Why Didn't Kanye West and Def Jam Use Facebook To Promote His Graduation?

Facebook was never meant for musicians to take advantage of its super powers. But for an artist like Kanye West, and his recent release graduation, it might have just worked! Here's my 2 cents.

Check Kanye's 3 albums titles:
1. College Dropout
2. Late Registration
3. Graduation

Think he's using the college thing? Yea, I think so.

Being that Facebook is still seen as having a larer number of users in the college demographic, and with the music business needing this demographic to get reinterested in music, and more importantly buying music, Jay-Z and the powers that be at Def jam severely missed out.

With the addition of the new Facebook targeted flyers, Def Jam could have targeted everyone on the 'Book with music interests in Hip-Hop, Kanye, Jay-Z or even the rival 50 Cent and the G-Unit crew.

Creating groups associated with the album release also could have gotten the crowd buzzing.

One last bit; what about some kind of Kanye Facebook application? Maybe to take pre-orders, preview the album or dress Kanye in the latest Roc-A-Wear gear with coupon codes for online orders. Cha-ching. This seems like a no-brainer. Kanye sold a ton of records. Could've sold a ton more. But hey, I'm just a retired musician who is about to make a Hov like comeback with these Marketing skills! Someone tell J-A-Y that the kid could do a thing or two marketing over at Def Jam.

Here's to a good week!

-G-R0

Morning Thoughts on BlogOrlando

As I sit at Panera during the lunch break for BlogOrlando I find myself thinking about more than my little old brain can contain. Is WordPress really the God of blogging platforms? I dunno, but I'm willing to give it a shot, even though the reasons for making a switch weren't really to convincing for what I do.Mark Jaquith speaking on WordPress

A big thing that has transpired is my knowledge of how knowledgeable Orlando is in terms of blogging, SEO and Social Media. Now I never claimed to be the only guy doing this locally and never will be, but there is a talent pool of extremely bright and outgoing individuals who are making great strides, changes, improvements and innovations in social media.16 Year old Judson Collier from MacTeens

The craziest thing might be the globalization of Social Media. Kids in Kenya connecting with VC's in Silicon Valley. Chinese government's intervening with China citizen's right to blog.

Keynote Presentation by Shel Israel

More to come folks, more to come!

Heading to BlogOrlando Tomorrow!

I’m packing up the iBook and heading over to Rollins College all day tomorrow for BlogOrlando. I’m very excited to get a last second invite (actually begged my way in because I missed the deadline). This will be a great networking event and chance to meet people involved in blogging and social media in Orlando and around the country. Look for up to the minute updates via mobile blogging from the Sidekick and a full recap Saturday morning with pictures and all the good stuff. Hopefully I’ll learn a bunch and have some great stories to tell. For more info on the conference head over to http://blogorlando.com. If ya wanna catch lunch over by Rollins or wanna meet up before, during or after the show please give a shout on the t-mail- grollett@tmail.com. BlogOrlando here I come.

-G-Ro

Do Social Networks and Web 2.0 Make People Buy?

comScore sure thinks so. Their findings imply that Web 2.0 users spend more of their dollar bills online than the average Internet user. In their latest report (Web 2.0 in Retail Today) of second quarter findings, surfers who visited “Web 2.0” sites spend around $27 billion in the US alone.

With holiday season right around the corner, what are you doing to increase the traffic?

An un-official checklist should look something like this:

• Myspace page with embedded shopping carts
• Company or personal blog with product views, reviews, services, and other goodies
• Optimization of all pages to get ready for what consumers are going to be looking for
• In budget PPC campaigns on Google, Yahoo, Ask, and MSN
• Text message sign-ups to receive the latest coupons, specials and up to the minute details
• Twitter all of the last statement’s objectives
• EBay (still super powerful)
• E-mail campaigns (start your lists now-well like 6 months ago-to have a huge impact later)

We can add and add to this list. For now focus on the heavyweights. Creating your brand online is the first step to creating new and unique visitors. Everything comes back to great content leading to great products, no matter what site it is.

Web 2.0 is making it easier for consumers to find and buy, but are they buying form you. I’m sure as hell making it to where they are buying from me!!

-G-Ro

How 1-800 Flowers Is Beating You and Beating You Bad

1-800 Flowers has struck gold this week in being the first large scale internet retailer to hit the Facebook App scene. What is so great about this?

