Capitol Communicator Thought Leadership Series: Limor Schafman and Barry Reicherter of Widmeyer Communications, discuss how to get involved in social media in a Capitol Communicator TV video and podcast sponsored by RHED Pixel (www.rhedpixel.com). 

Capitol Communicator Thought Leadership Series: Paul Vogelzang discusses PhRMA and social media with Mark Senak in a Capitol Communicator TV video and podcast sponsored by RHED Pixel (www.rhedpixel.com).  The Capitol Communicator TV Thought Leadership Series podcast is up in iTunes now.  The transcript and video of that interview follows:

By Ernie Mosteller, Brunner Digital, reprinted from ADOTAS

We live in a world of “found” creative. And the sword is double-edged. While it’s contributed, certainly, to the efficient execution of our ideas — a good thing — it’s also tended to homogenize those ideas. Not a good thing. At the very least, it warrants discussion.

by Aaron Cacali, Interactive Creative Director, Brunner Digital

Social media is inexpensive, right? Maintaining a company blog, keeping your brand active on Twitter and Facebook, and participating in online forums and discussions - it all seems like it would be cheap, doesn’t it?

The changes in the traditional media, social media and the PR industry over the last 18 months have been extraordinary – and for many, both dramatic and unanticipated. Which leaves us asking – what's coming next?

By Page Sands, R2integrated

I recently analyzed a company’s social media practices using R2i’s 4 Ways to Leverage Social Media.  What I realized is that most companies are adept in using the message distribution qualities of the tools, but are not as strong in using them to develop relationships with customers.

Capitol Communicator Thought Leadership Series: Richard Harrington discusses using video effectively with Limor Schafman in a Capitol Communicator TV video and podcast sponsored by RHED Pixel (www.rhedpixel.com).  The Capitol Communicator TV Thought Leadership Series podcast is up in iTunes now.  The transcript of that interview and video follows:

By Shaun Quigley, Brunner Digital, Interactive Practice Director, Washington D.C

“It looks great, but will it work on my phone?”

The short answer:  depends.  Here’s why.

by Steve Goodwin, VP of Brand Strategy, AXIS Communications

As someone who focuses primarily on the branding, messaging and strategy side of the business, I’ve always had a keen interest in understanding the latest tools and technologies for extending an organization’s brand into the digital world. After all, the intersection of those two disciplines –

Capitol Communicator Thought Leadership Series: Susan Rink of Rink Strategic Communications, discusses executive communications with Limor Schafman in a Capitol Communicator TV video sponsored by West Glen Communications (www.westglen.com).  The Capitol Communicator TV Thought Leadership Series podcast is up in iTunes now.  The video and transcript of that interview follows:

The following trends worth tracking were provided by the DC office of Fleishman Hillard: The District of Columbia’s DC 311 service, which enables D.C. residents to submit concerns about city maintenance issues, has recently integrated its services with such popular social networking tools as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr ... A growing number of small-business entrepreneurs are filming, editing, and posting their own online video content—attracting advertisers, thousands of viewers, and increased visibility for their brands ... 

By Eric Jones, R2integrated

In a recent meeting with the CFO of one of my clients, he stated, “I always thought marketing was just this thing that we did with all the best intentions in the world, but Eric you keep spouting off numbers to me about lead conversions, cost per lead, source statistics, and all sorts of useful information. Those are numbers I can relate too, thanks.”  Well, you are welcome Mr. CFO, now can I get more budget for marketing projects?

by Shaun Quigley, Interactive Practice Director, Brunner Digital

Google Sidewiki is a browser tool that allows users to converse and contribute socially alongside any web page. Users can post information about specific web pages via email, Twitter, Facebook, and other sources.

Capitol Communicator Thought Leadership Series: Leslie Bradshaw, Director of Engagement at New Media Strategies, discusses the breakthrough social networking program 3121, designed specifically for Capitol Hill staff, with Paul Vogelzang in a Capitol Communicator TV video sponsored by Vocus (www.vocus.com).Read More »

By Page Sands, R2i

I recently analyzed a company’s social media practices using R2i’s 4 Ways to Leverage Social Media.  What I realized is that most companies are adept in using the message distribution qualities of the tools, but are not as strong in using them to develop relationships with customers.

