Super Bowl Strategies on a Smaller Scale

While the Super Bowl is often full of nonsensical, decidedly nontraditional advertising, the most effective ads are created with a shrewd marketing strategy in mind.  These ads follow strategies that can be advantageous to companies of any size or budget.  Businessweek.com’s Steve McKee offers these insightful rules to Super Bowl marketing that could be equally applicable your firm’s marketing efforts. 

The first, perhaps most important rule is putting strategy first.  Creativity is important and can get people talking about an advertisement but creativity without strategy can just leave viewers confused.  Take for example epidemic.com and lifeminders.com.  These startups aired Super Bowl commercials in 2000 that may have been creative but did not make much of an effort to describe what kinds of services these companies provided.  Both companies are now long gone.  The second rule is to be relevant.  The most effective advertising efforts are often based on a topical subject.  For instance, FedEx’s 2003 ad offered a humorous take on Castaway, a recent blockbuster hit at the time.  The best advertising campaigns keep it simple.  Google’s “Parisian Love” commercial offered a simple display of what the search engine could offer, ...

Can You Really Take Your Work Anywhere Now

Cloud management is one of the best things to ever happen to small businesses. It saves company money on technology investments and allows people to work from anywhere that they can find an internet connection. This even includes getting work accomplished while on their smart phones.

Many people wonder if they really can take their work anywhere that they might go. With cloud management and today’s technology, the answer is a resounding yes! The fact is, cloud computing lets you save your files at a remote location, also called the “cloud.” Once your files are saved in the cloud, you are able to access your work from anywhere that you can find an internet connection. This is even true upon your smart phone. If you have the right kind of apps on your smart phone, you can make changes to your important files even on your cell phone and start working from just about any place you might find yourself.

Cloud Management is a huge boost to businesses. Many small companies might even be able to avoid buying a dedicated server or paying for a virtual private server if they are using ...

Online Government Surveillance Increasing

Google has observed that the amount of Government surveillance on internet activity is steadily on the rise. This comes as no shock, as the recent resignation of CIA director Petraeus was caused by an illicit affair discovered by intercepted emails. Google has noted that the Government wants more access to user information, and are working overtime to remove politically sensitive material off the web.

According to Google's Transparent Report, government organizations made roughly 20,000 data inquiries regarding 34,000 Google-related accounts in the first half of 2012, with the United States making the most inquiries. Companies Google, LinkedIn, DropBox, Sonic and Twitter resist these types of inquiries, usually by making the requests public so that internet users can view and discuss about the controversies of internet freedom. As new technologies emerge and more and more communications move online, it'll be interesting to see if the growing trend turns into something more drastic.

What Does the Future of Twitter Hold?

Twitter is one of the strongest social marketing forces today, and it's developments are not just fueled by new changes from the company, but by its users and new social media trends. What started as just a simple way to share whatever activity you're doing in the moment has evolved into a strong marketing tool that can help users search for anything, get involved with others, and communicate directly with the companies that they buy products/services from.

As Twitter is moving forward, it's gaining new features and capabilities. It's quickly growing as a main tool to use for real time searches, catching up to search megastars Google and Bing. It continues to be an effective tool to drive traffic towards blogs and websites, and as a way for individuals or companies to gain exposure and connect with audiences. It is a connecting point for trending, popular and historic events, allowing users across the globe to communicate, turning Twitter into a sort of website forum of the world that everyone naturally uses. And Twitter itself is grafting onto other mediums, where every social website has a button linked to Twitter, and every newscaster, celebrity, and ...

Microsoft Unveiled So.cl Social Network for Studen...

On Monday, Microsoft unveiled its experimental social search service called So.cl, which combines “social networking and search, to help people find and share interesting web pages.” 

According to Microsoft, So.cl helps users collaborate, sharing the results of Internet searches, photos, videos and stories.  

Users log in to the network with their Facebook or Windows Live accounts. Once logged in, users are presented with a variety of suggested topics of interest. 

The company said So.cl distinguishes itself by focusing on learning and education.