1. They now occupy both Second Life and Facebook, making them leaders in new media marketing and advertising.
2. They have used these spaces to expand their rewards program. A rewards program is only as good as the people it rewards and how they reward them. With this new application, customers can receive real bonuses for getting their friends to click on the links, send virtual flowers or buy real flowers through the widget.
3. From the makers of the Application: “Customer evangelists are a brand’s best friend. By bridging their loyalty programs to social networks, brands can make it easier for their customers to spread the good word around,” said Mark H. Goldstein, CEO of Loyalty Lab. “By adapting our best customer management platform to Facebook and other social networks, we make it easy for brands to acquire their next buyers.”
4. They are reaching a new demographic that can actually benefit from seeing their ad. College students, high school kids, young workers, etc can always send flowers to girlfriends or holiday situations; they just need an easier way to send them. This is it!
5. Viral marketing is happening without anyone realizing it. One feature of the widget showers users with points and discounts every time someone clicks on a flower widget on their site, turning each user into an ad seller of sorts. Viral baby, viral!

So go 1-800-Flowers, even though I’m not a fan from a fiasco a few Valentine’s Days ago, they look to be well ahead of the retail pack when it comes to social media promotions.

What are you doing to capitalize on this situation?

-g-ro

Create Magazine Teams Up With Rock For Hunger to Make Good Art and A Better Commnity

Create Magazine recently did a whole lotta good for the Orlando community! Not to say that they don't always do good though!!! Recently their Assistant publisher, Katrina Priore, presented Rock For Hunger with a great little, cost effective way to cross promote both their magazine, their new "Create Network" and the Rock For Hunger II Festival.

Something as simple as a poster contest has got the creative community buzzing about the concert. Through Create Magazine's Network, Trina was able to e-mail blast the zine's subscribers and network in order to get contestants for this poster contest. The winner was to be showcased at the festival as well as a written piece in the magazine.

Here's quick background of the magazine:

Create Magazine provides creative professionals with an insider's perspective on the people, news, trends and events that influence the local advertising and creative production industries. Articles and features, written by local creative leaders and influencers, keep Create readers well-informed about the changing climate of business and competition. The magazine prides itself on not only its content, but also by the way that it is displayed. Create is published bi-monthly and gives creative professionals a great medium for sharing information that facilitates strategic partnerships and career growth within their respective communities.

So after many great entries, there is a winner. I will find out the details on whom it is, but I can say that the "Concert to End Poverty just got a whole lot cooler with the addition of the winning poster! Check it out and send me some feedback!!


Thanks again for Create Magazine looking into alternative ways to create some great press and for lending a hand to help make the community a better place. With free thinking like this there is much hope for the Myspace Generation after all.

Do you Consider Yourself A Go-Getter?

Or better yet, a Young Go Getter? I think that I am. I get out there and work till my wife tells me that my Mac is going to lower my sperm count, no joke! Maybe I have too many businesses, websites, blogs, gadgets, clients, friends, and broke musicians to help, but I know that I like being busy and I love the fact that I control my life.

With that being said, is your company a go-getter? Or, are you waiting for the influx of business to just show up at your front doors and see your wonderful products and ideas? Two of my friends just started a business together. It is a franchise and they are located in the corner of a not so busy plaza. After about 2 days with no clients, they locked the doors and took their shop on the road. Now they are a few months in and I never get to see them because business is so good.

They didn't wait for business to come to them. They knew that people needed their services, but also knew that no one was dying to walk into their shop.

The moral of the story is if you think your business is a magic pill to riches, its not. It might be, and you would call me a liar, but I'm pretty sure that at one time or another you had to sell yourself, your company and your services in order to compete and be successful.

A great site that recently caught my eye is YoungGoGetter.com. They specialize in just this! From their own words:

YGG began as a small forum back in August of 2005. It was originally created as an alternative to the other entrepreneur forums available at that time.

Since then, it’s grown into a large community of young go getters spread across the globe. It’s no longer just a forum. It’s exactly what our tagline says it is, the business playground for entrepreneurs young at heart.

So say what's up to my new friends at YGG, and if you need some great banners, street signs or anything printable, I know of a great start-up that would love to sell themselves to you!

-g-ro

Damn That Steve Jobs: What Is So Powerful About Apple's Marketing and Why Do We (I) Fall For It?

