Until now, companies using Facebook for marketing have not had many resources by which they can measure their effectiveness in reaching their target markets. Find out how you can use Facebook’s latest tool to measure how you’ve engaged people with your brand.

Facebook’s New Tools Measure Word Of Mouth

Sitting down, which most of us do for at least eight hours each day, might be the worst thing we do for our health all day.
We’ve been preaching the benefits of stand-up desks for a while around here — and no one needs this good news more than social media-obsessed web geeks. A recent medical journal study showed that people who sit for most of their day are 54% more likely to die of a heart attack.

And our readers are receptive to the idea, too. In fact, in a recent poll, three-fourths of you said you already used a stand-up desk or you’d like to try one.

So if you need more convincing, check out these graphically organized stats from Medical Billing and Coding. We like it for the information it contains, but we love it for the Saul Bass, Vertigo-esque graphics.

Read the full {infographic} here.

This is an interesting topic these days.  Should the marketing community follow (and sell) the trends of the younger crowds?  Personally I think this is an infringement of privacy… but what do you think?  Recently, there has been much discussion on this as it was introduced that Apple is doing some extensive tracking.

Fortunately, there are a few lawmakers who are trying to protect the younger crowd.  Here is the article.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=150067

With more than 500 million active users on Facebook, there are more potential customers using Facebook than there are logging into eBay and Amazon combined.

Most of these users don’t see the site as a purchasing platform, but more and more businesses are adding an option to use the social networking site to browse and buy their products. These four Facebook apps offer flexible options for adding a storefront to your business page.

Read the rest of the article here…

Marketers plan to increase spending on e-mail and social media marketing more than any other tactics in 2011, according to a recent survey.

As marketers find opportunities to build audiences, conversation and conversions with clever cross-promotion between the two mediums, e-mail and social media tactics are becoming increasingly popular and intertwined.

Incentives Drive Clicks and Conversions

Dingo, a pet food company in Ohio, used Constant Contact to create a promotion that rewarded customers with a $20 coupon if they signed up for the company’s newsletter and “Liked” its Facebook Page, with the catch being that the page needed to get to 5,000 fans (from a base of around 300) for the promotion to kick in. Mike Halloran, the owner of Dingo, says it reached its goal within three days, as pet owners found out about in the Dingo newsletter and forwarded it to their friends and “liked” Dingo on Facebook.

Mark Schmulen, general manager for social media at Constant Contact, says that Dingo’s campaign illustrates a growing trend among customers. “Of all channels, e-mail marketing and social media go hand in hand better than any other,” he said. “Getting your customers to share your message with friends is the most effective way to grow your business.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Do you know how to calculate your ROI?  If you don’t, please grab coffee with me and we can discuss.  Reading this article might help you understand the value in ROI.

http://bit.ly/gK54bM

Here are the rules that will make sure you setup promotions by the book and provide tips to making them the most successful.

http://bit.ly/iceDuv

-Karl

So… the question is… should you brand yourself and if you do… how is that going for you?  If you want to learn more about personal branding… then click here.

http://bit.ly/eetr3X

This article begins to show what QR codes are and how they might provide value to you.  While they are kind of a new thing, I found it interesting that they have in fact been around for awhile… 1994 to be exact.  Who would have thought?

http://on.mash.to/gRFCTC

-Karl

I just read this article this morning and found it to have some interesting perspectives.  It gives a healthy viewpoint on what is working in SEO and what is not. I obviously agree with the fact that a true marketing plan needs to be multi faceted to be complete.  Is your marketing plan complete or is it fragmented?

Click here to read the full article:  http://selnd.com/icZYoZ

-Karl