Hey Sony, Don't Hate The Internet.

By now, most of you have probably heard of the comments heard 'round the internet about Sony's CEO Michael Lynton and the internet regarding piracy. If not, here's the article from the Huffington Post. And here's the points he's made:

"And my point is this: the major content businesses of the world and the most talented creators of that content -- music, newspapers, movies and books -- have all been seriously harmed by the Internet."

"The Internet has brought people with no regard for the intellectual property of others together with a technology that allows them to easily steal that property and sell or give it away to everyone, with little fear of being caught or prosecuted."

This article is just full of great quotes like this sending bloggers, online communities, and other internet enthusiasts into an orbit of anger.
Now, I'm not going to make a rebuttal about all the amazing accomplishments of the internet and how it has helped society because those points are obvious. The real thing that Lynton is angry about is the loss of control of the message.
Here's the thing, Web 1.0 and traditional media was all about one singular message aimed at the masses without any platform for response. Web 2.0 allows consumers to look, click, change, create, connect, and generally make what they want out of what they've seen. In other words, the days where the mass media decided what the message would be and how we would hear it are over.
Does everyone online have "no regard for the intellectual property of others"? No, everyone online has shiny, fun, new tools to communicate with and it's making the former gatekeepers of opinion really mad.
Another point is that people were creating, changing, and responding to content well before the internet. How many times have you doodled a mustache on the model on the front cover of a magazine? Perhaps a small circle of your friends saw it when they came over. I doubt anyone assumed you had produced the front cover photograph. With the internet, individual's networks have gotten larger making some of these content changers pretty popular.
Also, how many times have you borrowed a book to a friend to read? How many dentist's office's stock magazines that hundreds of people read? Is anyone demanding that those people be arrested?
For marketers this presents an interesting opportunity. Whole communities of people talking about / making fun of / mashing up your message? This is a gold mine, not a threat. Sony should find the people who are "pirating" their content and hire them or at least start talking with them.
Lynton should take a note from Abraham Lincoln "I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend."

~ Caitlin McCabe Director of Social Media

Sway Research Finds...

Americans increasingly turn to the Internet in search of employment. Check out the full article and research highlights on PRWeb. Thanks VisualCV!

Milissa Rick, VP of Online Insights

Socializing Your Website

At Sway we are all about getting your message out to social networks, blogs, and forums where your target audience is spending time.

However, you also must pay attention to your own website. There can be a strong disconnect for consumers when they are interacting with your brand in the social space and then visit your site to find a Web 1.0/static site.

Here are some tips for starting the process of socializing your website:

1) Tell your visitors where else they can connect with you in the social space (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) If you have a Facebook fan page or Twitter feed, put these social site badges on your website. Visitors will check you out.

2) Produce content that your customers will want to share, and then make it shareable. If you have information that is useful to your customers, such as tips, how-to guides, training materials, etc., generate this for your site and place it in a widget with passable features. (If you don't have a widget maker, Sway of course has the best one via Shoutlet.) This content can be in the form of videos, articles, RSS feeds, and audio.

3) Create a place for your visitors to communicate with each other and your brand. Company transparency is very important these days. If you don't give your customers an outlet to share experiences they have had with your brand, they will find somewhere else to do it. On the up side, you can collect positive testimonials and use those externally in your social campaigns. For any negative experiences, you can quickly respond and diffuse before they go into the social space with their complaints.

4) Make it personal. If you have industry experts, upper management, or other professionals within your company that are willing to devote time to sharing their expertise via a blog, video bios, etc., this will make your brand more relevant and personal to the visitors. If updated regularly this will become a draw for people to visit the site outside of just obtaining product or service information. It will also make your site stickier.

Again, by socializing your site you are presenting a unified experience for your consumer across all the touch points they have with your brand online.

~Milissa Rick, VP Online Insights and Caitlin McCabe, Director of Social Media

Client Spotlight: Peak Performance™

Peak Performance from Stockholm, Sweden is one of the newest users of Shoutlet. To promote their brands, Peak Performance created a podcast promoting their Spring '09 outdoor performance wear and behind the scene clips. Using video to create a podcast helps to continuously engage your customers with your brand. Check out Peak Performance's podcast at: http://www.peakperformance.com/Mediaplayer

"Shoutlet has entirely changed the way we work with social media. While saving both money and time, we now have far better distributing and control of our web 2.0 content than ever before!"

Fredrik Kjellberg, Online Marketing Manager - Peak Performance

Entreprenuers Can Change The World

What Is The Future Of Social Media?