So I did it. Said I wasn't going to, but I did. Told Jen, no matter what the Apple Genius told us, there was no way we were going to walk out of the store with a new iPod. Especially the new iPod Touch. No matter how "cool" it seems, no matter that the price is cheaper than an iPod of the past, no matter that I just shelled out some nice pennies for my Sidekick and renewed my T-Mobile contract for another 2 years. But I did it!

So what went wrong for me and right for Apple? Was it marketing? Was it the product? I mean it is the coolest thing since sliced bread, right? Was it price? Or was it that on a Sunday afternoon, in an over-crowded Apple store with people drooling over life's little luxuries, I couldn't resist being left out of the loop? I was sick of seeing people with iPhone's. I was tired of being an indie musician who is still holding onto the CD for dear life when everyone around me has converted! I wanted those damn "little white headphones", that those "cooler" than me know are just not cool anymore! I wanted to buy into the Apple life and I did, with a nice fat $300 deposit (yea went for the 8 gig but hey it's still the coolest thing since Transformers!).

So I got home, downloaded the newest version of iTunes and got rolling! WOW! Apple done did it again. This thing is incredible. But what I want to share is that even though the product delivers, with features, size, price and everything inbetween, that wasn't the major reason for my decision (even though it didn't hurt). I bought it because Apple has found a way for me to "buy into" an exclusive club. That is power! That is the power of Apple.

I found out about this exclusive club from the Marketing Guru who transformed the Apple you see today from the close to bankrupt Apple of pre-iPod days. He just put together a great little Marketing eBook, "Marketing Apple". Get your copy at MarketingApple.com.

Well its time to get some more Tunes loaded on my new iPod Touch! Forget football, nah never that but it will be a multitasking afternoon.

Get ready for some great topics this week including reports from my first group of clients, my analysis of certain company's social media strategies, an exclusive look into PropertyQube and so much more.

I have added some great new links that look into Marketing, Branding and Social Media Strategies that are great reads and have very useful information not only for Rollett Marketing but for companies looking to get an edge on their competition in this changing and emerging social media generation!

Thanks again Steve for making me cool again, now my cycle is complete! iBook, iPod and well unapple but the Sidekick, truly a Millennial's daily necessities and essentials for survival!!

-G-Ro

Facebook Strikes Again With New CPC Flyer Ads

Good for Facebook. Good for advertisers. Same for members.

You can never please them all but Facebook is at least getting on target with their advertisers. Their flyer advertising just got a nice boost in the form of “Flyers Pro.” They will continue to host the “Flyer Basic” in the traditional manner.

Flyers Pro will offer advertisers the opportunity to have auction-based, cost-per-click ads within the flyers. Whereas Flyers Basic targeting capabilities include gender, age and specific college and regional networks, Flyers Pro options promise all of the above plus a range of keyword data included in user profiles. For instance, marketers can deliver messages based on a person's political affiliation, relationship status, or personal affinities such as favorite music, books or movies.

"We added the CPC pricing option to give more flexibility to advertisers and to better serve those running Flyers in order to get users to take an action, like visiting a Facebook event page or another Web site," the spokesperson told ClickZ.

Reports the ClickZ article: “Since their debut in March 2006, Facebook's homegrown Flyer ads have offered the easiest way for marketers to reach users of the hyped social network. The site has thousands of Flyers live on any given day, according to a spokesperson, yet the self-service ads have often performed poorly on traditional digital advertising metrics, according to anecdotal reports shared with ClickZ and others posted on the Web.”

Facebook says Flyer ads have historically found favor with small businesses and individuals placing user-to-user ads to promote groups or events. While the company said its new features were created with similar goals in mind, the quick feedback mechanism provided by its CPC system may help drive experimentation and broaden the advertiser base somewhat. If that happens, budgets and average CPC rates should rise.
Gotta say that they might be on to something. Facebook is staying in the headlines and everything seems to be positive. This will initially get advertisers motivated and interested in the new methods. We’ll have to wait and see how the numbers work out in the next few weeks.

Facebook is killing em out there, Myspace needs first aid. (Play off Jay-Z, but it’s sooo sad and true, Rupert, step-up and act fast!)

-G-Ro

What Does the Real Estate Slowdown Mean For Your Online Advertising?

