Pinterest + Copyright = Pinfringement?

There’s been so much hype about Pinterest lately that some of the low grumblings about the possibility of copyright infringement have not been heard. MarketingProfs posted a good article recently about why companies shouldn’t sue for copyright infringement – it’s free publicity, right?

In the same article, they point out that Pinterest’s Terms of Service places any copyright blame squarely on the shoulders of the pinners, cleverly calling it a possible "pinfringement." The work in question has to be registered with the US Copyright Office in order for a lawsuit to be brought against someone, but how do you know if something is copyrighted or not? It’s a thin line.

As a marketer, CEO or business owner, it’s great if you can accept people posting and re-posting your works, copyrighted or not, as an opportunity to reach more fans. The MarketingProfsarticle even suggests watermarking your works before posting them to ensure you get proper credit. But what if you’re that person or business who gets singled out for violating a copyright on Pinterest?

Is the possibility of copyright infringement going to stop you from using Pinterest, either as an individual or as a company? Sound off in the comments below.

What Does Google Play Mean?

Have you noticed the latest addition to your Google navigation bar?

Yes, you are reading it correctly, “Play”. I wasn’t too sure about the name when I first heard it too…

Google Play is described to be the one consolidated location for music, books, movies, apps, and games – all accessible from the Web as well as any Android device.

This digital destination also allows you to:

• Store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks
• Download more than 450,000 Android apps and games
• Browse the world’s largest selection of eBooks
• Rent thousands of your favorite movies, including new releases and HD titles

Does this new Android market designation change your strategy at all when developing new eBooks, Android apps, etc.? For business solutions, I’m finding it difficult to say, “Check out our enterprise solution at Play”. It just doesn’t necessarily fit to say “play” with “business”.

What do you think is the purpose for this rebranding? Maybe it is just part of Google’s fight for the commoditization of Android.

Click “play” on this video to be introduced to Google Play.

Email is Still More Popular Than Social Media

According to this article on Mashable, although social media usage around the world has grown by leaps and bounds, the majority of internet users still mostly use the internet for email:

Private research firm Ipsos polled 19,216 adults in 24 countries last month and found 85% of them used the Internet for email while 62% used it for social networking.

In the US, there is a higher focus on social media: 61% of internet users focus on that more than email. Still, that leaves 39% of people in the US who use the internet more for email. It's definitely something to think about when preparing for your next marketing campaign. If your audience is global in nature, you may want to consider focusing more on email, whereas if your audience is mostly in the US, you may want to include a larger social media component.

How do you primarily communicate on the internet: email or social media sites?

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents: Making Data Make Money

David Shteif was ready to present his Making Data Make Money webinar with us back in January, but a scheduling conflict shifted this presentation to this Wednesday. The CEO of Revenue Entertainment explains how the information sitting in your computer servers can generate thousands, and even millions of dollars. Data monetization is brought to light in this exclusive IMC webinar, broadcasting live tomorrow at 12:30 PM EST.

Click here to register (3/28 at 12:30pm)
http://bit.ly/makedataregister

A natural-born visionary, David immediately realized the potential of digital marketing and in 1999 entered the online space as a co-founder of Direct Media Buyers. Focusing on media buying and Email List Building, client's included Home Depot, Old Navy, Pfizer, Warner Brothers, Disney,
and Travelocity.

With his extensive knowledge and experience, this webinar should teach you valuable lessons in monetizing your website's data.


Click here to register (3/28 at 12:30pm)
http://bit.ly/makedataregister

“You Might Be Hired But We Need To Log In To Your Facebook Account”

I’ve been hearing a lot this week about employers asking potential employees to provide their Facebook log in information during the interview process. This has obviously stirred up a lot of controversy, especially surrounding the 1^st Amendment and raised concerns over how it would affect equal opportunity employment; personal information such as sexual orientation and religion could be used to discriminate against job seekers.

I understand the desire of state or correctional institutes to want to use social media to investigate a potential candidate, but do you really need access to their personal account? Can’t you just friend the person? (Even that would probably be taking it too far because of EOE rights, as stated above).  Why not just ask for personal banking information while you’re at it? Anyway, I would hope that a state or correctional facility would have resources to do background checks on personnel beyond logging into their Facebook page.