“We expect students to continue using products such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other existing social networks, as well as Bing, Google and other search tools,” Microsoft said. 

“We hope to encourage students to reimagine how our everyday communication and learning tools can be improved, by researching, learning and sharing in their everyday lives.” 

According to sources, So.cl was opened in conjunction with the three universities, including University of Washington, Syracuse University and New York University.

Jury Finding Google Liable for Oracle’s Java copyr...

On Monday, a federal District Court in San Francisco found Google liable for copyright infringement in its use of Java in Android, a programming platform that Oracle Corp. bought two years ago.

Oracle is seeking up to $1billion in damages on copyright claims.

The jury also found that Google infringed on Oracle's copyright on nine lines of Java code that is in Android.

Google could pay from $200-$150,000 for those damaged, according to sources.

Oracle Corp. is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing computer hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems. 

Google Announced Its New Drive Cloud Service

On Tuesday, Google announced officially its new Google Drive cloud service, a typical cloud service, allowing to users to store videos, photos, documents, PDFs, and other types of files.  

According to Google spokeswoman, Google Drive will be available for some user today and it will roll out worldwide in the next few weeks. 

Users will now be able to upload pictures or spreadsheets to Google Drive and share them with a link, instead of sending a bulky file. They can also access their files from an app available on Android phones and tablets. A version for Apple's (AAPL) iOS is in the works, as well, according to sources. 

“Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience,” Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome and Apps for Google, wrote in a blog post. 

“You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you'll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we're working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive.”

Facebook will buy Instagram for $1bln

Facebook, the biggest social network, announced Monday that it will buy the Instagram mobile photo-sharing application for about $1 billion in cash and stock. 

“I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement. 

“Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.” 

According to sources, Instagram was founded in 2010 by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom and became the most popular free photo sharing application on the iPhone. Instagram released a version of its application for Google’s Android operating system last week. 

Instagram lets users take pictures with smartphones, retouch them with borders and filters, and then post the images on social networks.  

“This is an important milestone for Facebook because it's the first time we've ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don't plan on doing many more of these, if any at all,” said Zuckerberg. 

“But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many ...

Apple Loses ITC Case Against Motorola

Apple continues to lose its legal battle against Android. After losing Germany, Australia, The Netherlands the company has now lost on the home turf. The United States ITC [International Trade Commission] issued a preliminary ruling on Friday stating that Motorola Mobility smartphones do not infringe three Apple patents.

"We are pleased with today’s favorable outcome for Motorola Mobility," said Scott Offer, senior vice president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility. "Motorola Mobility has worked hard over the years to develop technology and build an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio. We are proud to leverage this broad and deep portfolio to create differentiated innovations that enhance the user experience."

Anti-Android bloggers who have been trying to spread the FUD against Android that Google's Motorola acquisition won't help Android defend against Apple's attacks need to look at new ways to spin their stories against Android.

The defeat of Apple on legal grounds shows why Microsoft is using bogus methods to pretend as if they are making money from Android by signing cross licensing deals with Android players. I believe that Microsoft is very much aware of its extremely weak position in mobile patents that is the reason why it signs ...

10 ways to measure social media for business

Is your business a social business? Companies that are making good use of social media should take the next step and measure the progress of their social media programs and campaigns. How do you know if you're succeeding if you don't have the numbers?

Today we'll look at 10 ways that metrics can offer visibility into your business's performance. You won't want to chart all of these, but tracking a few well-chosen metrics -- and incorporating the learnings into your business processes -- can contribute to the bottom line.

 Customer engagement

1. Engagement can take place offline and online, on your site, on your social networks and in real-world face-to-face events. By letting customers participate in conversations about your brand, you can improve your business, your products and your levels of service. Ultimately, customer engagement is key to improving satisfaction and loyalty rates and revenue.

Metrics to track could include:

Number of followers on Twitter, Facebook, et al. Number of retweets on Twitter Number of comments per blog post Number of external widgets embedded Invaluable assets as redistributors of content Customer reviews and ratings

Note: Such customer interaction can be invaluable in fostering a culture of community and in guiding product development. In ...