Tech pundit Om Malik writes that the slowdown in the housing sector, and the greater uncertainty in the U.S. economy as a whole, is likely going to have an impact on advertising spending.

With this being said, how are you going to spend the dollars that you don’t have?

You are going to have to find ways to effectively brand yourself online utilizing cost effective solutions, right? Have you jumped on the Myspace train? Jumped ship to Facebook yet? Posted anything on Craigslsit? Started a blog (probably the best thing going)?

I am an active reader of FOREM, and they hit a lot of good topics on the head, thinking very forward about how you CAN capitalize during this slower time and economic downslide. Check them out for some tips and be ready to go where the kids are. Your kids are supposed to find the cool stuff first anyways, and then we come to the party and kick em all out. Just kidding there, but seriously, think about your options if money is coming in short.

There are avenues that can be taken to get that sale, that listing, that mortgage. People are still buying houses, I just did!

Have a good one folks!

G-Ro has a Talk With Endavo Media

I first got introduced to Endavo Media when Peter shot me an email offering their services as a compliment to my clients online video needs. We started to chat and things got interesting being that their company is based out of Orlando and Atlanta (we're in Orlando) and at the time I was heavily focused on band consulting and online promotion, something they were very aware and active of.

I thought the best way to get into their heads and see where they were coming from was to do a little old Q and A session. After a little lacking form my end (can't lie, right?) the interview is done and I must say that I got some much better than average response. Peter had the sense to take this session and run with it fro both himself and Endavo Media. I will say that I will be utilizing his services whenever possible and I encourage for you to drop them a line to see how they can help your video enhancement needs.

In the session we got into topics that range from how their company reigns supreme and separates itself from the YouTube’s and MyspaceTV’s of the world as well as the state of social media, mobile advertising and video and a forecast and possible ultimate demise of Myspace!

So check it out folks and be sure to visit Endavo for all of your social video needs.

G-Ro: Give me your best elevator pitch.

Peter: Well before the elevator door even closes, I’d tell a music artist:
If you have video content and an audience, we can give you everything you need to connect to them directly so you can make more money.

Hopefully, that should grab their attention so if the ride takes us a few floors, I’d hit them with:

Endavo Media allows music artists (and anybody who has content), the freedom to connect with their audience to grow their brand and generate revenue through our online video management, delivery and marketing system.

Of course, if it’s a longer ride to the top floor…

Endavo Media is rapidly establishing itself as a leader in the convergence revolution of digital communication and media technologies. We see ourselves as a provider of “freedom” to the entertainment & new media industry – “freedom to build and connect with your own audiences and communities and deliver your entertainment or information directly to your audiences anywhere, any way, anytime, and on your own terms”. We are a digital broadcast network and services company with a clear mission of providing comprehensive turnkey solutions for distributing digital entertainment & media directly to multiple consumer markets over the Internet and syndicated distribution channels, such as IPTV, Broadband TV and portable media. Our comprehensive solution delivers superior “managed” distribution power, for anything from home-grown video to commercial-grade TV channels, and everything else that’s needed to directly connect with audiences, manage assets and programming, and monetize those assets, without incurring the formerly typical costs of commercial network and systems operations.


G-Ro: At Rollett Marketing, we deal with local and indie bands and artists, as well as mom and pop operations and small businesses that are trying to get their ideas out through social media and networks. How can Endavo make its mark on this demographic?

Peter: The content owners you describe are in the sweet spot of our business of delivering entertainment through the new media and social networks over many different consumer devices. We not only work with established music artists like Lil Jon, but have a growing number of independent musicians and emerging bands that are using our video delivery solutions to build audiences and create hits. With us, it’s easy. You choose how best to reach your target audience and we’ll help you distribute your videos efficiently, provide a superior fan experience, and show you how to make money doing it.

G-Ro: Getting right into the meat, why would I choose you over say a free service like YouTube or Myspace TV?

