I have to say I was surprised to hear that Gap will not be advertising its new denim line on-air in any capacity. The brand has been known for some of its past TV commercials so I think this shift is really confirming the new direction of advertising. The new ad campaign “Born to Fit” will be placing a significant emphasis on online advertising and social media, specifically facebook. Caroline Tall recently wrote a blog post about the Gap’s facebook page and how it landed on Creativity Online’s top 20 list. The Facebook page will act as the centerpiece for the online campaign, all initiatives will drive consumers to their page where they can view video, upload their own photos, etc. What I found the most interesting is that they have set no numerical benchmarks to determine success, but will look at “how much consumers interact with the brand” to gauge ROI. The Gap has struggled with their brand for some time; however, by shifting direction and focusing on emerging social marketing and online media initiatives that allow for audience interaction, Gap is beginning to reposition themselves again as a leader in the industry.

http://www.clickz.com/3634707

We all know that social web matters to businesses, but many companies are struggling to find ways to jump in and figure out who is going to manage it.  The social web allows businesses to engage and develop relationships with customers – to share opionions, feedback, knowledge, and hold conversations.  But immediacy is at the heart of the social web, especially when it comes to defusing any negative buzz in the online space.  It’s imperative to find and/or hire people who are willing to make participating in the social networks one of their number one priorities.  Here are some helpful skills that a social marketing manager must have:

1) Understand how people interact, network and talk in the social space

2) Strategically build optimized profiles on key, appropriate sites

3) Know where the brand’s customer hangs out, and how to speak with them depending on the channel

4) Listen more than s/he talks.  It’s about tracking and learning from the conversational flow.

5) Be alert to opportunities, ideas and suggestions that can lead to desirable new products or innovative changes to current ones.

Are you interested in raising money for your favorite charity?  Consider getting your message out on one or more social media sites.  Many charity websites reach only those affected by or interested in a particular issue.  They “preach to the choir.”  But social networking sites reach out to everyone, and messages spread quickly.

As noted in the article “Can Twitter and Facebook Help Fight Breast Cancer?” , one of the reasons that social networking posts are so effective in soliciting charitable contributions is that posts are short and sweet.  Readers from all walks of life are more apt to read messages on Twitter or Facebook than other websites because space is limited and messages are “to-the-point.”  Readers are gently “nudged” into making small donations within the framework of their day-to-day lives. 

Many of us are looking for ways to support causes that are especially meaningful to us or to others in our social circles.  Getting the word out on broad social media sites gives more and more people the opportunity to answer the call to give.

I officially have a serious case of blog envy.

Murphy-Goode, a winery based in Northern California, is seeking to hire an internet-savvy wine-lover to blog and tweet about their experiences in wine country for six months. The pay? $10,000 per month — that’s $60,000 total — plus free lodging in a private home nestled in the picturesque Sonoma County Wine Country. And did I mention tasting hundreds of wines every day for free?

Talk about a buzz. Already, the social media job search has generated a significant amount of promotion for the winery: 2,000 applicants, 900 posted videos, national media attention and a major jump in traffic to the company website. What’s more, these are just the preliminary results– the official launch of the actual campaign begins August 15.

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Is it a meaningless marketing buzzword? Or is it the new conventional wisdom? The term has become so widespread that some people use it, with no real understanding of just what it means. Perhaps that is because there isn’t an official definition for “Web 2.0” and it can mean radically different things to different people.

Here’s Wikipedia’s definition for the term: “Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services–such as social-networking sites, blogs, and social bookmarking— which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web.”
So what does this mean? And what started the “Web 2.0” revolution?

The concept of “Web 2.0” was born during a conference in 2004 with O’Reilly Media and Media Live International. Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O’Reilly VP, noted that the dot-com collapse in 2001, had marked a turning point for the web. There were more and more new and exciting applications and sites popping up every day, such as weblogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, social software, web application programming interfaces (API’s) and online web services (ie. eBay). Most of all, the way people were using the web had changed significantly. These websites take advantage of web application technologies and give web users the ability to collaborate and share their experiences, views, opinions and interests while they surf the web.
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