Back to school. It’s a “season” typically greeted with dread and anxiety by students; joy and pride by parents.  But if you’re a marketer, the dawning of a new semester is the perfect time to think about how your products and services can benefit college and university students.

Tap Into a Lucrative Market

The college population offers marketers a wealth of opportunities, especially because this year, student discretionary purchasing power is on the rise. The college years are also a great time to gain trust, because choices made during this stage of life tend to influence purchasing decisions for years to come. (more…)

You might know Marketwire as an all-inclusive communications tool for public relations, investor relations and marketing communications professionals. But, what you don’t know might surprise you. Below are a few facts — some more serious than others — about the company and the individuals who make up the company: (more…)

While Nick Shin takes the week off, Sheldon Levine, community manager at Sysomos, compiled the weekly #smmeasure chat recap.

It was another great week for our #smmeasure chat. We’re always blown away by the number of people and level of participation we see each week. I just want to start by thanking everyone who joins in and everyone who has passed along the word of our chat. Each week we’re growing and it’s all thanks to you!

A special thanks this week to Garry Przyklenk who was filling in for Nick Shin. Garry was a little nervous and felt like a n00b, but he did a great job.

#smmeasure chat #5 recap (more…)

This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, August 25th edition of the Asian American Journalists Association’s newsletter.

At the recent AAJA conference in Los Angeles, a few members of Google’s communications team held impromptu presentations on how Google can help journalists, beyond the basic searches, email and directions we all use it for. Here are a few lesser-known tools that might make your information-gathering and research easier, faster and more targeted. (more…)

He hasn’t been with us for over a decade, but Frank Sinatra left behind his legendary music and a timeless set of oh-so-smooth rules to live by.  The icon had many mantras, and a handful of them are most apropos for those of us who make marketing our profession.  Yep, you read that right:  Ol’ Blue Eyes can teach us a lot about image management, audience engagement and brand longevity.  Before you dismiss the idea, remember that Sinatra’s success spanned 60 years, despite ever-changing cultural trends and musical tastes, so he must have done something right.  Here are five great lessons. (more…)

The show was immense and the experts were out in full force, so I’m going to go out on a limb to state that the best, most informative session at Search Engine Strategies San Francisco 2010 was “News Search Optimization.”  Moderated by Newsforce CMO Dana Todd, the panel included Brent Payne, SEO director at Tribune; Topher Kohan, SEO manager at CNN; Eleanor Hong, lead editor, SEO at ABCNews.com; and Allison Fabella, SEO and social media manager at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  News, as we know, is changing and agile communications companies are recognizing the need to optimize their content for search and social, local reach and mobile platforms. (more…)

There was a lot of anticipation building up to this week’s #smmeasure chat on Facebook measurement and your collective minds did not disappoint in providing tips and advice.  I want to thank everyone who participated and helped spread the word.  A big thanks to Sysomos’ Community Manager Sheldon Levine @sysomos for co-hosting the chat.

#smmeasure chat #4 recap

Last week, we discussed the value of a Twitter retweet (RT) and how to measure its value.  This week, we focus on Facebook measurement.  Below is just a small taste of the great conversation we had.  There were so many golden nuggets to take away from the chat that this recap will not do it justice.  I recommend that you take a look at the full transcript. (more…)

The last Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) conference that I went to was the one in San Francisco in the early ’00s, when the dot-com bubble had just burst and I was still a graduate student in Boston. Back then, online journalism was just starting to take shape and the roots of social media (i.e., Facebook) were being developed in a Harvard dorm room, minutes from where I lived. Little did I know…

Fast-forward to August 2010 to the most recent AAJA conference, “Back to the Future,” held in Los Angeles. Technology was a major theme throughout the conference. About half of the 35 workshops involved some sort of technological angle while the other half broadened the mind or provided career guidance. Workshop topics included: The Present & Future of Online Journalism, Media-centric Design and Building Your Brand, which included Marketwire’s Director, Content & Audience Development Jonathan Evans among the panelists. (more…)

Social media is alive and thriving at some of the world’s biggest companies. Corporate communicators representing Chevron, Kraft Foods, Verizon and other global brands gathered last week for BlogWell Chicago to present best practices and share case studies on how they are leveraging social media to inspire employees, build awareness and create better customer engagement.

A recurring theme throughout the afternoon’s agenda was the tendency for communicators to be somewhat haphazard and overly casual with their marketing and brand communications because of the immediacy, informal style and ubiquity of social media .  It’s crucial, however, for organizations that use social media as part of their overall communications strategy to remember how important it is to use the channels, networks and conversations to tell great stories about their company and brand.  By definition, social media encourages communication through information- and opinion-sharing. So, from something as simple as establishing a Twitter channel to more complex forms of engagement, like an integrated, cross-functional promotional program, you need to tell a great story to your listeners. (more…)

Note: IR Alert’s Brian Pittman sat down with Marketwire CEO Michael Nowlan for an exclusive interview. Check out the original article, posted on August 12, 2010.

As anyone following industry news knows, Marketwire acquired Toronto-based social media monitoring and sentiment analysis provider Sysomos one month ago this week. Since then, we’ve seen a spate of alerts, Tweets and byliners flowing from the wire service sector, touching on everything from evolving web disclosure and online newsroom services to competitive providers challenging each other’s claims.

The upshot: Changes are afoot as the wire services jockey for position in the era of social media–and the beneficiaries are you, our readers.

So what exactly does the Sysomos acquisition mean for you? How could such a move help you identify, analyze, reach and understand your publics and even shareholders more effectively? What market forces set it in motion–and what strategy is driving Marketwire’s response to them? Who is the face behind this vision? And what other developments can you expect to see from your wire service providers in the future? (more…)