Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog

Eons Unofficiailly Throws in the Towel

Eons was the social network for boomers. Quick story arc: launched with massive PR, raised $22 million, then laid off 1/3 of its staff.

Now comes this message to members (I lied about my age before to test it out so I got this directly):

The news is true, we've dropped the age limit or "gate" on Eons. We are keeping our focus on boomers at center stage. We stand to become a more interesting place for adults lovin' life on the flipside as we broaden the friendship ring and become more inclusive of this most-inspiring generation.

I give them a year, tops. Not that they'd have longer otherwise. It's much easier for a network like Facebook to go broader since college students become alumni, and then alumni can pull in their peers. Boomers, like it or not, aren't getting any younger.

The Worst Deal I've Ever Received

I just got back from India and was accosted by tons of people trying to get me to overpay for cheap souvenirs (I also met many reputable sellers offering some great deals, hence the need to buy two more suitcases to carry everything home), but never in my travels have I received as bad a deal as I just got in my inbox.

Forget that this blog doesn't take advertising (my stance is that the value I get from blogging is far greater than the negligible income I'd make from some contextual ad network). Also note that he doesn't bother addressing me by name.

Mainly though, this email is so insulting that I had a good laugh and thought it'd be fun to share. Has anyone seen emails like this from Jerome or anyone like him?

* * *
Subject: Interested in your blog

Hi,

I would like to place an Ad on your site with the following details:

Anchor Text: Sales Leads
Target URL: http://www.kingsbridgelists.com/leads/sales-leads.html

I don't really have a big budget so I can pay you $5 for the ad, with
the agreement that you'll leave it on that page for at

least a year or longer if you like.

Please get back to me if you are interested and you can also include
your Paypal account ID (email) for payment.

Thanks a lot,

Jerome Clam
HarvestSEO.com

How SEO Can Stop a Scammer

This column ran a bit ago in MediaPost while I was away and continues in the extended entry. It's also interesting to see how others adapt stories for their own audiences; Carolyn Allen of California Green Solutions shared this with her readers as an example of how to be a good neighbor.

How SEO Can Stop a Scammer

It may be practically impossible to track down online scammers, but as people become savvier in how to use search engines, some scams can be contained. I found this out firsthand when two reports of a Craigslist real-estate scam came my way.

The reports were from people close to me who were separately listing their homes for rent on Craigslist, and they each received similar emails. One email, signed by Dr. Dennis Johnson, started, “Hello, I come across your apartment advertised on the internet and i am interested in renting it, please let me know if it is still available. I will be signing one year lease for this unit and will be staying with my wife and daughter, and will be willing to offer you 2 months rent plus the security deposit in order to secure this unit prior to our arrival.”

Reminder: Facebook Anti-Social Ad Contest

Just a friendly reminder... you have until February 1 to enter the Anti-Social Ad contest.

Searching For Zeke The Unborn

IF MY MOM DECIDED TO have a fifth child, perhaps if it were a boy he'd have been Aaron, Joachim, or Zeke. If it were a girl, perhaps she'd have been Susana, Elizabeth, or Annera. My mom's done having kids, so I'll never know for sure, but Nymbler thinks it can help expectant parents search for the perfect name. (My wife wanted me to clarify that just because I got married in December doesn't mean I'm using this for personal purposes anytime soon. In case any relatives read this, let's get that out of the way first.)

While I couldn't imagine ever having a baby brother named Zeke, the company behind Nymbler, Icosystem, thinks it can help people intuitively find the names that will suit them. Icosystem calls it a "hunch engine" for when you have an idea of what you're looking form, but you need some help crossing the finish line.

Orlando Jeweler's Link Bait Prize for Bloggers

Here's an interesting case study of how a private retailer with all of two stores, both in Florida, is using social media. While I might expect a bit more polish especially if a larger brand tried this, I think it's a good stab at this.

Don Lair wrote in from GoldsmithJewlery.com notifying me about a diamond earring giveaway as part of a Valentine's Day campaign where I can win if I link to the site. I just have to write a post about them, and they'll link back. The full email he sent is in the extended entry.

It could have been more personal; he didn't even bother to look up my name, which happens to be, oh, everywhere on the blog. That's the biggest misstep here. But it's a clever ploy nonetheless.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts, and I'll up the ante. I don't know my odds of winning (it depends on how many people enter of course), but if I win, I'll randomly award the earrings to anyone who either leaves a comment or links to this post. That doesn't make your odds very high, but I also want to clarify that I'm sharing this as an interesting case study, not to just whore for links and prizes (though links and prizes are always fun).

