I know I have been a bad writer lately – but I have been REALLY crazy.  Work at the agency has really picked up, both client & internal, and I am excited to say that I am 99.9% sure that I have found our new office space & CoLabs Orlando.  I am stopping by tomorrow for the quick tour.

I have also published the first pocket guide of our book, “Rising Tides,” and gave away a ton of copies at my most recent speaking engagement, the Sloan-C International Conference for Online Learning.  (I am working on doing a voice-over of both my presentation & workshop, and I will post them here, and on my slideshare account asap.

I do have some really interesting blog posts in the works(see below)…So stay tuned

Upcoming Post Topics

- 65% Of Print And TV Ads Include A URL – How is this changing the way Marketers “market?”

- Are Focus Groups Dead?

- How College Faculty are Using Social Media

- Campaign Integration: So you have a Facebook Page, now what???

Words to live by….

LAKE MARY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – Even if you use the strictest privacy settings on Facebook, many applications can pass on information that personally identifies you and your friends to advertisers, says a Wall Street Journal investigation.

Your name, and in some cases your friends’ names are provided to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, according to the WSJ report, by simply using Facebook applications or games.

It is estimated tens of millions of Facebook app users are affected, despite many using the strictest Facebook privacy settings.

FOX 35 spoke with Lauren Candito of Social Media Solutions to learn more about Facebook’s privacy settings and what you can do to protect yourself.

To see more of Lauren’s press appearances, visit her Press page

Another layer of privacy removed or an innovative way to encourage new clients to explore your business?  Proponents argue that this is a fantastic way to draw buzz to a business as well as reward loyalty.  Conversely, some believe that is just another layer of personal privacy removed.

Four Square operates on the idea that people will go where there are other people- individuals will go to inspect what is going on where there is a crowd of some sort.  Much like motorists stop to look at a car accident, people are curious and stop to see what the fuss is about.

By advertising that there are customers at their location they can start a conversation about what is going on there.  Taking this a step further- business encourage customers to ‘check- in’ with them and publish it to their Twitter feeds and Facebook Walls.  Four-Square also allows companies to offer incentives to ‘checking- in’ with them.  They can offer special coupon codes or track check-ins and allow rewards for loyalty.  In addition Four-Square will name a user ‘the mayor’ the mayor is the user who has checked in the most in the preceding 60 days- many businesses offer rewards for being deemed the ‘mayor’.

Corporate clients are able to analyze data about the clients who check in at their location.  Four Square collects a large amount of user data and presents it in an easy to understand way.   Four Square collects data on most recent visitors, frequent visitors, hour by hour break down of check ins, total number of unique check ins, as well as the amount of check ins that were broadcast to Twitter or Facebook.   Companies can then leverage the  individual’s networks to their benefit.  Businesses are able to view these statistics in real-time which allows for prompt response to changing market needs.  Data is presented in an easy to interpret graphs and charts which adds to its value.  Measuring a campaigns success or impact is often difficult and this presentation increases the value tremendously to businesses.

Four Square also broadcasts specials to users nearby or already in your location to tell them of specials or deals to unlock.  The ease of use adds to the value for individuals.  Because Four Square understands the needs of individuals and business and works to meet each’s needs respectively it is becoming a formidable player in the Social Media Marketing world.

“I have learned, based on my experience, that everything is dominated by the market. So whenever we are struck with any obstacles or difficulties, I always say to myself: “Listen to the market, listen to the voice of the consumer.” That’s the fundamental essence of marketing. Always, we have to come back to the market, back to the
customer. That is the Toyota way.

So, whenever we’re stuck, we always go back to the basics. Because branding, image, or Lovemarks are determined by the customers, not us. We really cannot determine anything. The customer does that. That is the essence.”
- Yoshio Ishizaka, Toyota