The Spin Within

CINCINNATI (November 23, 2010) – Leave it to Rabbi Laura Baum to link condoms and Judaism in a presentation to the 5th annual Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Summit in Las Vegas, where she accepted a WOMMY award on behalf of OurJewishCommunity.org.

OurJewishCommunity.org, the world’s first contemporary online synagogue, was recognized at the Nov. 17-19 WOMMA conference for its extraordinary social media and word of mouth marketing campaign. The Cincinnati-based online synagogue won a bronze WOMMY award in the category for “best word of mouth communication program … Continue Reading

GAP is trying REALLY hard to be innovative in the social media space. And for that they deserve a little respect. After all, they were the first corporate company to partner with Groupon.com, my new favorite site. The problem is, they seem to keep upsetting their customers. Is innovation a good price to pay for lack of brand loyalty? Probably not.

Some of GAP’s recent loyalty crimes: First, GAP changed its logo, which resulted in massive negative public outcry. Read about that here. … Continue Reading

Like them or hate them, the election results from Tuesday have everyone talking. As the LA Times so cleverly put it, “Forget kissing babies, you need Facebook to get elected.” Reports have been surfacing that there is a strong correlation between the number of Facebook fans a particular candidate’s page has and how many actual votes they received at the polls. According to Facebook, 74% of the House of Representatives voted in had more fans than their opposition and 82% (some sources claim 81%) of the … Continue Reading

I sure hope not. But with increasing staff cuts at major news stations, it could be. Newscasters will probably not be Tweeting and posting to Facebook while on camera, but they just might eliminate the camera altogether. After all, three-fourths of Americans say they hear of news via e-mail or updates on social media sites.

Here is a social media parody by a Dallas-Fort Worth FOX station. How many social media jokes can you count?

No one man should have all that power
The clock’s tickin’, I just count the hours
Stop trippin’, I’m trippin’ off the power -Kanye West, “Power”In the music industry, Kanye West is a powerful man. But Mr. West’s influence’s extends far beyond just music. This latest venture outside of his usual realm proves just that.

West recently made a 35-minute short film set to songs from his new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, calling the project “a dream come true.” The video will premiere this Saturday, simultaneously … Continue Reading

French Connection, a retailer based out of the UK, developed an innovative way to both advertise and online shop. A boutique featured on YouTube, French Connection developed how-to videos for putting together ensembles for work, the weekend, going out in the city, and for a wedding. At the end of the video, links appear to purchase the items seen through their online store. This is the first YouTube campaign that has allowed a click-through link on video, and it might be the start of many, as stated in SocialTimes.com.

Not only is this an ingenious lead from the fashion … Continue Reading

Shia, this one is not LinkedIn material

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. This adage rings especially true when choosing a LinkedIn profile picture. Time and time again, I have come across people with very unprofessional Linkedin pictures. Unfortunately, it seems the importance of a polished appearance on LinkedIn is clearly lost on these people.

While yes, LinkedIn is a social networking site, users should not forget the professional nature of it—LinkedIn is not Facebook. What type of message does … Continue Reading

Would the owner of a blue Honda Civic please come to the front desk…Your lights are on. It’s situations like these that Bump.com is trying to help resolve more efficiently. The service, touted as “AAA meets Foursquare” by founder Michael Thrower, is essentially a social networking tool that links drivers through their automobile’s license plates.

The idea is that drivers will be able to communicate with other motorists, the government and marketers—using license plates as identifiers. Bump’s video explores a bevy of solutions … Continue Reading

One at a time? Why?

For all of those overworked business owners who may find tweeting defeating, perhaps a virtual personal assistant is the answer.

It is called Shoutlet, a service that describes itself as a central hub for social networking. Founded four years ago, Shoutlet not only goes to the wall to manage a company’s social marketing, it distributes tweets, e-mails, widgets, videos and more – all at once – through one application.

The benefit to business owners is obvious – it saves time, and time is money. But … Continue Reading

We spend more time consuming media than we do sleeping or working?  Apparently so.

I discovered this news this morning in a blog post by social media maven, Mitch Joel.  According to Joel’s blog, “Citing a new Ipsos OTX study of 7,000 online consumers ages 13 to 74, Bruce Friend, president of Ipsos OTX MediaCT said that thanks to smartphones and laptops, people are now spending one-half of their waking days interacting with media, and have increased their media consumption … Continue Reading