By Paul Duning, publisher, Capitol Communicator

It is back to school season and, for those that have college kids, social media is the communications platform of choice for today’s e-MOMs. Learn how Gloria Bianco uses the internet to monitor and impact her son Jeffrey’s college experience.

Thought Leadership Series: Paul Vogelzang interviewed Cary Hatch, president and CEO of MDB Communications, for a Capitol Communicator TV interview on "disruptive advertising"  sponsored by CDIA (www.cdiabu.com).  The Capitol Communicator TV Thought Leadership Series podcast is up in iTunes now.  The video and a transcript of the interview follow:

By Rob Whittle, president and CEO of Williams Whittle and Williams Whittle Digital, and Read More »

By Lindsey Hill, R2integrated

Sort of like a middle school dance, girls on one side of the room, boys on the other…marketing and technology teams often find themselves in similar situations. Yes, marketing and IT professionals do come from different worlds, but I would argue that they intersect more often than not and that both parties should really embrace that.

By Phil Rabin, editor, Capitol Communicator

As soon as Rep. Joe Wilson was identified as the person whose angry and audible outburst disrupted President Barac Read More »

Ernie Mosteller, an award-winning creative director at  Brunner Digital, posted a piece in Adotas about video on the web. The piece is reprinted below and, as you will note, he states that there are good, cheap web videos. There are bad ones, too. Just like there are good expensive web videos, and bad ones to go along with those. It’s not the price that makes it work, or fail. It’s the idea. 

By Matt Goddard

In the last part of our series on The Social Media Marketing Framework the focus is on market research.  Brands have relied on market research since branding and marketing first became an actual “thing.”  As individuals we do market research all the time.  Any information we have about how the people around us will react to a statement, offer, or excuse can be invaluable and certainly help with whatever goal we are trying to reach.

Rick Gardinier, Chief Digital Officer, Brunner Digital, posted an interesting item in Silicon Angle titled "How Can We Be Creative if We're Drowning in Data? Here's Rick's piece:

by Robert Silverstein

I read that the company that publishes Reader’s Digest magazine is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Citing a decline in circulation and an inability to fully finance its debt, the company will undergo a corporate reorganization and hopes to emerge from bankruptcy in a strong enough position to continue to survive. But, the question that those of us in the publishing business should ask is

by Matt Goddard

Our series continues with the third part of our social marketing framework: How social media execution can help accelerate our message. Message distribution has always relied on sharing; in fact the entire concept of word of mouth marketing was based on peer-to-peer sharing. We also know that word-of-mouth is very powerful because

The DC office of Fleishman Hillard provided us with the following trends worth tracking: MediaPost reported that people's online behaviors are becoming more integrated into their offline interactions and, in a second item that Starbucks surpassed Coca-Cola as Facebook's most popular corporate brand; and CBC News reported: After their $3,500 Taylor guitar was broken last year by United Airlines baggage handlers at Chicago's O'Hare airport, Canadian band Sons of Maxwell appealed to the airline for compensation. Instead, they got what they describe as a "runaround" and a denied claim. Frustrated, the folk group's lead singer Dave Carroll took to YouTube with the first of three songs he promised to write about his experience.

Budgets continue to be slashed.  Brands are disappearing.  Media is getting more and more fragmented.  The only thing getting bigger is our federal deficit.  So, asks Scott Morgan, president of Brunner, Read More »

By Matt Goddard

In the last post we talked about the first part of our social marketing framework. Now we are going to talk about part two – creating your own community.

The first thing I want to talk about is creation of a community; you can’t just create your own community. Communities take time to form and when we try to build a place on the web and then expect all our community members to show up, we usually come up empty.

Here's another in a series of Paul's Picks from Capitol Communicator publisher Paul Duning. Check out the video. Need we say more. Also, thank you to all who attended or participated last night at our Connecting Communicators event. It was fun.

By Matt Goddard, R2integrated

My last blog post outlined four major categories for a social media marketing plan.   Despite the many different social approaches to social media marketing, we argued that there are only four real categories:

1.    Reach out to an existing community
2.    Create your own community
3.    Accelerate your message through sharing tools
4.    Perform market research

My next set of posts will look at each category individually, examining a specific company and the tactics they utilize.   We will also review customer behavior.  If tactics ar Read More »