Being in the marketing industry, I can’t imagine working for an employer who thinks it’s ok to ask for this type of information let alone giving my username and password to anyone, especially in a job interview. However, I can just imagine recent college grads that are so anxious to land that perfect first job giving up their rights to personal privacy. In this recent Mashable article, Facebook has taken a stand against this practice, citing their own privacy policy, potential for discrimination and the responsibility that falls upon a potential employer who comes across illegal activity. Of course, they have a vested interest in protecting their users, but good for them anyway!

What are your thoughts on this controversy? How far would you go to land a job? As a hiring employer, where do you the draw the line between vetting new employees and invading their personal privacy? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: Alessio85 via Flickr Creative Commons license

Google Ads Based On Your Phone Calls – Is This Too Much?

It’s hard not to think this story is just creepy in so many ways…

But, Google filed a patent on a technology that essentially serves ads based on the background noise of your phone calls. The abstract from the patent explains:

Information about an environmental condition of a remote device is received, the environmental condition being determined based on a signal output from a sensor of the remote device or a sensor coupled to the remote device. An advertisement is identified based on the environmental condition, and the advertisement is provided to the remote device.

So, if I am speaking to someone on the phone about the horrendous heat down here in South Florida, am I going to receive some type of advertisement for air conditioning or fans? It appears with this technology, I just might.

Because this patent is just merely a submission, that doesn’t mean this is definite. But, can you imagine what this could mean for advertisers? How far could this really be taken?

Just playing devil’s advocate for a moment, could we also say that this is another means for receiving highly targeted (perhaps even helpful) ads based on our current environmental needs? Maybe I do need to buy a fan to ward off the heat.

Nonetheless, I still don’t think it will be accepted by the masses without extreme resistance.

Image credit: Duchamp

Is Facebook becoming a prison for web traffic?

According to this insightful article by Anil Dash, Facebook is "openly attacking its users ability and willingness to navigate the rest of the web." For instance, Facebook is removing the capability of syndicated content to be posted via Facebook Notes and forcing users to post notes individually. He also goes on to speak about how privilege is given to captive content on Facebook after only one approval from a given user (Yahoo! News is a good example) over outside links - that is, content like this will always be higher on the news feed. Facebook also creates an atmosphere of fear for users by deeming even websites that it has indexed to be unsafe, displaying warnings about outside websites and security.

What does all of this mean? It means that despite the fact that Facebook remains one of the greatest internet marketing tools that a business can utilize that it may also present barriers to the very users you are trying to attract to your website or landing page.

Tell us what you think in the comments section of this blog post.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents: 4 Types of Paid Traffic

For this Wednesday's weekly webinar, we're excited to present Ten Golden Rules founder and IMC lead man, Jay Berkowitz. Jay discusses the paid traffic market and why it's so vital to your business. In this special presentation, Jay will also highlight paid Google traffic, Facebook, display advertising and the 3 Rs of paid traffic. If your business is struggling to generate sales from Internet traffic, this course is perfect for you.

Click here to register (Wednesday March 21, 2012)
http://bit.ly/paidtrafficregister

About Jay Berkowitz:

Jay Berkowitz is an author, an educator, an International keynote speaker and an award-winning thought leader. A senior online marketing professional with over twenty years of marketing experience, Mr. Berkowitz has managed marketing departments for Fortune 500 brands: Coca-Cola, Sprint and McDonald's Restaurants, and he has developed online and offline strategies for AT&T and leading health and fitness website eDiets.com.

Mr. Berkowitz is the author of The Ten Golden Rules of Online Marketing Workbook, the Founder and CEO of www.TenGoldenRules.com, a strategic online marketing consulting business based in Boca Raton, Florida. He is the host of the Ten Golden Rules of Internet Marketing Podcast, an Adjunct Professor with the University of San Francisco Internet Marketing Course and he has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, The Business Journals and he was interviewed on FOX Business TV.


Click here to register (Wednesday March 21, 2012)
http://bit.ly/paidtrafficregister

Get More Out of LinkedIn for Your Business

In the later part of 2011, LinkedIn provided an update to company pages, allowing them to communicate and network better with employees, customers, prospects and industry peers. Now companies can post status updates, similar to Facebook and can also interact with individual and company status updates.

Here at TGR, we suggest you follow the 3 “E’s” when posting status updates:

1. Educate
2. Engage
3. Entertain 

Keep in mind that status updates can support URLs with multimedia, which add a nice visual element to your posts instead of being all text. Many companies are using the status updates to advertise job openings and for recruitment. However, you can post about anything that pertains to your company or industry. It doesn’t always have to be a sale pitch, either!