Jeremiah Owyang with Forrester Research (which we use and love at Sway) just released a new report on the social web. He gives us a few interesting predictions in this video including the prediction that communities will continue to outshine brands in the eyes of consumers online. Worth a watch.

~ Caitlin McCabe, Director of Strategic Services

Re-Kindle

Would you pay almost $500 for 15 shades of gray and black?

Milissa Rick, VP of Online Insights

Women Trust Bloggers

BlogHer, iVillage, and Compass Partners recently completed their annual social media study of U.S. female Internet users. They found that 53% of the U.S. female Internet population surveyed who do any social media activity participate either daily, 2 to 3 times per week, or weekly. Social media activity is defined as participating in social networks, blogging, reading blogs, posting to blogs, message boards and forums, and status updating.

75% of these women are actively participating in social networks, 55% in blogs, 40% in message boards and forums, and 16% with Twitter.

When you look just at the blogging activity, 54% are reading blogs, 29% are posting to blogs, and 19% are publishing blogs.

The study found that many women are using multiple social media tools. And, the women who are blog authors are more likely than other active social media females to read other blogs, post comments to blogs, participate in forums, and do status updates.

These women continue to shift their time away from traditional media like newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV.

Finally, these women report they are significantly more likely to make a purchase decision based on customer experiences reported on blogs. Bloggers and people who comment on blogs are considered trusted sources for product and service information.

To access a copy of summary data please visit BlogHer.

Milissa Rick, VP of Online Insights

Gmail Soap

This is made in Russia but we'd love to get some of this at Sway!

~ Caitlin McCabe Director of Social Media

Why You Need A Blogroll.

I am of the school of thought that sites, blogs, and communities alike should have a link or blog section in an easy to find place. Some think that this only takes visitors off of your site so they don't want to include one but here's my case for the blogroll.
What a blogroll does for you:
A blogroll does send traffic to other sites, this is true. However, sending traffic to another person is also a great way to introduce yourself to that company/person/or site owner. I have met some very high profile people that I thought would never give me the time of day that way. Boosting your network is the lifeblood of your site or blog so a link to another site at the very least might bring some awareness from someone else in the industry and at best, give you a linkback from their site.
Caveat: Choose your blogroll carefully, there are a lot of people on Twitter following everyone under the sun in hopes of a return follow. This is spammy and cheesy so pick other sites that you actually like and read.
A blogroll makes your site a resource for your followers and enhances their experience there. I have certain sites and blogs that I consider to have excellent blogrolls and link sections so I frequent them more often than I would if they just posted their own content. People that are internet savvy are trusting Google search less and less and the authors of their favorite blogs more and more (more on that tomorrow) on where they should go online and what they should read. Visitors that trust your judgement and advice will see your recommendations of other sites to visit as helpful so make sure and post them!

~ Caitlin McCabe, Director of Social Media

Social Media is Everywhere. Where Are You?

Companies are jumping into social media marketing every day, but not all of them are doing it right. Here is what you need to know.

Find. Take the time to find out where your target audience is spending time online, learn about what types of content is resonating with them, and listen to the conversations that they are having. This type of information and insight is vital to any effective social media marketing campaign. This reduces the uncertainty and assures that your content is being targeted in the right places. You will be able to identify the advocates of your brand and empower them with the right information.


Learn. Spend time exploring the different components of social media and how each can be useful and effective in your marketing efforts. A plan that includes the use of multiple tools and strategies (i.e., RSS feeds, podcasts, video syndication, Twitter, social communities, etc.), and flexible media buying will encourage greater results. Learn how these tools can be applied to your own site as well as push your content to external, niche audiences.


Do. Develop a plan, goals and objectives then execute with the right social media platform. Implement your plan by creating content that is valuable to your target audience (articles, video, audio); distributing that content through your own site as well as social communities and other external sites via RSS feeds, podcasts, widgets, etc.; and tracking the pass-along and virility of your content and the success of the overall campaign through a comprehensive reporting tool.

~Kristin Gritt, Online Insights Manager

Twitter and Search

Twitter has launched real-time search features. We called it. Others were tracking why not Twitter.

In addition to real-time search on the main page, the Twitter interface now has a feature called "Trending Topics," which keeps track of the most popular items people are searching for. All public updates sent to Twitter from anywhere are indexed and search-able through this real-time search feature. They are labeling it a "discover engine for what is happening right now."

~Milissa Rick, VP of Online Insights