Mobile Marketer's Guide to 2008

Mobile Marketer, which somehow emerged as one of my favorite publications covering the mobile space even though I thought I had subscribed to enough already, released a PDF guide to 2008, with its 44 pages spanning search, gaming, social networking, display ads, and a slew of other topics. Download the PDF (no registration required) or read more at Mobile Marketer.

Great work to the team who produced it: Mickey Alam Khan, Giselle Abramovich, Reva McEachern, Lauren Mooney, and Miguel Rosario.

Online Photo Sharing in Plain English: Common Craft

You've probably seen this already, but it's so good that they deserve every post they get. The Common Craft show, which dumbs down social media so everyone can do it, offers a video today on online photo sharing.

The point of this is to provide motivation to share photos online. It markets Flickr so well, you'd think they'd put this on their homepage, especially since it barely mentions anyone else.

The one downside here is that while it might motivate people to share photos digitally, it doesn't acknowledge how daunting it can be. My father, for instance, will readily share photos on Google's Picasa Web since he already uses Picasa, but I wouldn't recommend Flickr to him. (If you are on Flickr, connect with me on my Flickr page and we can be friends there. Yay.)

Spock: The People Search Wiki

This column appeared last week in MediaPost.

THE MOST COMMON REACTION I hear when I invite a friend to Spock is, "Not another!" That's understandable; 2007 was the year that accepting online invites went from exciting to burdensome.

Yet Spock brings new approaches to search engine optimization that I anticipate will become a model for other sites, and it offers its own benefits for users to manage their online reputations, so it's one invite worth accepting, if just to see how it stands out.

Spock's core is a people search engine. Search for Guy Kawasaki, for instance, and the first listing that comes up provides information and links about him culled from various sources like his blog and LinkedIn profile. There are three hooks for what makes Spock different, even if the elements themselves aren't unique on their own: tags, profile aggregation, and reputation ranking. We'll explore how they work together to make Spock one of the more exciting sites to watch early this year.

Blockbuster has no clue when it comes to social media

by Jonathan Trenn

Blockbuster, so far, seems to be the leading user of Facebook's Social Ads.  As previously mentioned here, they've been plastering David Berkowitz's image, without his permission or prior consent, all over Facebook to hawk video rentals.  That's a form of Usurp Marketing.

One of the people who received the ad was Ike Pigott.  Ike's a veteran marketing and PR guy who also is one of sharper minds for online stuff as well.  Ike's not thrilled about Social Ads either.  So he was dismayed to see this type of you know what suddenly appear on his Facebook page.  Ike also is a friend of David's (hence his receiving of the ad).

But Ike has another story to tell. 

Last August, Ike had a terrific experience with a Blockbuster staffer, one who was kind enough and efficient enough to contact Ike soon after he left a store empty handed after hoping to rent the movie 300. Unfortunately, they didn't have it.  On his way home, he got a call on his cell phone. Seems that someone had brought one in just after Ike had left.  That's great customer service.  So Ike blogged about it here.  He even asked Blockbuster to respond:

The store is a Blockbuster franchisee - ID #94597.

If you’re with Blockbuster’s PR team, and you’d like to know the name of the employee and his ID#, please e-mail the request to ike'semail (dot) com. Also, I ask you to comment here. As quickly as possible. I’m curious to see how often you scan, and I know positive feedback is hard to come by.

When no one responded, he set up a metered page measuring the time that it is taking for Blockbuster to respond.  As of January 14, 2008, it's been 155 days.  No response.

Now, to an extent, that's OK.  In a sense, Ike is a nobody.  Just like all of us are nobodies.  We're account numbers or the last four digits of our social security numbers.  Blockbuster, by not responding, probably hasn't lost a customer in Ike.  But it shows me that they either have no understanding of online marketing and they haven't invested in any type of online research.

When you add the fact that they are using usurp marketing by taking people's images to hawk videos, it shows me that they've made the decision to aggressively market online.  So it's not as if they don't have a strategy at all.  And now they apparently think that Ike is indeed a somebody because they want him to rent videos since they told him that David is a fan of Blockbuster.  Therefore Ike should rent "Jackass".

For a company like Blockbuster - on that could get creamed by services like Netflix - to not seek to engage people on line that are talking positively about them, is a sign of a company that is headed for that proverbial iceberg.  Simply hiring someone - or having their PR firm provide to them - a daily or weekly report of what is being said about them online is not only common sense, it's vital for a company like Blockbuster.

If they had any understanding of the digital arena, they would have responded to Ike's post and developed a deeper relationship with him.  And they would have rewarded the very competent employee that they seemed to have overlooked.  Instead they're pushing foolish ads his way. 

Jackasses.