The new company pages also encourage you to showcase your products or services within your profile. You have the option to include an image, description, list of key features and a URL to your web site or a landing page (great for tracking!) You can also embed a YouTube video on the Product/Service Overview page as well as the individual product or service page. 

Be sure to take full advantage of your new company profile, and above all, keep it classy. Remember, LinkedIn has a more educated and affluent audience than most other social media sites.

Has your company taken advantage of company status updates or the products & services showcase? Tell us how in the comments below.

Overview of A Few Google AdWords Basics

Last week I provided some details on a new Google webinar series that recently premiered. While watching a video from the Google AdWords Classroom, I jotted down a few highlights from one of the lectures that I would like to share with you. This information is ideal for someone who is just getting started or wanting to brush up on AdWords basics.

What is AdWords Optimization?

Optimization means taking steps to get the results you want by improving the quality and performance of your AdWords account.

The Benefits of a Good Structure

It provides a positive impact on:

• The overall performance of the account
• Makes account management easier and more effective
• Makes tracking and analysis easier and more effective

In the end, a good structure allows you to get more clicks for less money.

Campaigns vs. Ad Groups

Campaigns:

You should create separate campaigns when there is a need for different focuses such as:

• Daily budgets
• Adapted to country and language
• Start and end dates

Ad Groups:

You should create separate ad groups when there is a need for different focuses such as:

• To advertise different products or services
• To set different cost per conversion limits

A Few Key Factors to Keep In Mind:

• Organize campaigns by topic
• Create highly specific ad groups
• Avoid duplicate keywords across ad groups

To learn more about selecting optimal keywords, writing compelling ads, etc., check out the below video:



What did you learn from the video?

Foursquare for Business

Foursquare doesn't just allow users to be 'mayor' of a coffee shop they frequent - it's also a great tool for business. Foursquare allows users to 'check in,' every time they visit a venue in real life, and records it both on Foursquare and other social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter (if these accounts have been linked). Brick-and-mortar businesses can offer specials through Foursquare, like rewarding the number of times a customer checks in, making it a great tool for customer loyalty. Venues can also offer other types of discounts, like coupons, to their Foursquare followers. For brands who don't have a brick-and-mortar presence, Foursquare does offer a few options, like check-in specials for when the brand partners with a brick-and-mortar retailer, and badges, which allow customers to complete real-world check-in quests that can get them rewards from the brand.

To learn more about Foursquare for your business, you can visit the Foursquare for Business website, or you can watch this awesome video.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents: New Facebook Timeline for Pages

We all know that Facebook is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to market your brand on the Internet these days. With over 800 million users and constantly growing, even the most niche of companies have found great use out of the social media giant. Facebook's new Timeline made an introduction last summer to personal pages, making it much easier for friends and family to search deep into the memories of the target user. More than six months later, Facebook is introducing their Timeline to business pages.

Join Margie Schneider, VP of Operations at Ten Golden Rules, as she discusses the ways Facebook's new Timeline has changed and what this means for your business page. While Timeline is not mandatory yet, it soon will be. This webinar will teach you everything you need to know about getting ready and embracing the new layout.

Click here to register (03-14-12 at 12:30pm EST)
http://bit.ly/timelineregister

Margie Schneider has been involved with the interactive medium since 1994. She has participated in everything the Internet has to offer: developing, designing and delivering web sites; online advertising and promotion; search engine marketing: SEO and PPC and community and electronic communication. Her specialties include: social media, search engine optimization SEO, PPC management, online reputation management, project management, personnel management, strategizing web development and design solutions; as well as experience marketing across all media types.

This free webinar will take place this Wednesday, March 14th at 12:30 pm. The presentation will last an hour, concluding with a Q&A section with Margie. For more information and to register, visit the New Facebook Timeline for Pages page. 

KONY 2012 From a Marketing Perspective

How many times have you seen the KONY 2012 video posted and re-posted this week? Like many viral messages, it seemingly popped out of nowhere and suddenly it was everywhere. KONY 2012 is a 30 minute documentary meant to expose Ugandan war criminal and leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA,) Joseph Kony.

While I do believe that it’s a good thing to spread awareness of these atrocities and bring this person to justice, Zoe Fox on Mashablepointed out yesterday that not too many people actually know the not-for-profit behind the campaign, yet they shared their message anyway. Had you heard of Invisible Children prior to this week? 

