How del.icio.us is changing academic research

tags: social_media_useful

A Ph.D. student and political activist talks about how she uses social bookmarking services to easily organize her voluminous clip files and to engage in conversations with other people with similar academic interests.

Sears lets Facebook members share dress designs

tags: social_media_useful

Sears may have hit on a good idea for marketing on Facebook: post popular prom dress designs online so girls can solicit feedback from the friends before making a purchase. What I like about this idea is that it leverages the personal relationships that are so important to social networks, adds value to an important decision that members are about to make and doesn't get the marketer in the middle of a personal conversation.

Reference Pages: How You Can Use Them to Attract Links and Traffic

tags: social_media_useful

DoshDosh has advice on how to reuse content by creating reference pages targeted a specific groups and then promoting those as you would promote new original material. On the Web, remember, publishing is just the beginning. The real fun is mashing up and repackaging what you've published to create opportunities for additional promotion.

The WOMMA Word

tags: social_media_useful

This is the single best resource I've seen on what's going on in the world of social media marketing. I get WOMMA's daily newsletter, and there are always at least two or three items that I want to read in-depth, include the two articles I referenced today. Highly recommended.

Tips on effective blogging

tags: social_media_useful

This New York Times piece addresses some of the most frequently asked questions about blogging, including how to choose a topic, how often to post and how to promote a blog. Concise, sensible advice.

Do-It-Yourself Logos for Proud Scion Owners - New York Times

tags: social_media_useful

Toyota will let owners of its Scion cars choose and design their own window sticker logos, based on a palette created by a graffiti artist. I guess this means graffiti has gone mainstream. It's certainly an innovative use of social networks.

Good quote from the executive creative director of the agency that dreamed up the idea: The 'wrong way' to engage in social marketing is to “create an artificial social network and try to draw people to it. You have to walk into the conversation, and if they’re talking about Britney Spears, you can’t say, ‘By the way, do you want to hear about my new car?’ ”

¶ 8:30 AM