords (or phrases) and descriptions. These are important factors that affect the search engine results pages of your website and webpages. You may utilize different keywords/phrases to promote not only the main page, but also each of the web pages. Those keywords/phrases should represent or identify your website(pages) contents (e.g. keywords/phrases from news articles or research papers posted on webpages). Otherwise, unrelated keywords may dicrease the Quality score and search result rank of your website.

You can also utilize the title tags, which you can see on the window tap once you open your website, in order to make your website more searchable. You can see a complete form of a title tag when you place your mouse pointer on the tap. The title tag is one of the most important factors in SEO. For example, the Princeton Review is using “Test Prep:GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, SAT, ACT, and More” as its main page title tag, and this short phrase consists of several popular keywords of the industry.

Lastly, the more web pages you have in search engines like Google, the more frequently your web contents will show up. This means, by creating sub-pages that provide different kind of information for your target audience, you can increase the possibility that your potential customers will find your website or even one of those webpages (sub-pages). In addition, by promoting those webpages through social media sites such as Twitter or Digg, you can make those pages more searchable.

I hope my experience would help you develop effective SEO strategies for your websites.

Tips for Target Case Competition

I participanted in the Target Case Competition at University at Buffalo with the other three members in both 2009 and 2010. In 2009, my team was in the final list (five teams) and gave the presentation about our strategies for the case to seven executive members of the Target Corporation. We tried our best, but could not win the competition at that time. In 2010, we finally won the competition with solid, but straightforward marketing strategies. We also received a $3000 check as a reward.

As a winner of the Target Case Competition 2010, I would like to give some tips to furture participants, based on what I learned and experienced.

First of all, once you get the case for the competition, I recommend you to conduct some market research using the secondary data to get useful information. Market research could include competitor analysis, industry analysis, customer analysis, and etc. This will give you useful information such as how Target has performed in the market and what changes in consumer/market trends Target has faced, which will help you develop strategic plans for the case.

Second, focus on developing a plan(s) that is (are) feasible. That means, the plans you will develop must be the ones that the company would be able to apply in the near future.

Lastly, develop your presentation with professional structures and creative designs. Here, you should show your creative and professional presentation skills to impress the judges. Use simple, but impressive design for your PowerPoint slides (or whatever software you use for your presentation). My team also received a large portion of credits from our presentation.



Target Competition gave me great experience and helped me think out of box.. And it has helped me to realize what I should do to become a smart marketer who can create something from nothing.

I participated in the Target Case Competition twice so far, one in 2009, and the other in 2010. The Target Case Competition is held by the Target Corporation on an annual basis where undergraduate students compete in teams developing their strategic marketing (or management) plans for certain cases provided by the company.

- Tae Hyun Moon