Peter: Ah, we get that one all the time. The question is not whether the service is free or fee. The real question is “what is the best way for a music artist to connect with their audience?” We like YouTube and MySpace, but just posting a video on those sites doesn’t actually mean anybody is ever going to see it and certainly doesn’t mean you’ll make any money with it. That’s where we’re different. Sure, we can help artists connect to those networks and many others, but more importantly, we can drive fans back to the artist’s own website with innovative viral marketing tools. It’s all about broadening reach out there, but staying connected and in control of the music and the brand. Hey, for just $99 an artist or band can do all this with a custom branded MySpace video player that allows complete control of their media, links fans back to their website, and let’s them virally share the player for free on their own and their fans’ MySpace sites. All they do is easily publish their video files to our platform and our Media Management System will automatically convert the files into Flash format and deliver to as many MySpace players as they can get out there. Now, an artist can actually make money by promoting their events, sponsors, products using video or banner ads, even on MySpace. Check it out at www.GetMyOwnPlayer.com

G-Ro: Video is without a doubt the next level of internet advertising, how is Endavo preparing for this shift in advertising budgets moving from print and television to online and online video?

Peter: Our solutions leverage this shift to the benefit of our customers and the advertisers greatly. From the very beginning, we have built our entire platform around the idea that video and online advertising will be a key success factor for us and our customers. Advertisers and content owners are able to match up within our back-end system to target a very specific audience or to broadcast to the masses. Content owners can search and associate a specific advertisement in inventory to a specific video being programmed for distribution, then distribute to a target audience. Moreover, the content owner can track views and report back to an advertiser exactly how many times an ad was viewed. The beauty of working with us is that music artists can share in this new advertising revenue by placing their own video ads and banners on any of the media players that we offer. Best of all, the artist can control if, when and where the ads actually appear, which is unlike the way it works on the “free” social video networks.

G-Ro: Where do you see Endavo in 5 years/10 years?

Peter: Within the next 5 years (sooner actually) we would like to be seen as one of the “go-to” companies for delivering the next-generation of Internet TV, IPTV and Mobile TV and Social Media services and content management and logistics services, all rolled up in a comprehensive solution supporting anyone from an individual artist to a major studio.

Five and ten year forecasts for a business can be a bit out there. As for me in ten years, I plan to be sitting on a rock somewhere thinking about my next career move. Who knows, maybe I’ll have experienced enough stuff from this whole Web 2.0 thing to write a good book by then.

G-Ro: Do you see the shift into mobile devices as something that Endavo will focus on in the future?

Peter: Absolutely… our customers are recognizing that increasingly consumers are accessing their personal entertainment over mobile devices and cell phones. Actually, right now you can watch our customers’ videos on the Creative ZEN portable media devices and we’re talking to several companies about mobile phone opportunities. Accessing and bundling content, GOOD content, on devices is a fast moving trend. Our goal is be “device-neutral” where we just route the media to wherever our customers want it to be displayed. To us, that’s a real competitive advantage. What music artist has time to deal with figuring out the different formats required for all the devices that are out there? That’s where we come in. We handle all the transcoding and routing for our customer so they can focus on their core business. And speaking of devices, Endavo Media offers an IPTV set-top-box solution to content producers, television channel owners and programmers seeking alternative television channel distribution.

G-Ro: We have been talking about your Myspace player being a big push for your company. Do you still see Myspace being relevant in the next 3-5 years?

Peter: Whether it’s MySpace, Facebook, or the next big social networking site is really not that important to us. What we all know is that these social network sites have forever changed the way music artists are marketed and music is distributed and marketed. What’s important to Endavo Media is that wherever our customer wants to be, that’s where we’ll be.

Once again we’d like to thank Peter for taking time out from his busy schedule to give us some insight into Endavo and his views on the state of the social media scene. To get started with Endavo Media today, please visit their website or shoot me an email to get your brand recognized by the online community with a Brand Recognition or Social Media Package. Have a good one folks!!

-g-Ro E-MaIL mE

Some Thoughts About Moving

I'm trying to make this relative to this blog but it's not coming to me today. At lunchtime I closed on a town home and will be filling the UHaul tomorrow. It has been a long, crazy and exhausting process that isn't even close to done yet. Paper work-check! New keys-check! New return address stickers-check!

The biggest thing that we have done to help expedite this process is use Craigslist. You know, the free online classifieds. We have gotten rid of our couch, dining room table, futons, coffee tables, records and more with some pictures and a few words. Now I did optimize the heck out of the postings and that truly helps, even in the Craigslist world.

My qualm is, don't call me about something only to say, "oh wait, I guess I'm not interested." You called me about my product or service!! Oh well. Just my 2 cents for the day.

Point in hand, optimize your postings and don't call me if you forgot why you called in the first place!

