Top 8 Trending Tools

March 13, 2010
by socialsonya

Do you sometimes feel like you’re in information overload? You can now get your news through a number of different mediums and channels: TV, Radio, Facebook, Twitter, Google News, etc etc. There are some great tools online to help monitor what topics are trending (i.e. what is everyone else listening to/reading?) This helps cut through the news clutter (for me at least).

TOP 8 Trending Tools :

Ellerdale
http://trends.ellerdale.com/

About Ask.com: IQ
http://sp.ask.com/en/docs/iq/iq.shtml

Google Trends
http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

Popular Bookmarks on Delicious
http://delicious.com/popular

Twitter Search
http://search.twitter.com/

Yahoo! Buzz Index – Todayʼs Top 20 Overall Searches
http://buzzlog.buzz.yahoo.com/overall/

Tweetmeme
http://tweetmeme.com/

What Makes Your Company Insanely Great?

March 8, 2010

“Yet, the best business model in the world is also the simplest: make stuff that’s insanely great.” – Umair Hague , Harvard Business Review

This is a wonderful quote, and so true! A lot has been written about Apple, and how all Apple products are insanely great. I’m a MAC girl, so I 100% agree… There is a lot to like – great packaging, beautiful product designs, ease of use, simplicity, clean and sleek designs, products that work… etc. etc. And then there’s Steve Jobs, and his insanely great presentations. He has passion. He loves his products, and it shows. He believes in his products, and it shows.

My companies – Wave Marketing and The Geekettes Club are insanely great due to: (tooting my own horn… so tune out if you want to!)

  1. My passion for both of my businesses. I love what I do. And I hope it shows.
  2. I am insanely anal about providing the best in customer service – and I really mean it ! I am a strong believer in transparency and authenticity, and I work hard to ensure I serve my clients with the utmost integrity and respect. I believe in delighting my clients.
  3. I will not provide a cookie cutter plan – my clients are all unique, and I treat them as such. I will partner with you and listen to your ideas and feedback. You know your customers best.
  4. I will not be lazy. I do not believe in cutting corners. I will research and study your industry, competitors 
and products to better understand your world. You are my partner. Your success is my success – and I really mean it!

Ok – so here is the big question: What makes YOUR company insanely great?

Make LinkedIn Work For Your Business!

March 2, 2010
by socialsonya

I found something pretty cool today so wanted to share. Have you ever wondered how to use LinkedIn for business and marketing? I mean, most of us know how to use it to find a job, but as part of a marketing plan?

Here is a pretty comprehensive (20 pages!) excerpt from a case study collection on Successes using LinkedIn : How 11 companies are using the global networking site to achieve their business and marketing goals.

Download the PDF here: LinkedIn_Success_Stories_EXCERPT

If you want the full article, you need to pay for it, but I think this pdf gives some great info (its 20 pages LONG!) without paying out $49 :D

Feel Like a Rockstar, Unless….

February 12, 2010
by socialsonya

Have you ever found yourself on a Twitter list and thought – holy cow, I’m famous! :D I know I have. UNLESS, you’re on this type of list….

A Little Bit of Moleskine and a Whole Lot of Creativity

February 7, 2010
tags: ,
by socialsonya

I’m a big proponent of doing whatever it takes to get creative… including buying moleskine note books with colors matching the colors of your brand :D I bought these the other day from Borders. The green is for my Wave Marketing notes, and the pink is for The Geekettes Club notes. I love writing in nice notebooks. It gives me a great feeling of creativity and organization. Am I weird?

I have also used other things to get the creative juices flowing in meetings with attendees. Like hats, crayons, children’s toys and lots more. Here’s an example (no, this is NOT me. It’s my friends TJ).

I use these so people will start to think a little differently. You’d be amazed what wearing a funny hat (or looking at someone in a funny hat) will do for innovative and out of the box thinking. Give it a try! :D

So – what do YOU do to get the creative juices flowing?

Great Presentation – Blogging for Business

February 4, 2010
by socialsonya

One of my friends, and fellow marketer, Keith Parnell, spoke recently to an audience about Blogging for Business – the How’s and Why’s. I liked his presentation, so thought I’d share it with my blogosphere friends! ENJOY!

Thanks Keith for sharing your knowledge with us!

