Here goes with another company looking to help Twitter users (and itself) make money from the service.
Affiliate network LinkShare has introduced its #tweetshop service (yes, the service name is a hashtag) which allows users to easily link to affiliate products from a central interface rather than having to visit individual merchants, find and shorten URLs and then manually create the tweet.
LinkShare is keen to point out some “best practice” tips so that the service isn’t abused — you can bet it will be though: read more
Mommy bloggers are a force to reckon with. That is, if you’re in the business of marketing products and services, especially those meant for kids, households, and families in general. Businesses are jostling for attention, in the hopes that mom bloggers would review their products or services. A lot of mom bloggers I know get a lot of freebies from foodstuffs, to spa services, to kids’ toys, and a host of other things. After all, word of mouth does carry weight, especially if hearing or reading something from someone you trust.
Ethical implications of online reviews (whether sponsored or not) aside, I do wonder what people think of dads who are bloggers. Perhaps I can be considered a “daddy blogger,” myself. I work and run my business from my home. My wife and I share the responsibilities at home. We do take turns in taking care of the kids, and in most cases, we also share the household chores. read more
“The UK advertising industry sucks £18bn ($29bn) annually from firms to make ads that are increasingly being ignored and deliver no value.”
That’s according to Tim Hunt, MD of UK-based marketing company Flexile.
At a time when companies need to save money, Hunt reckons that they should dump TV, magazine and junk mail advertising and instead embrace the Internet “where buyers now flock to find products and services”.
He has harsh words for ad agencies, claiming that they perpetuate the myth that the Internet is an immature environment. read more
This comes as no surprise at all, really. After all, with the Facebook front page upgrade some time ago, I’m surprised this hasn’t hit harder yet. Buy a status update on eBay, and get noticed. Or at least you could, the auction is removed. Inside Facebook broke the story, and has screenshots if you’re curious. read more
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Social Media is gaining popular attention. It might be because of Ashton and Oprah, it could be because of the economy, but more and more companies and non-profits are enquiring about the subject. The same question comes up in each discussion …
Twitter is fast becoming a place where you can let your fictional characters (and brands) come to life, with minimal effort should be noted. The latest to join in is Shamu, the killer whale of SeaWorld fame.
Bio I live at SeaWorld. I’m a large, athletic, black and white marine mammal. I’m not THE star of SeaWorld, I’m A star of SeaWorld
Follow @RealShamu if you like. Personally, I think the concept is more interesting than the tweets this time around.
Online advertising service Chitika is risking the wrath of the Twitter community by launching a competition that encourages its users to tweet the same daily message to its followers in order to gain credits for a new competition.
The upcoming SearchAppalooza competition will be held at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in New York on 24th March, where five finalists will present their search applications to a board of judges including those from Microsoft and Yahoo! read more
Twitter’s ongoing search for ways to monetise the service and generate an income may include charging corporate users for the privilege of sending out their tweets.
That’s according to co-founder Biz Stone, speaking recently to Marketing magazine. “We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them. We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts,” he said.
A small sample of companies au fait with Twitter gave mixed feedback to the proposal. While LoveFilm said that it would depend on “price, demand and what else is around”, MD of We Are Social, Robin Grant, said that Twitter could charge for display ads or to access customer information for marketing purposes, while the VP of Dell, Bob Pearson, suggested that the company would look elsewhere if things became “complicated and costly”. read more
