online communities

Much Ado About Convergence

Lena L. West — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:25:03 -0500

Who knew there was so much to say about convergence? Steve Etzler, the founder of the conference and career fair producer Business Development Institute (BDI), did.

Consider the Source

Lena L. West — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:59:45 -0500

I wrote a post for the Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix blog today and in it, I talk about how agency types have “predicted” a slow down in brand spending on emerging media.

I won’t repeat the whole post here, but you can read it as a bit of background for this post, if you like.

Gasp! Ads Do Work After All!

Lena L. West — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:50:27 -0400

The folks at Razorfish conducted a survey of 1,000 "connected consumers".

Most say they don't mind ads on social networking sites so much so that 40% of them had actually purchased a product or service after being prompted by an ad within a social network.

Nielsen Online says that youth groups see far less online "clutter" (read: ads), which makes sense, because they aren't as equipped to whip out a credit card and make a purchase.

Consumers are Weary of the Okey-Doke

Lena L. West — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:42:07 -0400

In reading Max Kalehoff's OnlineSpin about how online transparency might affect brand building, I got on my soapbox a bit and wanted to share it with my FC readers. Here's what I had to say:

"I don’t think it’s a matter of whether companies will need to publicize their GOOD deeds. The question is: what will they do to address their BAD deeds? Since, in many cases, negative information that’s communicated about a brand tends to trump good information.

Good News for Video Marketers - Bad News for Privacy?

Lena L. West — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:25:30 -0400

Let's face it, everyone and their mother has a video on YouTube.

That's a good thing - user generated content is mainly what's fueled the rapid growth of social media - and it's also pretty much the bain of a video marketer's existence.

With all those videos, if you're someone who markets your brand with online video - specifically through YouTube - how do you:

- make sure that your video gets found

- determine what SPECIFICALLY about your video grabs people's attention?

Conference Hopping

Lena L. West — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:54:13 -0400

Is it just me or are there conferences going on EVERYWHERE?

There's OMMA, Web 2.0 NY and IZEAFest this month and ESM and MarketingProfs next month to name a few.

Laurel Papworth: SilkCharm' Social Networks

Laurel Papworth — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:49:13 -0400

A blog by social network strategist Laurel Papworth.

A Fresh Approach to Forecasting...

Lena L. West — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:54:13 -0400

Corporate forecasting is, at best a labor of love and at worst, boring...or usually incorrect.

The folks over at Inking, Inc. have developed prediction market software, called Inkling Markets, that allows companies to tap into the wisdom of the crowds and as a result make their forecasting more on-target.

I sat down (via phone) with Inkling, Inc.'s CEO, Adam Siegel to chat with him about why more and more companies are using prediction markets, what the benefits are for doing so and the future of prediction markets (pun intended).

"A Microphone Called a Blog..."

Lena L. West — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:22:06 -0400

That's how Josh Bernoff of Forrester and Groundswell co-authoring acclaim, describes the shift in attention that brands have to make now that social media is becoming more and more mainstream and, according to the latest research, growing faster than any other medium.

Building Online Communities for Business

Vanessa DiMauro — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:03:27 -0400

A blog by Vanessa DiMauro and Leader Networks about online community and professional networking for business: Industry happenings, best practices, and enterprise community case studies.

Social Media 360

Lena L. West — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:56:29 -0400

Engaged clients and customers are a brand's best asset. Social media expert and strategist Lena L. West shares her thoughts on what to do, what not to do, and who's getting it right. The Internet lives on.

Bio and Interests: Lena L. West

Lena L. West — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:48:32 -0500

Lena L. West is an award-winning social media consultant, blogger, speaker, journalist and technologist.

She is also the CEO & Chief Strategist at xynoMedia Technology, a social media strategy firm.

xynoMedia’s goal is to help make social media easy to use, manageable and worthwhile for businesses of all sizes.