Wilson Kerr

New Media on Ulitzer Social networks are poised to be the most-effective marketing tool of the next decade. Facebook is the biggest social network and word on the street is they will announce location-sharing functionality very soon. While this new feature will make Facebook more interesting and compelling for individual users, location sharing is not new. What would be new and what would interest me is if Facebook introduces transformational marketing tools for brands that will link Facebook campaigns to incremental visits to locations where real products can be purchased. These incremental, verified store visits and real-world product  interactions could very well become a new ad unit, and could reshape the very nature of how mobile advertising ROI is measured. A New Consumer Touchpoint Before I address Facebook-powered brand interaction linked to real locations, ... (more)

Starbucks and Chevrolet Check-In and Declare Game On!

New Media on Ulitzer Social networking games are moving from the fringe to the front lines of social media marketing at light speed. Two recent examples are below! As I have written about for the last few weeks, this is not some fun new promotional tool that brands might want to consider. This is far-more and, I believe, will redefine mobile marketing as we know it. These platforms allow consumer brands, in the context of a controlled campaign management system, to track the actual traffic driven to individual store locations, in real-time. Even more-powerful is that the informat... (more)

Confusion Reigns for Brands, But the Social Media Future Is Bright

A recent report by E-Consultancy on the Value Of Social Media, shows some interesting statistics on the level of use of social media by over 400 companies surveyed and the general “experimental” stage most are in, regarding this new way to reach consumers. Few would argue that there is a big opportunity for companies to take advantage of the myriad of social media marketing options. But this same myriad can be confusing and the options are evolving at a blistering pace. For brands and agencies used to traditional media campaign timelines and planning, it can be daunting to simpl... (more)

Google’s Achilles' Heel: The China Example

LBS on Ulitzer Location Based Services on Ulitzer - Wikipedia defines an Achilles' Heel as, “A deadly weakness in spite of overall strength, that can actually or potentially lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, metaphorical references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common.” Google recently announced that they have reversed course and will no longer tolerate Chinese Government-imposed (in 2006) censorship of their Google China search engine results. The fallout from this might mean Google shuts down o... (more)

The Social Media Spend & The “Check-In” Battle for ROI Gold

The Social Media Guide on Ulitzer Did you know that 80% of what is read on the internet is not read on the site that first posted it? This shows the power of social media to distribute information. For example, I saw the graphic below as an embedded link in a Twitter post I got today. I got the post because of the social network I opted-in into (my Twitter followers). I linked through the Tweet to the blog post (by Soshable) and found this graphic (according to Soshable it was posted originally by Flowtown).Very interesting stats on the social media spend. It paints a picture of... (more)