Entries from October 2009
Viva Las Vegas and IBM Information on Demand Conference !
Wondering how you can follow the conference remotely?
You can by tuning in to
Todd Watson’s blog. Also, Todd is recording videos throughout his experience at the conference.
And of course, tune in to :
Don’t forget to use the # iod2009 tag !
Categories: IBM Social Media Marketing
“IT Superstar of the Year”
We’re sure you know lots of IT professionals whose great work goes unrecognized. It’s time every one of them knows they’re appreciated !
Imagine your friend or colleague opening their morning email today and finding out that they are the “IT Superstar of the Year”.
Fill in the form below and we’ll send a fun, personalized video to each email address you enter. We’ll also send a copy of the video to you, so you can share it with friends and colleagues.
Go here to start the recognition :
It’s time to call IT pros up from the basement, and give them the credit they deserve !
Categories: IBM Social Media Marketing
This is serious…. Bloggers who refuse to reveal disclosure of gifts or payments from companies reviewing their products/services moving forward will be subject to $11,000 fines per instance. This is part of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s revised guidelines entitled FTC Guide Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
My guidance to my IBM colleagues remains, and as per our IBM Social Computing Guidelines : We are encouraging a genuine word of mouth campaign vs a sponsored conversation approach.
The two most important conditions that I would recommend to follow when using sponsored conversation are
1) sponsorship transparency
and
2) blogger authenticity
Sponsorship transparency means that both the marketer and the blogger must make it absolutely clear to the reader community that they are reading paid content – such as Google Adwords “Sponsored Links.” Blogger authenticity means that the blogger should have complete freedom to write in their own voice. As long as those conditions of transparency and authenticity are met then sponsored conversation can be a powerful tool right alongside our PR efforts. However, blogger outreach with genuine word of mouth is far more impactful than sponsored conversation. We still need to creatively activate the conversation. Blogging is not a chore that we must / can lead or direct. Teaming up with the PR team on our blogging outreach programme is a must, and this more than ever.
Some key points of this announcement :
New guidelines argues that any post of a blogger who receives “cash or in-kind payment to review a product” should be considered an endorsement
· Because these posts are now officially considered endorsements, bloggers who receive freebies must now disclose this fact on their site.
· Bloggers who fail to disclose they have received freebies when they write about a product can now be fined up to $11,000 per post.
· While the FTC will obviously have a hard time enforcing these regulations, there can be no doubt that marketers regularly approach independent bloggers (and especially mommy bloggers) with freebies.
· While bloggers who are involved in these schemes often tend to say that they would have reviewed the product anyway or that their reviews are often critical, there can be little doubt that payments and freebies influence these stories.
· These new rules and rather large fines should bring some bloggers and marketers into line, though others will surely continue to push the ethical boundaries.
· And blogging Payola is unlikely to go away completely because of these new rules.
· The new rules also take on celebrity endorsements. If celebrities endorse a product and make false or unsubstantiated claims, or don’t disclose ‘material connections’ between themselves and the advertisers in ads and outside the context of the ads (talk shows, social media, etc.), these celebrities can be held liable under the FTC Act.
#full disclosure #blogging #ftc
Categories: IBM Social Media Marketing
According to the official Google blog, 100,000 invitations to Google’s most hotly-anticipated new service, Google Wave, went out yesterday. Wave is being touted as a communication tool that reimagines the way email should work.
So, who’s getting invited to use this next-generation communication tool? Well, it helps if you signed up early for an invitation and wrote the Wave team a message offering to give feedback. If you’re a developer who’s been using the developer preview of Wave, you might also get an invitation, and some are going out to paying customers of Google Apps.
Meanwhile, and as turbotodd explained in his blog, IBM Lotus has been gaining ground on the collaboration front through the delivery and adoption of real products our customers can use today
I love the waves … but from the sea, don’t you ?! #lotusknows
Categories: IBM Social Media Marketing · Uncategorized
Apparently, and not surprisingly, many consumers have lost faith in some brands during the current economic downturn. Yet, the Interbrand 2009 study found two brands are still going strong and evoke strong trust and value in the minds of consumers, namely : Coca-Cola and IBM.
Remember, a brand is a collection of experiences and associations connected with a service, a person or any other entity–it’s not just an image or an ad campaign. So this means, the associations that consumers think of in terms of IBM are very positive. For our partners, this is great news. When you co-market and co-sell with IBM you are associating your brand with off one the worlds most valuable brands. The IBM brand is trusted by customers and seen as one that delivers on its promise.
Some highlights of the study: Consumers lost trust in brands this year as the recession deepened, according to an industry report, although longtime staples Coca-Cola and IBM retained their spots as the world’s two most valuable brands. This is the first time the combined value of the world’s top 100 brands as ranked by Interbrand, a branding agency, has fallen in the 10 years Interbrand has assessed them.
The environment — a recession the likes of which the world hasn’t seen for decades — has eaten away at people’s trust in specific brands. Despite these economic conditions, the IBM brand remains strong as one that consumers can rely upon.
Categories: IBM
