February 15, 2013 in Content Marketing, Marketing, Media Orchard, Social Media Marketing by Scott Baradell
ADVICE: Don’t Be a Digital Sharecropper

Digital Sharecroppers Inbound MarketingSince Media Orchard has evolved over the years from my personal blog into a forum representing our agency as a whole, I decided last month to start a second blog, “Media Orchard Too,” where I could rant and rave with relative impunity.

My latest rants are on the subject of “digital sharecropping” — the practice of focusing your online marketing efforts on third-party social media sites rather than your own web presence.

While folks from the traditional advertising world might characterize this third-party focus as simply the latest iteration of media buying, that comparison doesn’t hold up very well when it comes to content-based marketing. The better comparison is to 19th-century subsistence farmers from Mississippi — and you don’t want to be like them, do you? You can learn more here.

 
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August 16, 2012 in Marketing, Social Media Marketing by Clay Zeigler
ADVICE: Olympic-Sized Lessons About Social Sharing from NBC

The London 2012 Olympic Games are history and the biggest surprise winner may have been NBC. The television network paid more than $1 billion for the rights to broadcast an event that would take place in the early mornings in the US, would be heavily discussed all day long on social media, and would still have to be interesting enough hours later to attract prime-time audiences in sufficient numbers to pay that billion-dollar bill.

How’d it go? The just-released television ratings show that in the last week of the Olympics NBC had the eight top-rated broadcasts. A quarter of all the televisions watched in prime time were tuned to NBC. The Games drew nearly 220 million viewers, and NBC sold about $1.25 billion in advertising, a gold-medal-winning performance.

How’d they pull that off in a media world dominated by status updates, competitive cooking shows and mindless reality TV? NBC was smart, and did some things that both media and marketers should think about when they strategize about social sharing.

The Bronze Medal Lesson: Ask for Something

This Olympics featured live video streams like never before — every sport, all-day coverage. What a great way to draw viewers who favor some of the less-popular events. My own athletic addiction is rowing, so I was right there on the first morning of the regatta eager to watch online. But wait: Gotta sign up. Give us your information. And, here’s a new one: Prove you pay us something through your cable provider. My reward after all that was to watch a commercial.

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June 19, 2012 in Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media Marketing by Clay Zeigler
IDEA GROVE NEWS: New Video Hits the Highlights for Idea Grove


Nothing starts a relationship off right like a proper introduction. Now visitors to IdeaGrove.com have that thanks to a new home-page video highlighting our capabilities.

To do it, we called on our friend Amy Schmittauer, a social media consultant with a lively video presence. Amy loves the camera, as a subject and as a marketing tool. Video blog posts are a key element of her business, based in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

So, check it out — and let us know what you think in the comments.

 
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June 18, 2012 in Branding, Marketing, Social Media Marketing by Sabrina Jalees
RANT: What Pinterest Tells Us About Women — and About Marketers

Editor’s note: Comedian Sabrina Jalees is an occasional contributor to Media Orchard.

Pinterest is Facebook for women, right? So why does it leave me feeling so uncomfortable?

The site is made up of pictures. Pictures chosen and posted by Pinterest’s mostly-chick members. Pictures that women find interesting, adorable and/or aspirational. But mostly, pictures that contradict each other in some pretty disturbing ways.

At first glance, Pinterest can pass as a fun collage. But invest in a few scrolls, a dash of critical thinking and an optional shot of tequila and it’ll hit you like a ton of cramps: Pinterest is the visual map of everything wrong with women today.

A Visual Map of What’s Wrong

It’s right there in easy-to-digest, self-published, nearly-words-free format. The reason why your girlfriend threw that plate against the wall when you asked her why she never wears those jeans anymore. It explains why thousands of happy young mothers have Googled the words “backpack Asia with a newborn.” And, in general, the pictorial explanation of Taylor Swift’s overwhelming success with females aged 8 to 88.

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June 1, 2012 in Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media Marketing by Clay Zeigler
HEADS UP: More from Idea Grove’s Reg Rowe in PRWeek

Our Reg Rowe has authored a series of three articles for PRWeek; and the most recent, “Are college graduates ready for the PR world?” offers a revealing test Reg uses when he speaks to groups of students. Reg concludes:

“The professional practice of PR is, at its heart, about communicating through the written word. It always has been and always will be. Those graduates who can demonstrate solid writing skills will elevate themselves above the rest of the graduates seeking jobs — and those are the ones who will land the best jobs.”

In “Get caught in the act of doing something good,” Reg says:

“It’s even more relevant in today’s social network-dominated media landscape where being caught in the act of doing good is the quintessential way to communicate. And the best way to be “caught in the act” is by sharing information freely, openly, and often – providing valuable, useful content to potential clients.” Continue Reading

 
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