Social Marketing on the up...

BT have carried out some research, as reported on Brand Republic which indicates that businesses have doubled marketing spend on social networking initiatives in the last 12 months. As brands look for new ways to communicate with their customers, interact and build loyalty, engaging with them in places they regularly and socially visit is the logical step.

Although everyone might not want a BT widget on their Facebook page, some people will and if you make the content addictive and useful enough to users, not to mention viral, it will fly.

The key as my friends over at Adwidget keep telling me is "Conversation is King on social marketing sites, content is just something to talk about!" So make the content something people want to engage with and talk about, social media is a lot like Christmas it is all about giving...

Skinny Vs Real

Do skinny models sell more product? An Australian academic says no. He did a test with a number of beauty products and showed the results to 400 young people and neither advert had a significantly different impact.

My only thoughts are; people lie in experiments and the desire of advertising execs to hang out with hot young women and men, might mean skinny will always win.... Or am I just cynical!

Here are the two ads:

Social Marketing Quote of the Day

"Conversation is king, content is just something to talk about."

Great ad

For the non-Hispanophones among you, Jugo de Naranja is the Spanish for Orange Juice. Here a savvy Buenos Aires street vendor has cannily worked out that any passing gringo tourists can probably afford to stump up an extra peso for a glass.

Being slack...

Rubbish at posting this week, too too busy. Will be back next week with more exciting revelations about the marketing world... bet you cant wait!

Free Dr Pepper

Who could really blame Dr Pepper for making outlandish claims offering a free can of the good stuff to every American if the new Guns N Roses album; Chinese Democracy, is release this year. It has after all taking Axl, 17 years and $9.5 million to record so far!

Brand Republic today announce that Dr Pepper will honor their commitment for a free can of Dr Pepper for every American man, woman and child after G'N'R announced the eventual release date of their new album as the 23rd November.

If nothing else it is great PR!

It's coming!!

Soon you can follow me on Twitter!! Lucky You!