P.S. You can watch UStream of Keith’s presentation here

Crowdsourcing in to 2010

January 15, 2010
by socialsonya

CrowdsourcingIts my humble opinion that Crowdsourcing will be a pretty big trend this year.

So what’s Crowdsourcing? Here is the Wikipedia definition:

Crowdsourcing is a neologistic compound of Crowd and a short for Outsourcing, for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an “open call” to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions.

For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology, carry out a design task (also known as community-based design[1] and distributed participatory design), refine or carry out the steps of an algorithm (see Human-based computation), or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data (see also citizen science).

There are a huge range of opportunities for cash-strapped marketers and businesses with crowdsourcing by tapping an online community for ideas on how to advance a brand, or develop a product or, in many cases, both. However, we must advance with caution, as crowdsourcing can be perilous!

How? Well, let’s create a little scenario :

You are a marketing manager at a startup company, with no budget, and no resources to help you. You decide that you need help from your pals on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn to come up with a new name for a product line your company is launching. So you Tweet it out, Facebook it up, and shout it out on LinkedIn. The incentive you offer? Not much – couple hundred bucks on a BestBuy card.

Problem : You underestimated the desire for people to be heard and to provide input! Forget the incentive. People want to do this for bragging rights! So you’ve now got 200 entries! Holy cow – that’s awesome! Well, isn’t it? Don’t forget – you have no resources. So now you have 200 entries to sift through and try to come to a decision on your own… BUT – how about selecting the top 10 options and crowdsourcing (well, polling) your community again? Phew – crisis averted!

Now how long did it take to go through this process? Yep – maybe you could’ve come up with a name by yourself in the time it took to manage the crowdsourcing process.

These are still early days, though, and as this model takes off supporters say such problems will be resolved. More industry resources are being devoted to crowdsourcing, which should also help. Last October, for instance, a new advertising agency, Victors & Spoils, was launched by former executives from Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, billing itself the first creative ad agency built on crowdsourcing principles.

There are hundreds of websites leveraging crowdsourcing for a variety of purposes. Here is a great Wiki that lists Crowdsourcing sites, grouped by the following categories:

1. Individual businesses or sites that channel the power of online crowds

2. Brand-sponsored initiatives or forums that depend on crowdsourcing. I’ve included those that are no longer active as well, for reference.

3. Brand initiatives that allow users to customise their products

4. Brand-sponsored competitions/challenges focussed on crowdsourcing

Companies are getting smarter about crowdsourcing in general, according to Matthew Greeley, CEO and founder, Brightidea.com (via DM News).

“Marketers need to be brought in to ensure that open innovation sites serve as an extension of the overall brand. A simple way to do this is through white-label innovation platforms, which easily enable marketers to influence the look and feel of a crowdsourcing initiative so that there is a stronger tie between the brand and innovation.”

Smart companies are also applying crowdsourcing interally as well, he said. “Innovation can often come from unexpected places. Just a year ago, when one well-known consumer-facing Fortune 1,000 launched an internal innovation platform to help spur ideas within the company, one of its best actionable marketing ideas came from someone in IT.”

So how are you going to use crowdsourcing? Do you have any ideas? Please feel free to share them here. (See? Now I’m crowdsourcing!) :D

I’m Writing On My Walls!

January 12, 2010
by socialsonya

Why? Because I can! I just ordered one of the best products I’ve heard of in recent years – IdeaPaint. You just paint it on , and you can start writing on it. Sweet! I’ll take pictures once I’ve painted my office, but here is a pic for inspiration. Follow them on Twitter @ideapaint and order online at ideapaint.com

Take 5 and Find the Fun!

January 10, 2010
by socialsonya

If you do nothing else this Sunday, take 5 minutes and watch this wonderful video

Reuse, Recycle – Pay It Forward!

January 6, 2010
by socialsonya

Recycle LaptopsEveryone knows how wonderful it feels to help other people! If you received a new laptop or desktop for the Holidays, would you consider donating the old one? A new company I’m launching in February – The Geekettes Club – has a laptop donation program in which we will be providing laptops (within 3-4 years old) to women in need who are trying to learn computers and the internet/technology.

The Geekettes Club mantra is ‘Paying It Back, and Paying It Forward’, so pay it forward in 2010, and consider helping someone less fortunate stay connected, and perhaps learn something new.

Thanks in advance to everyone who considers paying it forward! (AND stay tuned for more to come from The Geekettes Club!)

The Geekettes Club logo