Right now, the organization’s budget and finances are under scrutiny. Regardless of the criticism, the whole campaign caught my attention for a very different reason.  As a marketer, I want to know the magic formula for creating a campaign that has garnered so much attention in such a short time period.  Here’s what caught my attention:

Invisible Children targeted 20 "Culture Makers" and 12 Policy Makers to help spread their message

• The video is 30 minutes long. My first thought was, “Who is going to sit through a 30 minute video?” And then I watched it. It is well-produced and the story is told in a masterful way, with just the right amount of heart-tugging, history and humanity. It also has George Clooney in it. Half an hour went by quickly.
• They have targeted 20 “culture makers,” or celebrities, and 12 policy makers that can make a difference. They have photos of each of these people on their web site that links directly to the person’s Twitter profile, so you can message them directly. The message is even pre-written for you, all you have to do is hit “Tweet.” 
• The organization doesn’t just have some lofty goal to raise a million dollars or get this guy arrested. Sure, raising money and bringing Kony to justice is the end game, but they give four specific, actionable tasks that anybody can do. They are:

1.       Sign their pledge

2.       Buy an Action Kit & bracelet

3.       Donate money

4.       Share the movie

The proof that the campaign is working? The video has had over 52 million hits on YouTube… since Monday. The film has gotten attention on national news and the filmmakers have been giving interviews on national news. The web site says it is sold out of action kits, bracelets and t-shirts. Obviously, this thing took off well beyond the organization’s expectations and they were not prepared for the deluge of support.  Whether or not you buy into the hype or the criticism, one thing is undeniable and this is what every marketer strives for in a viral campaign: this is a home run.  

New Webinar Series on Google Products

If you are interested in learning more about the various types of products Google has to offer, they have introduced a new webinar series that you will want to check out. This new webinar series will aid you in getting the most out of the suite of Google products. From tips to how-to’s, not only can you attend live webinars, but you also have access to recorded webinars.

The upcoming live webinars for March are:

• March 13 at 10am PDT: 5 Tips to Start Marketing Your Business with Video
• March 14 at 10am PDT: Introduction to the Google Display Network
• March 15 at 10am PDT: GoMo: Mobilize Your Site and Maximize Your Advertising
• March 20 at 10am PDT: Understanding Mobile Ads Across Marketing Objectives
• March 21 at 10am PDT: Reaching Your Goals with Google Analytics
• March 22 at 10am PDT: GoMo for Publishers
• March 27 at 10am PDT: Manage Large AdWords Campaigns with Less Effort
• March 28 at 10am PDT: 3 Tips to Get More Out of Your Video Advertising Campaigns

There are a handful of recorded webinars that are already available for your viewing. Covering everything from AdWords to Analytics, there’s plenty to leverage for your business. This wealth of knowledge is free and available now.

Which webinar is a must-see for you? Please leave any key takeaways that you discover in the comments below.

An Introduction to Pinterest

Does your business have a Pinterest page? If not, you may want to consider requesting an invite from the website, or from any friend or acquaintance who already has an account. Pinterest is the latest up-and-coming social media marketing tool and search engine all rolled into one. It is a search engine that displays visual results instead of textual results, and also allows users to curate their favorite web content. Seventy percent of the users on Pinterest are females under 45, so think about your demographic before you create an account. Click here to view some cool Pinterest infographics.

How Does It Work?

Each Pinterest user is given an account on which they can create searchable galleries, or ‘pinboards,’ of images and videos that they feel have value. There is no limit on the number of pinboards that you can create, nor on the number of images and videos you can add to each pinboard. You can also add relevant text to each piece of media you add. Price tags can be added to a product by simply typing the price into the text box that corresponds with each image. You can pin content directly from the web, but you can also upload your own images. You can also add others to your pinboards to create pinboards curated by multiple users.

You can follow other boards on Pinterest individually, or follow all boards by one user. When you follow boards, the images and videos from each are displayed together in your home screen. You can also find media in Pinterest by browsing each subject listed at the top of the page, or by typing a topic into the search box.

Tips for Marketing on Pinterest

• Don’t just use your own content; get creative and pull content from multiple web sources within your field when creating pins.
• When you upload your own pins, always be sure to edit each pin so that a relevant page on your website has been linked to it.
• Consider whether or not you are going to use a real person’s name or your brand’s name. Pinterest is a social community that doesn’t respond well to what they might consider faceless corporations.
• Get creative with marketing your products and services. Consider engaging your potential customers in unique ways besides just pinning up all of your products, like by creating a pinboard together with a customer.
• Repin relevant content from others. People may come check out your pinboards if they see that you have pinned their media.