By now we have all heard about the iPhone antenna issue. I use a Blackberry 9700 and if you put your fingers in the upper right hand corner of the receiver your signal will drop by about 50% or more. So as Apple has stated this is an issue with all cell phones.

www.emarketingassociation.com/index.shtml

Last week, I left my laptop at home and traveled to Chicago, with only an iPad.  I also brought along a Bluetooth keyboard.  I may never bring a laptop on a business trip again. The iPad easily handled my email, web research, news, weather, flight status, and much more. Videos looked great, and can be downloaded and rented directly on the iPad. Since I was doing a presentation on eMarketing, social marketing and search, I came across a great app that can be very useful if you do presentations. It’s called ProPrompter and it works just like a real teleprompter, you can adjust backgrounds, type, scroll speed etc., a nice app if you give talks, speeches or presentations. 

On the subject of presentations, we are looking for moderators for our round-table discussions at the Power of eMarketing Conference to be held in Baltimore October 20^th and 21^st . If you have experience in moderating small groups in the social, email or search marketing arenas and are interested in moderating one of our panels, email me at:  fleming at eMarketingAssociation.com, send along a bio and list of your speaking experience.

Press Releases can be an excellent method of improving your visibility and site traffic. There are many paid PR release services but here is one that is free:

http://www.free-press-release.com/

The eMarketing Association LinkedIn group now has about 250,000 members, this is a fantastic forum – sign up for free at:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=41352

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Don’t forget to check our latest conference focused on Social marketing, register and get a chance to win a free iPad.

http://www.emarketingassociation.com/2010/MD/index.html

Our LinkedIn Group Membership is now about 248,000 members and quickly approaching a quarter of a million! Congratulations on helping to make this group a success, and the 2nd largest group on LinkedIn.

Join Today at:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=41352

Don't miss our latest conference Register today at:

http://www.emarketingassociation.com/2010/MD/register.html

LinkedIn's Vice President of Marketing Solutions, Steve Patrizi will keynote on day one. This is one conference you won't want to miss.

35+ Speakers – 4 Dynamic Modules - 12 Breakout Roundtables

15 Presentations – 2 Keynote Sessions - 4 Panel Sessions and one Great Networking Party!

1. Social Marketing 

2. Search Marketing 

3. eMail Marketing

4. Emerging Marketing Technology (video, mobile and synergistic integration)

Check our newest sponsor echo quote:

http://www.echoquote.com/

INFORMATION ON THE CONFERENCE IS AT:

http://www.emarketingassociation.com/index.shtml

JOIN THE EMA ON TWITTER AT:

http://twitter.com/eMarketingAssn

FACEBOOK:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48747794384&ref=share

Our newest eCourse, Advanced Social Marketing, is slated to be released the first week of July. If you are interested in receiving an invitation to register for this online course email taylor@eMarketingAssociation.com with "social marketing course" in the subject line. We will send you a bulletin as soon as the course is released. The price for this course is $99.00, but there will be a discount for those who have sent an email requesting the launch bulletin.

SITE OF THE WEEK

http://addictomatic.com/

This site will give you a dashboard of all your social marketing efforts.

Have a great week!

Robert Fleming

President/CEO

eMarketing Association

www.emarketingassociation.com

Go to Addict-O-Matic and enter your website (or a company of your choice). This site will give you a visual picture of the buzz around the social space networks. If you try their search engine it will give you real time placements in social networks, blogs and other communities. Be sure to check the available sources at the top of the menu to customize your research.

http://addictomatic.com/

http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

The eMA used Twitter about  2 months ago at our annual eMarketing Conference in San Francisco.  In that context, it provided a great forum for instant updates during the conference.  However as a network, it is lacking.  According to Nielsen more than 60% of people abandon the Twitter service after just one month.  This is a strong indication that Twitter is not really up to par with other networks such as LinkedIn or Facebook, in terms of meeting user expectations.  Additionally, significant  technical problems and excruciating slow customer service contribute to a  poor user experience.