-G-Ro

If you're in the neighborhood, grab a box and a beer and help the kid out!!

Web 2.0 Sales, Marketing and Social Networks with Seth Godin: By Selling Power

Great video interview with Seth Godin-the Marketing God and best selling author. It's a quick 6 minute video from Selling Power and touches on Marketing Online and how it has changed as well as Social Networks and the power of Blogging. Enjoy!

Steve Jobs Did It Again: Apple is Back Like It Never Left

Steve Jobs hit the podium at 10am on the dot this morning and he did not disappoint. During the morning presentation he let the audience know that this weekend would see the first glance at some new iPod's in retail stores!!!

Here are some killer new pics:








Now are you ready for some stats:

Over 3 billion songs downloaded from iTunes
Over 600,000 downloads of iTunes
Over 110 million iPods sold
iTunes is the number 1 Digital Download service in all 22 countries that it is featured in
iTunes is the 3rd largest music retailer in the US behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy
Over 6 million songs in the iTunes catalog
Shipping its 1 millionth iPhone this week!

Direct quote from Mr. Jobs:

“This last stat I want to share with you blew my mind. In the US, of all the music releases in 2006, 32 percent were digital only releases,” said Jobs. “They were not released on a CD. Wow. Look how far we’ve come: A third of the music released in this country was not on a CD. So that gives you a feeling for how far we’ve coming in the last 5 years in the digital music revolution.”

Apple took this show by horns and ran with it. I know that I'm excited and I will also not have to completely break the wallet either. The Nano will start at $149 and the 8 gig iPhone will drop $200 to $399.

Fro complete continuing coverage Mac World has you covered! If anyone gets their hands on the new Apple products this weekend let me know!

This is another breakthrough for Apple as they continue their monopoly (no matter how hard anyone tries) on the Digital Music and Hand held device market. Even with its loss of NBC this week, Steve Jobs shows no signs of slowing down. It has basically become, 'jump on the train or get run over.'

I have no beef, just that I won't switch over to AT&T for the phone. (but if you read on Mac World, they made a touch screen iPod that looks identical to the phone and is slimmer, imagine that!)

What a day Apple, what a day!

-G-Ro

Real Estate Agents, Investors, Buyers and Sellers Beware: PropertyQube is Here!!

I recently stumbled over this site on a post from Mashable.com. Looks great! Even better is the exclusive interview Rollett Marketing is getting with one of their co-founders!! Hopefully it will be back in my hands tonight or tomorrow. For now here is some quick info on PropertyQube:

Propertyqube, a social community which enhances your PropertyLife relationships and experiences.
Share your PropertyLife Stories - show off your Home Improvement Projects - Connect with and recommend your property professional - Ask your property questions and get answers from local professionals.

Propertyqube was co-founded by David Bethoney and Nicole Rufuku.

Join the Network:
Joining is easy. To get started, simply enter your email address, location and desired user name. That’s it! Now, invite your friends and family to join your trust network.

PropertyLife:
We all have one. Your PropertyLife is your real estate story, from that first apartment to the beautiful vacation house. Share your experiences with roommates, renovations, remodels, property searches, your dream home...we can’t wait to read them.

Can't wait to hear what they have to say!

-G-Ro

Facebook Profiles to be Found on Goodle, Yahoo, MSN, and the others…..

Straight from the Facebook Blog:

“Starting today, we are making limited public search listings available to people who are not logged in to Facebook. We're expanding search so that people can see which of their friends are on Facebook more easily. The public search listing contains less information than someone could find right after signing up anyway, so we're not exposing any new information, and you have complete control over your public search listing.

Above is an example of how a public search listing appears. It contains your name and current profile picture thumbnail. If you do not want this listing to appear, you can change your Search Privacy settings.

In a few weeks, we will allow these Public Search listings (depending on users' individual privacy settings) to be found by search engines like Google, MSN Live, Yahoo, etc. We think this will help more people connect and find value from Facebook without exposing any actual profile information or data.”

Here at Rollett Marketing, we are very excited for this to roll out. Facebook is now embarking on a great strategy that Myspace currently held hostage. When all is said and done these profiles will start popping up at the top of search engines for namesake of the profile. This puts you out in the open to be found, which if using Facebook for Marketing, can be a great added bonus.

