Is social media still an option for businesses?

Today I'n not writing an article as I'll let the video below do the job...

Do you think that Social Media is an option for Businesses today? Well think about the internet, do you think business have an option whether to have a presence there? The same can be said for social media...the number of users there is not small at all, so it might be worth a try.

Have a look at this video and then let me know what you think...



For those who cannot access Youtube, you can access the video from the following free proxy site:- www.myprxy.com

Will people be willing to pay for online access to newspapers?

Does it pay to offer news services online for a charge? This question has been asked by most of the newspapers that offer free content online but very few of them dared to test whether this would work. Surprisingly News International, publisher of the Times decided to take the challenge and start to charge for what it considers a quality newspaper.

Comparative results were recently issued by ComScore and it shows that in May, the free-to-access website Timesonline.co.uk attracted 2.79 million unique users in the UK, a slight increase on the level of the previous three months. News International launched its separate Thetimes.co.uk and Thesundaytimes.co.uk websites on 25 May. It made registration compulsory and began redirecting users from the old site on 15 June and started charging for access to both sites on 2 July.

From figures released by ComScore, the combined number of unique visitors to the two new sites (pay sites) has fallen to 1.61 million in July, from 2.22 million in June, and 2.79 million in May. This had an effect on the average number of minutes each user spent on the site which was 7.6 in May, 5.8 in June and 4 in July. Also page views have dropped from 29 million in May to 20 million in June and 9 million in July.

To try to attract users to their pay sites, News International has run an introductory offer offering subscribers 30 days' access for £1. Its normal pricing is £1 for a day's access to The Times and The Sunday Times and £2 for a week, while subscribers to each newspaper get free access to the related website.

No indications have yet emerged from the company as to how many people have subscribed or how much revenue subscriptions have generated.

Will such strategy be effective? Will thetimes.co.uk have to reduce the cost of advertising due to the drop in visitor figures; and if so, will the revenue generated from subscriptions offset the difference? Few people tend to be willing to pay for what other competitors offer for free especially for something as intangible as online access to a newspaper...will News International rethink its strategy to move back again to a free version?

Dominos change their route and take onboard Web2.0

Do you remember when Dominos was hit by a wave of negative publicity after some of its employees decided to put a video of their wrong doings online? At the time Dominos did not have any Web2.0 presence but was forced to go in and reply to the video in a few days.

From them on, Dominos looked at the internet as a good medium to promote. They have now issued a facebook campaign, basically a superfans app that sends users a promotional code linked to an offer. In addition there is an online competition to find Domino’s biggest followers or the 'Superfan King' and 'Superfan Queen'.

Fans have to compete between themselves on the number if fans they recruit. The winner will get prices from Dominos. The Domino's fan page on Facebook will also feature Domino's news, events and details of how to order online. Their change in online strategy can also be seen from the words ofDominos the outgoing marketing director who said that Facebook is central to Dominos social media strategy and this application will enable them to leverage the importance of brand advocates in growing their customer base.

Is this an admitance of the importance of the internet?

Ann Summers' rides on BA wave

Where you searching for innovative marketing campaigns? Then search no further then Ann Summers'. This company is very active in the online media industry and in fact was very fast to react to international events. iCrossing, Ann Summers' digital marketing agency, was very quick to bid on BA strike-related keywords (obviously when you think about it you will immediate notice the potential that these words have given the amount of Christmas travel that was expected) so that when users searched for the latest news on the industrial action, a sponsored ad promoting the retailer emerged.

The link read "The planes may be grounded but you can still join the mile high club!" A link through to Ann Summers Online is also provided. This campaign started a large wave of praise for people who are on the lookout for marketing geniuses especially on twitter... below are some examples of comments on Twitter:-

@funky72 wrote: " Enter BA strike into Google for example of great tactical search advertising ... nice work Ann Summers :)"
@annaats said: "Some nice rapid response paid search ads around the BA strike ;)"

This was not the first smart maneuver by Ann Summers'...During the cold snap in February this year, using snow-related search terms, the agency launched a sponsored link with the strap line 'Brrr...cold out there, why not stay in and get steamy with Sex Toys from Ann Summers'.

Lets all wait and see what's the next big news will be and how Ann Summers will react.

Ebay proclaimed innocent...is this the beginning of a new customer driven era?

L'Oreal has sued eBay in the courts of various European countries including Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Spain over the sale of bogus cosmetics and fragrances carrying the logo of the said brand on it's site. This move was said to be a necessary step to take as the sale of fake items was on the increase on eBay. Negotiations were underway between the two companies to come to a solution on this issue however, the online auctioneer said all talks were suspended as L'Oreal was being unreasonable in it's requests.

The first decision has been pronounced by the British court...Justice Richard David Arnold ruled out the claims of L'Oreal and said that that eBay Europe was not liable for trademark infringements committed by its users. Ebay said that this decision is a one which promotes free competition and will enable users to buy products a very competitive prices on its virtual marketplace.

A similar case in France was left in the hands of both companies to come up with an amicable resolution and gave then until the May 25 to come up with a mediated settlement. Other cases elsewhere in Europe are still pending.

While eBay claimed victory, L'Oreal said the court agreed that eBay could do more to stop trademark infringement. However of the 15 products hand-selected by L'Oreal as evidence against eBay UK, none was proven to be counterfeit. Could this be a strategy to try to safe guard L'Oreal premium pricing strategy and the protection from grey imports? We can just wait and see however it's very difficult to stop the online avalanche and anybody who does not embrace it risks getting overwhelmed.