Monday, March 14, 2011

Latest on FTC Do Not Track - Why it May Impact Advertisers More Than Expected

Internet users should have control and transparent knowledge of how internet companies are using their data. Sounds good right? Sure, however this could send the traditional advertising world into a tailspin. And if you are an online content publisher who looks to make money by putting advertising on your website your game may also need to change.
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) introduced a Do Not Track legislation in 2010 that has been well publicized. In addition, each of the major Web browser vendors have come up with their own unique approach to preventing web surfing activity from being tracked.

There is another piece that happened recently. On March 4, 2011 US House Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL) told about plans to introduce new legislation that would give users the ability to control how their info is used in advertising. The bill would go along with the FTC's own privacy agenda that addresses user tracking and the FTC would be the enforcer. "We need to place the control over consumer information with the actual consumer themselves," Stearns said recently at a panel discussion at the Technology Policy Institute. This is where you can see a link to the CSPAN video with his comments.

Stay tuned this is about to get very interesting …

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Enough of flying babies lets get back to Harvard

We've been a bit busy getting caught up in the super bowl commercials and their flying babies and all that.  So now it's back to the higher brain power stuff and we finally caught up on our Harvard Business Review reading.  In December 2010 they published an interesting paper called The New Conversation: Taking Social Media from Talk to Action which can be seen directly here.  In case you are still caught up with the flying babies here is an excerpt.  We found the executive summary to be the most interesting.  It's possible that is all we read.

Except from Executive Summary:
"Despite the vast potential social media brings, many companies seem focused on social media activity primarily as a one-way promotional channel, and have yet to capitalize on the ability to not only listen to, but analyze, consumer conversations and turn the information into insights that impact the bottom line.

For instance:
- Three-quarters (75%) of the companies in the survey said they did not know where their most valuable customers were talking about them.
- Nearly one-third (31%) do not measure effectiveness of social media.
- Less than one-quarter (23%) are using social media analytic tools.
- A fraction (7%) of participating companies are able to integrate social media into their marketing activities.
 
“Too many companies have not evolved from what I call ‘shout marketing’ — think TV, newspapers, magazine ads — to influence by initiating and participating in conversations with consumers,” he said. “There needs to be a generational shift.”
(end quote)
 
Essentially, if you can do better than these statistics you will be a leader and your company will reap the benefits.  We see 2011 as the year this generational shift will become material, when companies move from just listening to actually participating and measuring their social efforts, and we anticipate that ROI will be a material driver for this to happen in an integrated manner.  We would love to hear how that is going send us your stories at gofish - at - rumbafish.com

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Do you know where your social commerce strategy is?

"Only 20% of companies have a social commerce strategy moving to 85% in 2011" says Altimeter Group.

Well, that is the lead comment as we start out the new year.  So if you haven't thought about your social commerce strategy, or you need to motivate to put it into action, this is the time.  Because if you aren't doing it your competitors will be.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

New managed services and special offers!

Well, we rolled out our new managed services offering on Sunday and all we can say is WOW!  We had a terriffic number of companies sign up in advance and that has continued.

This is a way for businesses to 1) Get Visibility: you get featured online to local consumers  2) Get Customers:  no upfront cost, it's easy, and you get a check! and 3) Track Results: get measurable risk free marketing.  RumbaFish hosts the social media promotion for you on our site.  In addition to the new customers you gets lots of fantastic insights about those customers. It's like being a social media expert without having to be a social media expert!  Businesses can learn more and contact us here.

This is a great way for consumers to discover the best of their neighborhood (currently silicon valley and East Bay, CA) and online through great offers, discounts, and exclusives (online is global).  Consumers can sign up for offers here.

See our current offer which for a limited time gets you free yoga!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Meet our iPad winner!

Recently we held a contest where people promoted RumbaFish using - you guessed it - our own social sharing technology.  The prize selected from a random drawing of participants was Manouri Nissanka.  Manouri hails from San Jose, CA and recently stopped by our office to pick up her prize.  Check out the big smile on her face!  Congrats Manouri!

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Millennial Manifesto

Much is being written these days about how brands can engage with the Millennial Generation (Generation Y age 18-34). There is good statistical research on this topic by leading firms. Big brands like Best Buy, Dunkin Donuts, Gap and much of the Fortune 500 are innovating using social media and entire conferences are devoted to it such as the Pivot Conference (which looks excellent by the way).

This week I had the privilege of visiting with students in Jeff Gaines’ eWorld class at San Jose State University. We started off with me talking about how marketing is changing in the era of social media, and how our solution and category meets this opportunity. Well, we’re always trying to serve better the corporations who use our technology to connect with their audiences online. So we figured – why not just ask this audience ourselves?

So, we turned it back to the class and asked them how they would like brands to interact and engage with them. What do you like, what bugs you? If you could tell them directly what would you say? Here is their unofficial, non-scientific, response. The Millennials speak. It’s been 10 years since the landmark Cluetrain Manifesto which asserted that “markets are conversations”. In a respectful nod to that we present the Millenial Manifesto.

The Millennial Manifesto: An Open Letter from Millennials to Brands - this is how GenY wants you to engage with us

- Quantity does not equal quality.

- Irrelevant content should not be displayed, but instead just in time for when we need it (i.e. a plumber when the faucet breaks).

- Reputation of brand is key in our desire to associate with a brand.

- A history of quality continues a relationship.

- Promotions build our desire to associate.

- The intermediaries can get in the way of the brands (with a car dealer, we may love the brand and hate the dealer so we won’t buy).

- Have exclusive offerings for loyal customers – we like to be loyal.

- Customer service does make a difference. If I need an exception, say if I lost my receipt and you require one, making an exception will drive home my loyalty.

- The collection of too much personal information for marketing reasons, or other sinister uses, is bad.

- Personal recommendations are valuable and should be supported by research.

- Intent based search is helpful.

- We welcome getting rewarded for doing some work for your brand.

- We’re more inclined to buy from companies that engage from poor reviews after they show that issue is solved well, it means you care.

Submitted by Michelle Bonat, CEO, RumbaFish
download as a document

Monday, March 29, 2010

Getting Started with RumbaFish - Free Webinars




We would like to offer you some help creating your first marketing campaigns with RumbaFish.

Please join us for a 45-minute walk-through of RumbaFish. This session is designed for new users with helpful advice on how to get started.

There is no cost to attend a Getting Started training webinar and you can sign up for as many sessions as you or your co-workers like.

Each program will cover:

1) Setting up your campaigns
2) Placing RumbaFish online
3) Real time analytics
4) Updating campaigns

These programs are scheduled for a 45-minute presentation with an additional 15 minutes at the end for questions.

Check our latest schedule and sign up here. Our next one is taking place Tuesday March 30 at 10am PST, 1pm EST.