I am seeing some fuss from Facebook members, but you can already do a search by name on Facebook if you are not a member, this just lets Google or whatever search engine do the searching for you. Facebook is taking the right step in making only the name and picture available to the public and also allowing you to block this all together.

In the long run this could increase Facebook memberships, with the increase in the visibility of who is on Facebook available to the searching public. If you search on Google for a long lost relative and their Facebook profile shows up, you may be inclined to join the network as well. Great strategy all around for Mark and the boys in the Valley.

I’m sure this will be covered by everyone and their mom, so I’ll let some time settle and come back to this subject when the search goes live to the search engines in about a month. Myspace get on your game, or this could be more of the beginning of the end for the former king of Social Networking land (Even though I’m still not sure whether companies will get great market ability with just a Facebook profile vs. a Myspace profile. More on this to come later).

Check these related articles:
Riveting Rosie
Mashable.com
Search Engine Journal

-G-Ro

Rumor Alert: New iPod Announcement Tomorrow-Touch Screen Anyone?

Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation iPod lineup, including an iPod video with a touch-control interface, at a press conference on September 5, according to sources at Taiwan-based contract manufacturers.

The new iPod video will also come with a wide-screen panel, high storage capacity and Wi-Fi connectivity, the sources indicated. In addition, the new iPod video is expected to be powered by NAND flash, instead of a hard disk drive (HDD).

Apple is outsourcing the production of the new iPod video to Taiwan-based Inventec Appliances, which is expected to start volume shipments by the end of this month or in early October, the sources noted.

Apple's new products will also include a new iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle, to cash in on the upcoming Christmas season, stated the sources, who also noted that sales of the new iPod series is expected to total 22-23 million units in the fourth quarter of this year.

Could be craziness from the Mac camp tomorrow! We'll have to wait and see, but be sure to come back tomorrow for the full update and hopfully some product pictures of the new generation of iPods.

Gotta love it.

This information was provided by:DigiTimes.

Online, Offline and Social Networking Rules!

I found some networking rules today from the career and recruiting blog The CareerXroads Annex. You can view them via that link. I am going to roll with Gerry Crispin’s advice but add a few of my own. So here goes some networking (mostly social networking) rules and guidelines to abide by when trying to make those connections to better your business.

1. Have goals and let them be known. If you need help, talk about it, post about it. No one can help you if you don’t share your vision.
2. Prioritize those goals. Go after what’s important. Don’t forget about the back burner, just focus on what’s for dinner tonight!
3. Networking isn’t short term, it is a process, and processes are not overnight. Online networking doesn’t happen by auto-bots or friend trains. It takes patience and the vision to see what’s going to happen tomorrow. Life is all about networking and you never stop meeting friends, colleagues, business partners, etc. Same thing goes for online networking. Barry Bonds didn’t hit those 755 in a season and Tiger still hits the driving range.
4. Don’t limit yourself to online networking. While I do 80% of my promotions online, the other 20% from word-of-mouth, dropping off cards, flyers, etc has proven to be just as successful. Don’t get caught up on your iBook. I know that I do from time to time, but the world is bigger than that screen in front of your face!
5. Remain positive. Even when times are bad, things are slow, etc there is always that one email, call, conversation that can spark a revival.
6. Practice doesn’t always make perfect, but it helps. Try and try again. I don’t know how many sites I have profiles for. Some are great; some are terrible and have been a waste of time. Even Myspace is constantly changing. The moral here is that if you do not attempt greatness, you can’t find it. And even if you hit those jumpers, you’re going to miss sooner or later. Be ready to bounce back, meet some new acquaintances and then do it all again.
7. Don’t invite everyone into your network. If they serve you no purpose than being another “friend” online, you don’t need them. I’m guilty of this, but sometimes I just “hope” that they will like my music or need my services. What usually happens is they crowd up my page so I have a hard time reconnecting with the people that do like my music or need my services.
8. Have fun. Making connections with people is fun and exciting. You never know who you are going to find out there. It could be the next brains to the biggest project yet, or it could just be a kid who wants to talk shop. Either way, it should be an enjoyable experience.

Hope these tips help. Feel free to add anything that you want to complete this list. By no means is it complete and official, just some things that I think will benefit you when you feel overwhelmed in networking online. Now with that being said, take these tools and apply them to your Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, Bebo, LinkedIn and other pages and meet that next partner, investor or client. I know I will!!

-G-Ro

grollett@tmail.com