 Unlike other networks, Twitter provides the ability to follow just about anyone, although that is not reciprocal.  In short you can read other peoples tweets, but they won’t necessarily be reading yours.  Many celebrities,  use the service to broadcast trivia to a massive number of followers.  Other users, broadcast minutia on almost an hourly basis.  After spending several weeks reviewing Twitter, my take is that, for the most part, 140 characters (the Twitter limit for tweets), encourages a massive number of banal tweets, commercialization, promotion and questionable links.   Trivia dominates the tweets along with self serving promotional messages.  I have a feeling that not many people bother to read these tweets.  Additional research suggests that 10% of tweeters post 90% of tweets, a sad statistic and indication that although there is a very active and enthusiastic segment, it is small relative to the Tweeter population.  See link below for full information on that survey.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/06/new_twitter_research_men_follo.html

Nielsen Study Information

http://tinyurl.com/cyr3l7

Conclusion: There are Twitter “addicts” who just love the site, and post (mostly trivia) regularly.  The majority of users become bored and leave the service after a short time. The future of Twitter will depend on management’s ability to enhance the user experience, monetize the site, and provide significantly better customer service to users.  At this time we have no metrics or data that indicate that this service is of much value commercially or otherwise.

Announcement from eMarketing Association Network

Is Counterfeiting, Piracy or Fraud Denigrating Your Brand?

29.4% of CMO Council respondents (so far) see cybersquatting, or the illegal use of trademarks or brands in domain names online, as the most prevalent infringement on business and reputation. However, only 18% are plagued by replication of goods, fashion labels, apparel or products.

Where do you fall? Are you among the nearly 40% of marketers who are leaving these brand problems up to legal? Or are you one of the marketers with an eye on those who are looking to profit from your brand’s reputation?

The CMO Council is nearing the end of its research for the Protection From Brand Infection report, and is looking for your insights to round out our peer-led audit. You can access the survey at http://www.brandsecuritycenter.org/survey/protection/

The Council is closing this research within the next week, so time is of the essence. All participants will receive a free copy of the report upon publication.

Take part in this benchmark of how marketing is taking control and securing the trust in our brands!

"Maintaining your skills and advancing your skills is critical to advancing if you're employed, and getting a new job if you're unemployed," said Dean Tracy, a recruiter and career coach in San Ramon, Calif.

But how do you stay on top of your field when you've been downsized? Tracy and other career counseling experts identified three potential avenues: continuing education, professional organizations and volunteering.

Continuing education
Even for those who are not out of work, learning new skills or brushing up old ones is always beneficial. Several experts said classes that offer certifications are particularly helpful.

"What it tells the employer is, you're not sitting around wondering what to do next, you're taking the initiative," said Tracy. Those who can't attend a class should look for online training.

Obviously we are not operating in the best of economic times. As marketers there are some fundamental steps we should be taking:

1.       Don’t assume your job or business is secure, accelerate your professional development by attending conferences, taking online courses and attaining certification.  The job marketing is likely to be tighter than ever for a while, and every edge you can give yourself will count.

2.       Network, network, network.  Get on LinkedIn’s eMarketing Group (over 80,000 members), and our  own Ning network, facebook and twitter.  Keep in touch regularly with your important contacts.  Attend our annual conference to make contacts face to face, even though it may cost a bit to attend it will pay off with knowledge, contacts and processes to improve your situation.

3.       Work harder.  The present economy leaves no room for idle time.  Work on your consulting skills, a side business or polish up your website.

4.       Don’t give up.  Things go up and they go down, things will go up again.

5.       Spend money on things that can help you make money.  Purchases like conference attendance, computers, software etc., that can make you more competitive are good investments right now.

I just got back from Atlanta and the eMarketing 8 conference.  What an incredible two days, Carol Kruse, Vice President of Global Interactive Marketing for The Coca Cola Company gave an outstanding keynote speech.  Over 30 other speakers including Chris Baggott, President of Compendium Blog ware, gave fantastic presentations.  Google wrapped up day one with a fun reception with a lot of networking and deals made.  Our next conference is in San Francisco in April 2009, don’t miss it.

We advertise on social networks.  There was quite an uproar, when facebook started to accept paid advertising.  I wonder why.

If you are on a professional network, you are usually there to sell something to someone.  Maybe it is just your resume, in case

you are fired or your company “lets you go”, or it may be a product or service.  You are selling something. You know it, I know it

so let’s stop wasting time talking about it.